Property buying companies have introduced a safer far more flexible way of selling your home especially when compared to the inherent problems a traditional sale via an estate agent can throw up.

The advantages of selling your home to a property buying company are easy to see,

1. You have a guaranteed cash buyer
2. The whole process can take days not months
3. Flexible options, completion dates to suit your timescales
4. Option to rent back long or short term
5. We pay all solicitors costs associated with the sale
6. Private and confidential handling of all aspects of the sale

All of these options are not available to anyone using an estate agent to sell their property. The most important aspect of a quick house sale using a property buying company like HBFS is that you remain in control.

Having the flexibility of our fast home buying solution, combined with the knowledge of a guaranteed sale, give you back control not only of the sale of your current property but also the purchase of your next.

The downside of offering this flexibility is that like all other property buying companies here at HBFS we will not be able to offer you full market value for your property and we will never attempt to hide this fact.

This is the one point that estate agents are quick to comment upon. They are however not telling you the whole story. The fact is that it is highly probable that you will make no more money by selling through an estate agent.

Firstly an estate agent will charge you fees normally around 2.5% we don't. There will be a solicitor's fee for the sale typically £500 - £700 we cover all solicitors fees associated with the sale of you property.

However this is not the most damaging area of a traditional sale. Most estate agents are after one thing - your business and they will tell you almost anything in order to get it. We've all been convinced that our property is worth higher than current market values because that's what the estate agent has told us. He should know after all.

By over inflating property values estate agents cause many problems. In more general terms they are partly responsible for the steady rise in house prices nationally. This is great if you're downsizing, not so great if you are a first time buyer.

On a more personal level an over inflated valuation can be very misleading. It can give you an unrealistic idea of what the true market value is for your home. This leads to two main problems.

Firstly if your property is overpriced the amount of viewings will be minimal, if no-one looks at your property it is going to be very difficult to find a buyer!

Secondly, and more importantly, if your property is overpriced buyers will be far more likely to offer you below the asking price. Even if the valuation of your home is realistic most people are unaware that a standard offer through an estate agent is on average 7% below the asking price.

The final problem with a sale via traditional methods is the one thing we all wish we had more of - time. A normal sale via an estate agent can take months. We are all aware of the problems that can occur, broken chains, buyers pulling out, delays with solicitors, slow times in the property market etc.

These and other uncertainties mean that the average time for a traditional sale is now eight months, and while you wait for your sale to complete you will be paying your interest on your mortgage. This is approximately £3000 - £4000 on a mortgage of £100,000 which represents a 3 - 4% reduction in the amount you will realise from the sale of your home.

This means that when added together you may loose up to 15% of your original valuation in hidden costs.

A quick house sale to HBFS gives you a guaranteed cash sale with the flexibility that estate agents are unable to offer. We offer a modern, easy solution to a traditionally difficult and stressful problem, putting the clients needs first at every step of the way.

Property buying companies v estate agents - you decide