For many homeowners selling their home can be a very costly affair, with all sorts of costs and fees involved. Taking into consideration that some properties have gone down in value over recent year, despite the recent house price increases, many homeowners will be keen to try and avoid paying more money than they have to when they are selling their property. Most people who sell their properties use an estate agent to do the honours, and this is where a large chunk of the money goes, because estate agents charge hefty fees for selling a property.

There could be some good news in the pipeline for homeowners that are thinking of selling their properties in the future, however, following a report from the Office of Fair Trading. Officials from the OFT have said that they want to try and make it easier for homeowners to sell their own properties. If their plans to make this process easier are successful then homeowners could make big savings on the cost of selling their property, which will prove invaluable in the current financial climate.

Should the OFT plans be successful homeowners that want to sell their properties will be able to enjoy a greater number of options when it comes to selling their property. Whilst some people may still prefer to go through an estate agency so that they have less involvement in the sale of the property others may be able to benefit from revised regulations to get more involved in the sale of their property, which gives them more control as well as potentially saving them money.

The decision to shake up the property selling market was made after the OFT carried out a study into the buying and selling of properties. Officials from the OFT believe that sellers could get a far better deal if changes are made to the property sales market, and in addition to this small firms that want to benefit from getting involved in the online sale of homes could also benefit because the changes would provide them with new opportunities.

The OFT has also stated that current regulations are outdated and need to be changed, but added that sometimes home sellers do themselves no favours because they fail to shop around for the best deal when it comes to finding an estate agent that charges reasonable commission.

The decision to make changes has been welcomed by many people, and one buying agent stated: ‘The OFT is keen to encourage new businesses to challenge the traditional estate agent model and this is positive news for buyers and sellers alike. It’s saying “bring change on, let it happen” and this is fantastic news for the property market moving forward. The fact that it is recommending legislation be updated shows it is serious about the way the industry needs to be changed. The findings of the report are by no means anti-estate agent, in fact they are quite the opposite. The OFT has merely concluded that additional cost and service benefits can be provided to buyers and sellers through innovative new business models and it wants to create an environment where these can thrive.’