The best one for you will normally depend on how great your need to sell is, how long you are willing to wait, how much work you want to put into the sale and the minimum price you are willing to accept.

Estate Agents
Estate agents are normally the best solution when you are prepared to wait 6 or more months to achieve a sale. This method will normally get the widest number of potential buyers looking at your property enabling you to get the best price for your property (assuming you have a good agent). However, they are not ideal for achieving a quick home sale. Selling via this route normally takes 4.5-7 months and then there is a 1 in 3 chance of a broken chain which means starting all over again. You may be lucky and receive an offer within the first two weeks of advertising your property and complete a couple of months after that but this is rare; especially in slow markets like that of 2009.

Selling Your Home Privately 

Selling privately is often not the best option if you need a quick home sale. In fact, it is often the worst. By selling privately, I am referring to the process of doing your own advertising in newspapers, online etc. People use this method to save on estate agents fees normally but this is normally a false economy as the price you achieve will normally be lower than achieved through an estate agent as they will have more potential buyers due to better marketing channels. It is also not any quicker than an estate agent. So for normal and quick sales this is probably the worst option.

Selling Your House via Auction
Selling via auction is often a good option for people needing a quick home sale but it must be noted that those selling via this method are only likely to achieve 70-80% of the properties value on average. Of course you can set a reserve so you do not have to accept offers below a certain level but this can mean that the property remains unsold. You also need to be aware that auction house fees are normally 2.5% + Vat of the sale value and there is a catalogue entry fee whether the property is sold or not. The advantage is that after the auction takes place the sale is normally completed in a month (if the reserve has been met). It will normally be 1-2 months after you contact the auction house that the auction will take place to allow for marketing the property and potential buyers to carry out due diligence. So in total you would be looking at 2-3 months to sell via this route.

Selling to a Specialist Home Buying Company
Selling to a specialist home buying company is often the quickest route and a viable alternative to selling via the auction. The advantages to this method is that:

The price you can expect from an a specialist homebuyer is normally between 70-80% of the propertys market value which is similar to what you would expect from an auction sale. However, you will save on fees, have no upfront costs and have a quicker guaranteed sale via this route.

 

So in conclusion if you need to a quick sale consider a homebuying company or selling within an auction. If you are not in a hurry find a good estate agent.