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Selling your House.

Buying or selling your house can be a stressful experience. Hopefully the advice below will make selling your house and moving to your new home easier.

For Sale

From time to time there is always a reason why we have to sell up and move from our home. The key to selling your house is try not to make it personal. Once you have decided on selling your house you have a few options. Do you use an estate agent or sell your property privately?

Selling your house privately cuts out the middle man but will more than likely mean that your house is on the market longer. There are sites on the internet that provide you with a board for advertising and they usually charge a small fee for advertising on their website.

Most people use an estate agent because this is usually the way buyers search for their potential new home. Most estate agents use their shop windows, local newspapers, advertising boards, and, nowadays, the internet to advertise your property.

Estate Agents

If you choose to sell your property using an estate agent the first thing to do is invite a negotiator round to discuss the value of your property and their fees for selling your property.

You will have the choice of using a sole agent or multiple agents. This is fairly self explanatory, but if you do decide to use more than one agent, the agents fee is usually a higher percentage of the selling price.

With your agent chosen, pictures of the property are taken and selling agreements are signed.

Viewings

Once you have decided on your mode of sale, if you use an agent you will receive a phone call to book an appointment for a potential buyer to view your property.

On the day of the viewing, no doubt you will be rushing around to make sure that the place is spotless and smelling nice. Always take the lead when showing a viewer around and don't say anything negative, talk about the good points like where the sun rises if you have a sunny garden. You want that sale!

Offers

So you've had the viewings and received feedback from the agent, then the phone rings with an offer. The offer must be made through the estate agent and they must pass this information on. The offer may be for any price, but is often at or under the asking price. In some cases there may be more than one person interested in your property and it could go to best and final offers.

Solicitor/conveyancer.

When you have accepted the offer you will need to instruct a solicitor to sell your house. Along with the conveyancer, they will draw up all the necessary contracts and advise you on any issues that may arise with the sale.

The sale of your house will take from six to twelve weeks depending whether there is a chain involved.

On completion all fees must be paid to the parties involved.

Happy moving!

This article was written by Tracey Aldous