In the current economic climate, selling your home has become an increasingly difficult task. Property prices have steadily declined so that if you're looking to buy something bigger and better than your current house, you need to sell at a substantially inflated price.

For this reason, many people have decided to opt for the particulier à particulier method of sale. This means that there is no estate agent involved in the property sale and so the sellers do not have to pay any commission.

While this appears to be a money-saving option, it does have its faults. Not employing an estate agent can be cost effective from the perspective that it saves on commission payments; it might also be the case that it slows down the sale of your home.

Employing an estate agent has perks of its own and is not always simply money down the drain. A property professional has, for example, access to a long list of people looking for houses to buy. He or she can then introduce these prospective purchasers to your property in a way that is more likely to get it sold.

In short, a private sale may save you money on estate agent's commission but it is unlikely to move your house quickly from one owner to another. Estate agents can be pricy, but in the long run they do serve a purpose.