How to sell a house

Buying a house is generally a big step for most people, a step into adulthood with all the responsibility it entails. First-time buyers have it relatively easy as most sellers love first-time buyers, they don't have the dreaded 'chain', they are potentially naive in regards in what to look for and usually quite keen. But what if you already have a house and you need to sell to get a new place. This is the predicament I found myself in, the dreaded chain. Whilst we haven't found a new place to purchase yet, our current place has been sold so below is some things I've learn about the process along the way.

The estate agent

There are no shortage of estate agents all clamouring for your property. As soon as you call them up saying you are interested in selling your property, they'll have one of their representatives down to do one of their 'valuations'. We had a few come round, one that sold us the place and a few more found on Getagent.com. From what I gathered, they barely look at your house, and get their valuation from houses sold in the local area and look at the previous floor plans. Then they will sit you down, and then you get the sales pitch about what they offer (arranging viewings, open days, online marketing, videos, etc.) and may show you previous sales they'd done in the area. 

The agent's generally get paid only when the house is sold. They may bring up a contract there and then to get you to sign straight away but I would advise not to sign with the first one. You may be able to play them off one another to see if you can whittle down their fees (which can be significant!), remember that it is normally a percentage, plus VAT (which is 20%). So for example on a £250,000 house sale, a 2% plus VAT fee would be £6,000, a hefty chunk of your next deposit. There are online agencies such as Purplebricks that you pay a fixed cost upfront but you have to do the bulk of the viewings yourself depending on the package you do. Strike is an online agent that is totally free to use which could be good if you want to save a lot of money. Personally we went with a traditional estate agent and was glad we did, as it would have been too busy trying to organise the viewings, but I'm sure it would have been feasible. 

If you are super desperate to sell your house, then you can go for a multi-agency deal where multiple agents try to sell your house at the same time. The commission is usually higher for these types of deals though. 

Photos and Viewings

Now you've chosen an estate agent, next is preparing your house for photos and viewings. it is normally best to remove clutter but also still give the appearance of a nice home to live it. If you look at a lot of photos on rightmove, a lot of photos will include little plants/succulents, fruit bowl in the kitchen and minimal family photos. Don't be afraid to ask your agents to retake them if you feel they don't show off your house well enough. If the online posting is good enough, you'll get some viewings. 

Our agents did the more traditional route of doing individual viewings however I think the better approach is an open day. It allows the prospective buyers see each other and may foster competition. Plus you only have to keep your house clean once rather than having to tidy up constantly whenever a viewing is arranged. Make sure you tell your agents the best bits of your house, they won't know unless you tell them!

Offers

If someone likes your house, they'll put some offers down. You can wait to see if you get any more, go back with a counter offer or accept it. Once you accept it, they will usually ask to take your online advert down so you cant get more viewings. 

Now is the time to contact your conveyancers/solicitors involved. Usually the agents will refer you to theirs or strongly recommend certain ones, remember it's totally your decision. You can search online on a lot of comparison websites to see which ones are cheapest or best. We're using Juno which is a totally online service which has been very easy and efficient to use so far. 

Now it's time to find a house to buy yourself! What steps are needed to navigate the sale and purchase of your house move? That's in an upcoming post, coming soon.

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