9 steps to a successful sale in St Neots
Once you’ve made the decision to buy, you need to start thinking about selling your current house so it puts you in a stronger position to have an offer accepted on your next dream home.
However, it may have been a while since you sold your last house, you may have never sold one before or are just time poor, so here’s a handy reminder of what you need to do to get the most out of your most important asset.
Step 1: Understanding your finances
First things first, how much is your house worth? You need to get a rough idea so that you’ll know how much money is left after you pay off your mortgage. And if you’re within your existing mortgage term you’ll need to check which fees you’ll be liable to pay by moving.
Consider talking to an independent mortgage broker because along with stamp duty, conveyancing fees, early repayment charges and energy performance certificates, the costs can really mount up so it’s best to get an idea up front so you can be realistic when you decide how much you need to sell your home for.
Step 2: Prepare your home so it looks its best
To make your house buyer ready, give it a good clean, tidy it up and declutter! The buyer wants to be able to imagine what they can do with the space so don’t leave things lying around.
Don’t forget to check your outside space too for kerb appeal. If you have a lawn, mow it. Get rid of any weeds, fix any fences or gates and clean the windows. First impressions really do matter and you want to show your home off to the best of its ability.
Sometimes we can all go a bit ‘house blind’ though, so get a trusted friend to give your house a walk through as if they were a buyer and point out the first things that come to mind that might put them off. Breathe deeply, offer them tea and then fix the problems.
Step 3: Talk to your estate agent and get your property valued
Choosing an estate agent is about finding one who knows your buyer like the back of their hand and understands the local market so you can be realistic about the price at which to sell your home.
Find someone who has a proven track record of selling houses like yours and don’t be afraid to question them about why they think your home is worth what they’ve suggested.
Why not ask us about how quickly we sell our houses, how close we come to achieving asking price and how successful we are. We won’t disappoint.
Step 4: Get a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer
Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring a property from one owner to another. Solicitors and conveyancers do all the legal paperwork, Land Registry and council searches, draft the contract and handle the exchange of money.
To make sure the sale progresses, you should decide which firm you want to use before you agree to the sale of your house.
Step 5: Marketing your property
Get involved! When the photographer comes round, go with them to make sure that cushions are plumped, bedspreads are smooth and toilet lids are shut. Those small touches can make a real difference.
The floor plan and description will come next. Check the description with your estate agent before they publish it to make sure there’s nothing missing.
And finally, your property will be listed on the agents website, as well as property portals like Rightmove and Zoopla. Why don’t you share your online listing with your social media networks, it can’t hurt to put your property in front of as many people as possible!
Step 6: The documents you’ll need
Although it’s not the fun part of selling your house, this checklist of documents you need will help keep the process on track because if an offer comes in, you don’t want to delay while you tear your hair out trying to find all of this:
- Property title deeds
- Property details and floor-plan of your house when you bought it
- Planning permission certificates if you have any
- Energy performance certificates if the property was bought less than ten years ago
- Building regulation certificates
- Electrical certificates
- Recent utility bill
- Buildings insurance policy
- Contents insurance policy
- Mortgage roll/account number
- Lease (if it’s leasehold)
- Builders warranty if the property is under ten years old
Step 7: Work around viewings
Viewings can be a blessing and a curse. On one hand, people are coming to see your house, but each time they do, you need to clean and tidy up and ideally leave the house. Bear with it though, it’s better to have them than not.
Step 8: Negotiate and accept an offer
It’s likely that your buyers will offer less than the asking price and it’s up to you whether you accept or negotiate.
There are a few things to take into consideration, how likely are they to increase their offer, how long has the property been on the market or how quickly do you need to sell? It can sometimes feel like a game of chicken, but hold your nerve, because we will always have your best interests at heart and advise accordingly.
Step 9: Exchange and complete
Exchanging contracts means that the buyer has paid a deposit and things become legally binding.
Completion is when you have sold the house and you drop the keys off with your estate agent, the money is transferred and any deeds for the property are transferred between each side’s solicitor or conveyancer.
Phew, done!
But not quite! After completion, you’ll need to settle up with the conveyancing solicitor and the estate agent. Expect the conveyancing solicitor to send you all their costs and disbursements, the sale price of the house and redemption of the mortgage.
Congratulations, you’ve just sold your house!
If you want to know more or book a valuation, then please get in touch. We care about what we do and best of all we’re local and see ourselves as advocates of the area so we know the market and we’ll guide you through the whole process.