When Carla Cortese and her husband, Giovanni, decided, about a year ago, that they wanted to sell their one-bedroom flat in Larnaca, Cyprus, their first port of call was the developer from whom they had bought it off-plan in 2006.

The developer, however, had gone bust. So the couple approached local agents, who listed the property, but after six months they had not received a single offer. Eventually, they found the website Sellabroad.com, which allowed them to upload all the details of their flat themselves for a small fee.

By October, the Corteses had found a buyer – and even made a €14,000 (£11,800) profit – not bad on an initial outlay of €55,000. “The site was fantastic – we found it foolproof,” says Carla, 34. “We were very happy.”

With the credit crunch tightening and the pound sinking against both the euro and the dollar, the Corteses are far from unusual in wanting to sell an overseas property. But how best to do it?

As the couple discovered, local agents are often not much help, as they tend to cater more for local buyers rather than foreigners. Foreign developers – and the estate agents both here and abroad who so enthusiastically market their new-build developments – are less than enthusiastic when it comes to taking back a property. “Quite often, there is a conflict of interest. If we are acting for a developer and there are units to sell, we can’t be seen to be taking fees from someone wanting to resell,” says James Davies, director of international development at Hamptons.

Hence the proliferation of websites such as Sellabroad.com and others – for example, Sellmyholidayhome.com and Buyitabroad.com – that do a similar job. So, how do they work? Essentially, as a seller you become your own agent. You take your own photographs, come up with an asking price – this can be the hardest bit, as you’ll need to do thorough research using local agents and comparative property prices – then, for a fee, upload all the details onto one of the sites. The payment structures vary: Sellabroad. com charges a flat £52 for three months, Buyitabroad.com’s service costs £59 per year. Sellmyholidayhome.com has two options – a silver package, for £176.25, and a gold package, for £293.75. Both offer a free listing on a number of property portals, including Primelocation. com and Propertyfinder.com; going for gold gets you an additional three photos, more detail and the option to match to prospective buyers through the company’s existing database.

Most of the websites also offer the option of someone to deal with any queries – you then pay that person a commission if you sell the property through the site.

Thinking of signing up? There are a few key points to think about: “Price, price and price,” says John Reilly, director of Sellabroad.com. “A property is only worth what someone will pay for it.”

“Make sure that you have a good photograph and a succinct description of the property,” advises Jenny Rigby,a manager at Sellmyholidayhome.com. “The better the photograph, the easier the promotion.”

And the drawbacks? As with everything, you should research the background of the website you’re planning to use. Find out how many people visit it and whether it has links to other property portals. “Check out the record of previous sales and ask them whether they have sold homes in your development,” advises Camilla Mabbott, marketing director at Ayles-ford International consultants.

After that, it’s up to you.

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