Preparing Your Home For Sale
The first impression that buyers get when approaching your property is really important so you need to make sure it has curb appeal! This means things like mowing the lawn, giving your front door a fresh lick of paint and ensuring that people can see your house number.
The view in through your front window is a key aspect too, so the interior needs to be neat and tidy. This also applies when you don’t have a scheduled viewing as it’s not unusual for people to turn up unexpectedly and have a good peer inside to see if it’s suitable.
Ensuring that your home isn’t cluttered is the easiest way to ensure that it looks good to buyers. Why not think about storing a lot of your belongings, having a good Spring clean, eliminating pet odours and getting your kids looked after whilst viewings are being carried out?
Completing Those Half-Finished DIY Projects
If you’re half way through any DIY projects or your kitchen draw fronts and cabinet doors need updating, we recommend getting this done as a matter of urgency. Old or outdated bathroom suites can also have a negative impact on your home’s appeal, but the good news is that rectifying it doesn’t have to cost the earth. Adding some new towels, replacing taps and adding a shiny new shower screen can have a hugely uplifting effect.
A fresh lick of paint is always a good idea, as is accentuating the available space in your bedrooms. Focus your attention on highlighting the appeal of each room’s best feature and you’ll really ‘sell’ your home. It’s also not recommended to have too many family photos around, as you really want to help your viewer visualise what it would be like to live there themselves.
Finally, it’s best to have another good clean on the day of the viewing and if you’re able to, open your windows and get those coffee and freshly baked bread aromas circulating around your home!
Effective Marketing of Your Home
It’s always a good idea to plan the order in which you’ll be presenting each room before your viewer arrives. When they do turn up, you should allow them to enter each room before you, as it gives them an improved view. Not only will you not be in the way, but it will naturally make the room appear larger.
Consider the best features of each room and the benefits they provide, so you can share them with the viewer as you go round. After you’ve covered the whole house, you should then make yourself scarce by spending 10 minutes in the garden so your prospective buyers can talk with each other without fear of you listening in.
What will also help is telling the viewer about all the benefits of the local area, such as amenities, schools and transport links.
What to Do When You Get an Offer
It’s important not to take too long to respond to an offer from the buyer, as you risk them losing interest and moving on.
You should also be aware of market conditions, as it will inform you of whether it’s a buyer’s or a seller’s market. Should you be lucky enough to be in a strong position, you’ll know that you don’t have to be too worried about negotiation on price. However, if the market has slowed down, you may not want to risk losing a buyer and having to wait a long time for another to appear – for the sake of a few thousand pounds.
Know Which Offer to Say ‘Yes!’ To
Before you accept any offer, you need to have a firm grasp on the minimum amount that will allow you to meet your goals.
To do this, you should work out the borrowing required to buy your next home. Factor in any equity that exists in your current property, as well as how much of it you can use as a deposit on your next home.
Just like when you buy your first home, you’ll need to make sure you have enough to take account of stamp duty, mortgage arrangement costs and conveyance fees for both the sale and the purchase.
If you need any financial advice, we recommend getting it from an independent ‘whole of market’ financial advisor. It’s an extra cost, sure, but the advice you’ll get will save you a lot more in the long run.
Don’t automatically take the first mortgage offer you get either, as you could get a much better deal by comparing other available deals on the market.
We also advise getting your mortgage ‘agreement in principle’ in place early on in the process.
Liaising With Your Solicitor
Once you’ve got your offer in your back pocket, you should stay on top of your solicitor’s progress, so that everything goes as quickly and smoothly as possible.
You don’t want to miss out on getting your house sold because of hold-ups caused by you.
It’s also important to remember that if you’ve had any work done to your property, you’ll be required to provide documentary evidence that building regulations were adhered to and that planning permission was received.
Surveyors’ Reports
If you’ve been maintaining your home well, there shouldn’t be too many problems highlighted on your surveyor’s report.
However, if you do get a low valuation, you can request to see your surveyor report to find out why. What can also help is getting your estate agent to obtain information about similar sold properties in the locality for comparison.
