Your Sellers Guide

 
Making the decision to sell your home may seem daunting. To help make things clearer, we have created a simple seller’s guide that takes you through each step of the selling journey.

Step 1: Consider your finances

• Firstly, you want to know how much your home is worth, so you can then calculate how much money you will be left with after you have paid off the mortgage. Try our instant free valuation tool or give us a call to book a free formal valuation
• Check whether there are any early repayment penalties for leaving your mortgage early
• A solicitor or legal conveyancer will deal with the legal aspects of selling your home. The cost will depend on the sale value of your property
• If you are moving to a new home the moving costs will vary depending on how much you are moving and how far you are moving

 

Step 2: Prepare your home for market

• You will require an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) before you put your home on the market. An (EPC) is a standardised document that ranks properties in terms of energy efficiency
• Tidy up, get rid of excess clutter, give it a fresh lick of paint, fix those little snags and keep it clean and fresh
• Don’t forget the importance of kerb appeal is. Buyers may drive past a property to check it out. Tidy up the garden or driveway, clean the windows, and give the front door a spruce with some fresh paint
• Now more than ever buyers are looking for outdoor space. Weeding, cutting the grass, and adding a few decorative touches are simple, cost-effective ways to make the most of the outdoor space
• Give us a call for any advice on how to add value to your home at a minimal cost. Low-cost touches can make all the difference in ensuring maximum value and saleability
  

 

Step 3: Get ready for the legal work

• You can save a huge amount of pain and time by sorting out your legal sales pack as early as possible and filling in the relevant information
• You need to choose a conveyancing solicitor to handle the legal work involved in selling a property, give us a call and we can provide you with local and independent recommendations 

 

Step 4: Marketing your home

• Discuss the fee for selling your home with your Estate Agent and ensure you are confident in their marketing ability
• You will want to make sure there is a set of particulars which reflects your home and includes a quality description, professional photography, and floor plans
• You will need to approve these particulars before the Agent markets your home
• Presentation matters. Buyers are coming to look around your property, and you need to make an effort to show your home at its best. First impressions count!
• Keep the lawn cut and the bathrooms and kitchens clean and fresh. Remove clutter to create a feeling of spaciousness
• Ask a friend or neighbour to take care of your pets during viewings

 

Step 5: Receiving, negotiating, and accepting offers

• You’ve received an offer – hooray! The estate agent is legally required to pass all offers on to you
• If you are not happy with the offer, you can either reject it outright, wait to see if a better offer comes along, or tell the estate agent to try to negotiate it upwards. It’s also important to consider;1. What is the financial position of the potential buyer?
  2. What are your buyer’s timescales for moving?
  3. Is there a chain and how long is that?
• Once you are happy with an offer, you need to formally accept it, ‘subject to contract’, which means as long as a survey doesn’t throw up any surprises, the buyer will most likely complete the sale. At this stage, most buyers will request for your property to be taken off the market, and therefore viewings to stop
• An accepted offer is not legally binding until contracts are exchanged. This means a buyer can back out of the sale at any point up until contracts are exchanged. This is also the same for the seller

 

Step 6: Sales progression

• You want to commit your buyer quickly, so ensure once your solicitor has received a ‘memorandum of sale’ from the agent they have forwarded the completed contract back to the buyer’s solicitors
• Check with your agent to ensure the buyers are happy to commit to searches being instructed asap. Searches include, water, drainage, environmental and local council and could take approximately 1 month for all to be returned. Your agent should assist in helping expedite this part early to save time in the process
• Check with your agent to ensure the survey is being booked. Are they only having a mortgage survey or do they wish for further surveys too? Again, keep close contact with your agent and ensure the buyers understand the process
• Solicitors will raise enquiries based upon the contract pack received, respond as quickly as possible once your solicitors raise with you any enquiries received from the buyer’s solicitors
  
• Sign contracts ready for exchange. Buyers will need to send deposit funds to their solicitors to initiate the exchange of contracts

 

Step 7: Exchange contracts

• When you exchange contracts with the buyer you become legally committed to selling the property – and they are legally committed to buying it from you

 

Step 8: Complete the sale & move home

• You’ll need to ensure you have organised your home moving before completion. The more time you can give yourself the less stressful it will be
• Completion is when the property changes ownership, you accept payment and hand over the keys. On the day of completion, the money is transferred and any deeds for the property are transferred between each side’s solicitor or conveyancer. Your solicitor/conveyancer will register the transfer of ownership with the Land Registry
• At the time of completion, the property has to be in the condition agreed in the contract – including all the fixtures and fittings
• The mortgage company will have given you and your conveyancing solicitor a precise redemption figure for your mortgage for the day of completion. Now the buyer has transferred the remaining money to your solicitor, they will pay off the mortgage for you and settle any solicitors and estate agent fees

 

Selling your home doesn’t have to be a stressful process. With one dedicated Client Director for your property journey, you can be confident NEXA will deliver a seamless solution from initial enquiry to handing over the keys. Find out more about us today or try our free online valuation tool to receive an estimate in seconds.