Selling your home is both a daunting and exciting experience. Thankfully, there are ways to make the process a bit easier. Read on for our guide to selling your home.
It’s a good idea to get a valuation done on your home with local Estate agent before you decide on an asking price. The Estate Agent can share their expert knowledge with you. However, it doesn’t mean that you have to sell your home at the price they gave at the valuation. It’s your home, and you can decide what you sell it for.
Top Tip
Be as realistic as possible with the price you would like to achieve, deciding to market a property higher than what market indicates could put off buyers and also leave your property on the market for a long period of time.
Without an agent, you can’t advertise your property on online portals (like Rightmove), but an agent’s help goes beyond that. Your local property professional will know the area like the back of their hand, and will be able to give you honest advice about what to expect. Be especially careful about your agent’s communication skills, and make sure that they can communicate clearly and effectively.
Staging your home correctly is very important, as the photos in your advertisement determine how many buyers you’ll get through the door. Before your agent comes to take all their pictures, it’s a good idea to get your property looking its best. Maximising interest from buyers online will give you the best chance of a quick sale at a good price.
Transferring ownership of a property is called conveyancing, and it must be done legally through a solicitor. They won’t officially come on board until you have accepted an offer on your property, but you should have them the ready when you accept your offer.
At this point, you’ll have had plenty of interest in your property, and people should be coming to your home for viewings. When you receive an offer, be sure to negotiate. Some buyers will offer less than they’re willing to pay for the home. Your estate agent should be able to advise if the offer is reasonable. Once you’ve accepted your offer, the sales progression officially begins.
The buyer’s lawyer will now need to make some enquires so they have all the information they need to draw up the contracts. Your questionnaire will revolve around the boundaries of the property, what fixtures and fittings are included in the sale, and whether you’ve had any disputes or complaints with the neighbours. The council will focus on proposed developments, building works, sewerage, utilities, council tax and things of that nature. This will be done via your solicitor.
Once you’ve completed all relevant enquires, the final contract will be finalised and ‘exchanged’ and the sale will be complete in a short time. At this point, both you and the seller are legally committed to the sale. If you choose not to move forward after this point, you could be sued and must return the buyer’s deposit. If the buyer pulls out, they will lose their deposit. Both Parties will mutually agree a date for the completion via their solicitor.
This is when the property officially changes ownership. You will accept payment and hand over the keys. The bulk of the money and the deed will be transferred by each party’s respective solicitors and your solicitor will register the transfer of ownership with the land registry.
Your provider will have given you and your solicitor a precise redemption figure for your mortgage for completion day. Now the buyer has transferred the bulk of the money to your solicitor, your solicitor can pay off your mortgage for you if there was a mortgage in place.
Now that everything is done and dusted, your solicitor will send you an account of all their costs, Estate Agents cost, the sale price and redemption of the mortgage. The balance remaining once all cost has been paid will be transferred to you by your solicitor.
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