What we pay
What you would actually walk away with.
Our offers are below what an estate agent would sell your home for. Rather than argue about a percentage, we show you what each route leaves in your pocket and how long each one takes, using figures we list under the table with where they come from, so you can decide with the real numbers in front of you.
Most companies in this market say "up to" a figure and decide once you are on the phone. Ours comes in writing the next working day, the letter shows what we allowed for, and if an estate agent is the better choice for you we say so on the first call.
Put your own numbers in
Selling with an estate agent, next to selling to us.
Drag the sliders to your home and your situation. The agent's figure loses a little at every step: the negotiation, the fee, your legal costs, and the months you are paying for the home while you wait. Ours is one figure, with nothing coming off it.
Your situation
The difference is £13,590: about £1,941 for each of the 7 months an agent sale would typically take, if it holds. That is what a firm date, no viewings and no chain cost in this example. If we think an agent is the better choice for you, we say so on the first call.
How we worked this out
- Time to sell
- Rightmove, July 2026: on average it takes 62 days to find a buyer and a further 154 days to complete, 216 days in all. We call that seven months.
- Sale agreed
- Zoopla measures the gap between asking and agreed prices; it averaged 5.5% at its 2023 peak. Buyers push for more on homes that stand empty, need work or have been on the market a while, so we allow for 10%.
- Agent's fee
- HomeOwners Alliance, 2026: the average estate agent fee is 1.42% including VAT, but agents can charge 2% plus VAT (2.4% in all), and that is what we allow for.
- Your legal fees
- A seller's conveyancing usually costs £1,000 to £1,500 including VAT and disbursements, and can reach £2,000 once searches, a leasehold management pack and bank transfer fees are added. We allow for £2,000, and pay it in full when you use our partner solicitor.
- Mortgage interest
- Uswitch and Moneyfacts, September 2026: the average two year fixed rate is 5.69% and the big lenders' rates sit around 5.3%; we use 5.5%. The average standard variable rate is 7.25%, which is what most people in arrears are paying. Only interest counts as a cost, not the capital you repay.
- An empty home
- Average Band D council tax in England is £2,392 for 2026/27, about £200 a month, and many councils charge double once a home has been empty for a year. We count the council tax only; unoccupied insurance, standing charges and upkeep would come on top.
- Rented homes
- Under the Renters' Rights Act a landlord who wants to sell with vacant possession gives four months' notice, and cannot do so in the first year of a tenancy. Most agents market a rental empty, so we count the months without rent; with us the tenants stay and the rent runs to completion.
- Falling through
- TwentyCi: 23.4% of agreed sales fell through in 2026 so far, and 24.4% in 2025. We do not take that off the agent's figure; we show it as the risk it is.
- Our figure
- A typical written offer for a home of the value you enter. Where your own offer sits depends on the property, the area, its condition and how quickly you want to complete, and the letter shows what we allowed for. No fees or commission come off it, and it does not drop once it is in writing.
An illustration, not an offer. Your figures will differ, and the only offer is the one in your letter. Nothing here is financial or legal advice; if you are behind on the mortgage, speak to your lender and a free debt adviser as well as to us.
The pledges
Three things that stop a good offer becoming a bad sale.
No chip
The price in the letter is the price on completion day. If our survey turns up something material that neither of us knew about, we show you the evidence and you decide: revised price, or walk away at no cost. We do not turn up the week before completion asking for £10,000 off.
No fees, ever
No valuation fee, no admin fee, no commission, no charge if you withdraw. If money is going from you to us at any point, something is wrong.
No pressure
A 7 day cooling off period after you accept, legal fees paid with our partner solicitor, and no cold calls. We would rather you took advice and came back than signed in a hurry.
When we are the wrong choice
Honestly, sometimes we are.
- You can wait six months and you are not paying to hold the property in the meantime.
- Your home is in good condition in a strong area where buyers are queueing.
- You have a chain you are happy with and a buyer who has already had their survey.
- The difference between our offer and an agent's price matters more to you than the date.
In those cases we will say so on the first call, and point you at a good local agent instead. Read how the process works
Questions
Questions about the price
Below what an estate agent would sell it for. How far below depends on the property, the area, its condition and how quickly you want to complete, and the letter shows what we allowed for. Put your figure into the table above and you will see a typical offer next to what an agent sale would leave you with after the fee, your legal costs and the months of waiting.
Find out what we would pay. Three minutes, and it commits you to nothing.
A written offer the next working day, from people you can name.