Is it the right time to sell?
It always seems like the house market is booming and prices are rising, but there will be local variations. It might not always be the best time to sell your house. It’s important that you get that advice from a property expert with local knowledge. We would be happy to discuss your home with you and your current situation and give you advice based on your property and personal circumstances.
What research should you do before you sell?
Before you decide to sell your property, it is worth doing a bit of research yourself before contacting an agent. What are similar properties in the area to yours selling for? How long have similar properties taken to sell? Use this guide figure to help you get a rough idea of what your property is worth. A more precise valuation from an agent can come later.
Finding the true value of your property
Use our online valuation tool for an instant estimate, however please be aware that the value generated might not be accurate. To book a more accurate valuation, one of our local experts will arrange an appointment to officially value your property. This would be a much more accurate valuation and use this time to ask any questions about the local market and the agents experience selling in the area.
Choosing an estate agent
There are plenty of questions to ask a potential estate agent. When making your decision on an estate agent, don’t forget why you need them in the first place, to market your home and gain maximum exposure. So try and base your decision mainly on their marketing and strategies rather than who is the cheapest, there may be good reasons why they are cheap. Social media is a huge part of modern day life, if an estate agent isn’t on social media or use it to its full potential, then they aren’t going to give you the maximum exposure you require.
The stages of selling your home
Our onboarding process
We will require you to provide documentation showing that you are the legal owner of the property or in a position to instruct the sale of the property. We will then send you an electronic sales agreement to ensign and return. This is a very simple process. Once your property has been logged on our system you will receive login details to access your property sale progress all the way through to completion.
Get a Home Report
It is a legal requirement that before you market your home, you must have a home report done on the property. We can organise that for you hassle free and you will receive our discounted rate from a panel of chartered surveyors that we use. The surveyor will come out on an agreed date and time, inspect your home and within 48 hours provide you with all three parts that complete your home report, the EPC, the valuation and the property questionnaire.
Prepare your home to be put on the market
You want your home to make the best possible impression on potential buyers. Give your property some kerb appeal by tidying up the front garden, cleaning the porch or perhaps even repainting your front door. Inside, decluttering is a good idea. If your home looks untidy, take this opportunity to give it more of a neutral feel, or a blank canvas. Some sellers also like to ‘stage’ their home, creating an illusion of space that they hope will seduce a viewer; swapping large sofas for smaller ones, or hanging mirrors in more confined spaces. We provide all our sellers with a staging document, whilst giving guidance and advice. We pass on help and tips on what has worked in previous sales.
Marketing
Once you are ready we will pop out to do the images, video, 360 virtual tour and social media content. Once the images and footage has been taken, we will then go away and edit before going live. You will receive a link with all images, video and 360 virtual tour for your approval. Once approved you are almost there and ready to go live.
Agree on a marketing price
Your agent will call you to discuss the marketing strategy and the advertising price. Price is critical and just as important in attracting potential buyers as images and video are. We will discuss your property and value with you and agree a price that we believe will generate interest and in turn convert enquiries into physical viewers. The more viewers we get the higher chance of receiving offers.
Choose a Solicitor Choosing a solicitor is an important part of selling your property. They need experience in property conveyancing as well as a solid understanding of property marketing in your area.
The solicitor will usually be responsible for the following:
● Drawing up and reviewing the missives
● Conducting the local searches
● Corresponding with the registers of Scotland
● Managing payments, collection and transfer of funds
● Providing you with legal advice as and when you need it
Arrange viewings
Property viewings can be arranged by yourself or by the estate agent – it depends on what you have agreed. We would always advise that viewings are conducted by a professional to ensure your home sells at the best possible price..
Make sure your property is in a clean, tidy condition for each viewing. It does not have to be pristine, just a comfortable state for potential buyers to imagine themselves living there. Remember it’s not just you’re estate agent who is selling your home, it’s you too, so we work as a team to get the best results. We also provide you with help and tips on how to prepare for a viewing.
Accept an offer Once you have received an offer you are happy with, inform your estate agent. Make sure you discuss all the details and agree on any preferred dates for completion, it is worth taking into consideration that these dates must be agreeable with others if a chain is involved. One element to confirm is what is being left as part of the sale, we can then prepare to send the offer to your solicitor with all the particulars.
Completing the sale
At this point everything has been handed over to the solicitors, however we are always there to help facilitate the progress of the sale. The whole process and timescales depend on a number of factors such as the parties involved agreeing a date of entry, mortgage offers, release of funds and all documentation in place including signed missives. Your solicitor is best placed to give you a timeline of this, however we are on hand to help.
Day of completion and transfer of keys
This is the final step to selling a house. The completion date is the day the buyer and seller agree that all funds are to be transferred and the sale confirmed. This date will be influenced by the size of the chain you are in and the availability of your removals company. The completion date will usually (but not always) be the day you move home, and if you are buying a property, into your new home. You will need to move out of the property
and ensure you have left it in the state agreed, and left all the fixtures and fittings including anything else discussed when agreeing the sale.
Once moved out, ensure the estate agent has all the keys to the property at a reasonable time to ensure the estate agent can arrange the hand over to the buyer.
