Selling your home

UK House Seller's Guide

It may well be the most expensive thing you will have to sell and so it's worth spending a long time considering the most efficient way to do it. Most people remain within the same area all their working lives. Many people, it has been said, remain in their homes for a period of seven years before deciding to sell up and move on to the next. So it seems that we are creatures of habit and don't always like change!

Most people sell through an agent. It is a good idea to get at least three different ones to give a valuation of your home. You will be paying fees and the fees cover the use of the agent's admin staff who will alert their existing clients to the fact that your property is available. They will be expected to use their negotiating skills once a suitable buyer has been found. The agent will charge roughly 1.5% of the sale price. This will change if you decide to sell your property with more than one agency. The cost of any advertising and the preparing of leaflets will be covered by the fee paid.

It is a good idea to investigate the agents in your area and choose the one that sells a lot of properties that most resemble your own. They will be well known by the public for selling the type of house you own and will be part of the agent's data base. A board outside will alert any passers by and an inclusion in the local property paper all help sell.

Once you have agreed on the selling price and the fees then the agent will take down the measurements of the property and prepare the details of the sale. Photographs can be advantageous to the sale but only if they show your property in a good light, bad photos are worse than no photos at all. Make sure that any outstanding repairs are carried out, freshen up any decorating, de clutter any areas that look in need of re organising and put away anything you would consider unsightly. Make sure your home smells fresh when your viewers arrive.

The outside of the property must have 'kerb appeal' if you want to sell your house quickly. First impressions are very important and if the outside looks drab or dirty then the viewer will enter your property already in a disappointed frame of mind. The inside will have to look especially good to convince the viewer that their first impression was wrong.

Once all the viewers that the agent has on their books have been to have a look and an offer has been accepted — often having been subject to negotiations - then the sale process can begin. Solicitors need to be instructed and mortgages arranged.

The sale can fall through at any time until the contracts have been signed. The sale may fall through because the vendor (you) changes their mind. The buyer could change their mind or the person buying the home from the person buying yours could change their mind. The breaking of chains in this way is very common and can happen even up until the day before completion if the circumstances are very bad. Then the process has to start all over again with everybody having lost money on the cost of solicitors fees and various searches and valuations.

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