There are suburban homes, heritage properties, shacks and hobby farms, with properties priced as low as $130,000 to $550,000.

Homes are not just offered for sale, but for swap.

The website in 2010 reported there had been a 12 per cent increase within a year of people listing their properties to swap, with more than 2100 on offer.

Gumtree, like other methods of private sale, are attractive to potential vendors as they are not charge any seller fees.

Hobart musician Lincoln le Fevre recently sold his home through Gumtree and was pleased with the result.

``I think real estate agents for the most part work really hard to do their jobs well, but in my case, I was lucky enough to be selling a house in a part of town that's pretty attractive to buyers,'' he said.

``I knew that it was going to cost me about $15,000 in fees and commissions, when realistically it was probably going to sell before the ads even hit the paper.''

Mr le Fevre said four couples inspected the house in the first week of its listing, even though the property was uploaded without a photo, and with only the basics of the title.

A sale was agreed upon within a fortnight.

``Once we'd verbally agreed on the sale price, we had a contract signed within a week, and settled four weeks after that,'' Mr le Fevre said.

``The valuation I had been given had a $30,000 window, and the agreed price was roughly in the middle of it but considering the money I saved on fees and commission, it would have been close to the upper end of the range.''

Harcourts Launceston sales consultant Andrea Bonner warned that vendors may be short-changing themselves by advertising property sales on Gumtree.

``The key to getting the best price out of any market is attracting the most buyers,'' she said.

``You need to let everybody know you are on the market so you attract the greatest amount of buyers and create competition to drive your price up.

``If you just want to sell your house then being on Gumtree may sell it, but if you want to sell your house for the maximum price possible in the market, then you should not be jeopardising your chances by minimising its exposure and marketing and not having a trained negotiator dealing on your behalf.''

Ms Bonner said buyers were typically put off by dealing directly with vendors.

``I myself am an agent who is about to put my house on the market - even I will not deal with the buyers directly myself and have employed a sales consultant to handle it for me,'' she said.

``Negotiations are much more successful when there is a third party involved.''