Preparing Your Home For Sale
Selling your home is no small feat. It can be an emotional and uncertain process. At Saddlers, we understand the aprehension and nerves you may feel. Here’s our simple guide with ten essential tips for selling your property.
1. Choose Saddlers Estate Agents: We are a friendly, skilled and experienced agent that will understand your needs and local area. We will provide you with invaluable knowledge of your local housing market, as well as excellent negotiation skills to overcome any hurdles and get you the best deal.
2. Be clear on why you want to sell: Do you want a quick sale? Or do you want to wait for the best offer? Being clear on why you’re doing this and reminding yourself of this throughout the process will help you make informed decisions.
3. First Impressions: First impressions matter. Tidy the exterior of your home. Improve its curb appeal by mowing the lawn, cleaning the windows and adding a splash of colour with potted plants. If possible repair any peeling paint or blown double glazing and make sure all your light bulbs in the house are working.
4. Declutter and depersonalise: Before we come to take your photos, try to declutter your home. Make your space larger by removing anything that isn’t essential. This allows buyers to imagine themselves living in your home without any distractions.
5. Be realistic: Price your home accurately. It’s a delicate balance; pricing your home too high will put off buyers. It’s very easy to be tempted to ask a high price as “people will always negotiate down” but you could miss your perfect candidate by being in the wrong price range. An experienced estate agent worth their salt will always be able to guide you through how they arrived at the proposed asking price, listen to their advice.
6. Get the best photography: One of the most important aspects of selling your home is to present it in the best possible light, with our professional photography acknowledged to be some of the best in the industry. If you have a newly built property or you’ve rented it out you might want to invest in professional staging to create the most attractive atmosphere.
7. Viewings: Try and be flexible. Viewers will more often than not prefer the owner of the property to not be there along with any dogs. We can accompany these viewings for you, so if possible be out for viewings and take your four legged friends with you and let us do the rest. Feedback from these viewings can help learn about what might be needed to make any necessary adjustments.
8. Prepare for Survey: Whether it’s a mortgage survey from a bank, a building survey or structural survey, your buyers will choose a survey to meet their needs. You need to be prepared to address any issues raised by the surveyor at an early stage.
9. Prepare for paperwork: The legal process of selling and buying a home can be lengthy, it is advisable to make sure your property is in order to save issues during a sale. By working with both your solicitor and estate agent, you’ll ensure that all your paperwork is handled correctly.
10. Negotiate: Negotiations are part of the process, so consider your limits and be prepared to compromise. Trust your estate agent to handle it and present you with all the crucial information so you can fully consider any offers.
These are just some of the steps we will take here at Saddlers, where your needs as a seller always come first. With over 85 years combined experience selling homes in The Weald of Kent, we will guide you through every step of the process with ease and confidence and if you’re ready to sell your home, we offer free, no obligation valuations to help you get started.
There are also many terms used that a lot of people don’t know. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask. Here are some common ones used:
Chain Free: This means the vendor does not need to buy onwards thus making the property the last in the chain (This can of course change)
Conveyancing: The process of producing legal documents and the process of selling and purchasing property.
Vendor: The legal term for the person or entity that is selling the property
Searches: Searches check on the local area of the home you would like to buy and they are usually carried out by your solicitor. They’re basically done to check if any future planning developments, historical problems, environment problems in the area might affect the home you’re buying. If you’re buying with a mortgage, searches are mandatory and paid for by the purchaser.
Agreement in Principal (mortgage): If you need a mortgage, you really need one of these to be able to offer on a property. It is the initial checks assessment by your bank to ascertain in principle that they are happy to loan the money to you.
Indemnity Insurance: An insurance policy taken out by a conveyancer to cover losses to clients arising from errors or fraud in dealing with their matters
Freehold: Includes the whole land and the building which sits on it.
Leasehold: A landlord owns the freehold and a lease to it is over a term of years.
Exchange of Contract: The point at which both parties are legally committed to the transaction.
Completion: The moment the monies arrive following exchange, this day is agreed on the day of exchange.
Stamp Duty: A government tax payable by a homebuyer on purchase. The amount depends on the value of the property. Calculate your stamp Duty.
