My house sale and search continues.

Well I am 19 days into the sale of my house and although I have yet to see any propective buyers I still remain optimistic about moving. Whilst I am on the subject my property details can be seen via the on-line Estate Agents I am using a company called http://www.hatched.co.uk/. They were formed by three colleagues who have worked in the industry for several years and set up their own business.  I decided to try this approach because not only is it cheaper, a lot cheaper, than high street Estate Agents, but they use the same web sites as them to publicise your property. I have also erected two "For Sale" signs to the front and rear of my property. This is because my house is situated at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac and as such has no passing traffic, whereas the rear of the property borders the incoming road. It is amazing how when you first decide to advertise your house you get promotional details sent to you by lots of Estate Agents, all extolling their recent and past successes in selling property. All invariably produce graphs and charts backing up their claim, but in reality a sale is never guaranteed. Why not you ask them? It's put down to the seller expecting too much for their house, instead of accepting the knock down valuation they put forward. This is all well and good, but after you have spent a great deal of time and money maintaining and improving your property, it is not a lot to expect to receive as near the asking price as you originally set. If I had used the traditional approach they would have charged me at least 1.5% of my selling price. At £172,950 would come to £2,594.25 + VAT= £3048.24. If I went with the lowest valuation I was given at £165,000 their share would be £2,475.00 + VAT= £2,908.13. That means that we would lose £7,950, whereas their share would only go down by £140.11 and they then wonder why people are so disallusioned with Estate Agents. Not only are their fees higher but also the extra services are too. Such as arranging a HIP through them or using their panel of solicitors or arranging a mortgage through them. OK, we know they are a business and they need to make money, but not at my expense. I make no excuses for adding a picture of my property again because I believe it offers the propective buyer excellent value for money. Although it is early days I have gone to look a two properties a local Estate Agent had on their books to see if they would meet my requirements. The first had absolutely no redeeming features whatsoever. It would take an astronomical amount of money to put it in a habitable condition. It would take a property developer to totally gut it and start again. The second one was better, but overpriced. It still needed  quite a lot work doing to it, in particular having a central heating system installed. What amazed us most about visiting the property was the indifference shown by the Estate Agent rep. By coincidence she was the same lady who accompanied us around the first property. Not once did she try and list any good points, but more disappointedly she highlighted the bad points. We assumed that her approach to her job mirrored the salary she received. She is not the first representative we have come across seen since starting our house search to display this negative side. So our decision to try the approach we have has been boosted by  this experience. I will keep updated in the coming weeks and of the eventual outcome.