Looking for an alternative to estate agents? Try the quick house sale market.

When do homeowners become interested in the quick house sale market? Unsurprisingly, it’s when they need to sell their own property sooner rather than later and they know they can’t rely an estate agent-led sale to deliver when they need it to. During recent years, of course, selling your property couldn’t be easier – many properties were sold within a few days of going onto the market, and barring any problems with the property chain, sales went through in a couple of months or less. Today, however, the general market is suffering from a slowdown and the mortgage market is fighting the effects of the US property problems and our own Northern Rock crisis. That’s when it makes sense to look to the quick sale property market if you need to realise the cash that’s tied up in your property now.

There are still very few options when it comes to selling your house. Selling through an estate agent is most likely to get you the best price, but there’s no telling how long it will take to sell – particularly now that there’s been a definite shift towards buyers rather than sellers. This means you may have to negotiate on price, and you could find yourself losing the sale because a better “bargain” has come along. Selling privately may save you the estate agent’s fees, but you are still going to end up in a property chain at the beck and call of your buyer.

The reasons that the quick house sale market is the best alternative are simple: the sale is guaranteed, it will go through quickly and you won’t have to pay the same level of fees. As homeowners start to feel the squeeze from higher interest rates on their one side and lower property prices on the other, a quick, guaranteed sale not only gives them the cash they are looking for, but might also protect them from repossession or other debt problems.