Buying house with no estate agent.

Shouldn't matter. Buyer and seller should both have solicitors though. Don't pay a deposit to the seller. Pay it to their solicitor via your solicitor.

Muppet man

Its a strange one all right. Its like giving your car to an agent to sell for you. He advertises it for you and has no knowledge of the car for the buyer and can accept whatever he thinks is quickest best offer to get his cut. With the internet now and whatsapp video for virtual viewings I cant see the advantage of an agent. More of a hindrance than anything.

If you have ever sold something online you'd know why people still use intermediaries. You don't want to deal someone offering a polo and a pair of socks for your home.

Indeed, but a standard home for 200k does not need a specialist. It is your 5 year old Mondeo except it has a huge cohort of waiting buyers. It will sell in a matter of days to the highest bidder from an ad on daft.ie. Agent or not. As well a specialist car dealer will offer finance, a trade in and warranty and stand over their sale. An Agent explicitly will NOT. They clearly state on documentation that you have to do your own checks and they are not responsible for any errors. Everything falls on the buyer and seller. The agent just takes their cut and walks.

The problem I have is I can't take time off work to view a house and the auctioneer doesn't work on a Saturday.

We advertised our house with an estate agent, only for a cash buying elderly couple to knock on the door and offer exactly what we were after the first day it was listed. They had been through the run of problematic sales previously so got in ahead of the EA viewings by calling to the door directly. I appreciate this would be uncomfortable for most people, but I have no issues dealing with people. We agreed a deal, I withdrew the EA listing (No questions asked), initiated the sale both sides via our solicitors and sale completed within 4-6 weeks. Looking back on it now, it is pretty unheard of, but saved us a couple of thousand in terms of EA fees and delays schedulng viewings, offers etc., We were in a massive rush to sell as quickly as possible so it worked in favor of both parties.

I've never felt under pressure to sell by an EA. You must have been unlucky with your choice of agent.

I've viewed one or two properties where the sellers basically just put the house up themselves without an EA, but using one still definitely is the norm. I suppose that it's partly down to outsourcing the diplomacy of selling to someone else, as well as having some expert advice on the process (since an EA will generally have some better idea of who seems like a good buyer or a timewaster, and how much a realistic starting price would be). You might also have more confidence in the sales and marketing talents of a professional than you would in yourself that they would be able to drive the price up a bit or to paper over some issues with the house. They can also be handy in a chain, since they can make things a bit smoother if you're buying and selling from the same agency.

To some extent, it's probably just inertia too. People feel like getting an EA is part of the process of selling a house and just don't really question it. Tbh, it did feel a bit strange to be bidding on somewhere that didn't have one. In a less hot market it might seem a bit unprofessional and put more discerning buyers off.