The internet is a very popular medium for selling houses at the moment, whether by an Estate Agent or privately or a combination of both. At least two thirds of buyers will do an initial search via the Web, most likely by using a Search Engine such as Google, but also if they have seen a for sale sign or advert in a newspaper, they will visit a website directly.
The web allows for searches outside of someone's immediate area but also outside of their price band. It allows a large number of properties to be viewed, more so than with a traditional estate agent and at anytime of day or night. Buyers can quickly cross off unsuitable properties or just browse to get some ideas of house types and areas or prices. Often descriptions include internal photos or virtual tours and detailed location maps. Other resources commonly include bookmarking, email alert of new properties and saved searches.
For Sale by Owner (FSBO) is the term used for selling privately and is very often used in addition to marketing via estate agents. FSBO is about individual owners creating their own property advert and uploading their own photos. Normally this is achieved using one or more of the many available FSBO websites. There are many popular paid services available that also include ordering for-sale boards, prices range from £40 to £200, but typically £100 including board. There are a number of free sites that may not give the exposure offered by the charging sites, but will get your home found via the popular search engines and can offer a quick and easy experiment in online marketing.
Selling alongside an Estate Agent is normally not a problem even with a Sole Agency contract.
There are different types of estate agency contracts (see Office of Fair Trading website):
Sole Agency - you can only sell through the one estate agent, this does allow you to sell the property privately or on a For Sale by Owner website (FSBO). FSBO Websites are not classed as Estate Agents.
Multiple Agency - you can sell through multiple agencies. You only pay the agent who sells the property, usually with a higher commission rate.
Sole Selling - as for Sole Agency, except you will pay commission if you sell privately or through a FSBO website.
