Thinking of selling or made a firm decision to sell? Here we breakdown some key steps to get your property marketed and sold.
Get a market appraisal from trusted estate agents
We always encourage potential vendors to get at least two estate agents to do a market appraisal/valuation of their property. This is to ensure you are confident about the price and contract including the fees each agent quote you.
You should expect that each agent clearly details their reasoning for their price valuation, a strategy for how they will achieve this and a summary of the contract they offer.
For the most accurate valuation and to establish a transparent relationship with your agent, it’s important to be honest with your agent about any issues your property might have that can cause disruption to the sale. Known issues should be reflected in the price as they will come up during searches and can delay or dismantle the sale.
After you receive your post-valuation letter – you choose your agent. This should be the agent you are most comfortable with and who has given you the most confidence they will ensure you get a successful sale with the least amount of stress for you as a seller.
Chose the agent you you are most comfortable with and who has given you the most confidence…
Sign contracts
Once you instruct an estate agent to sell your property, you will be sent a contract to sign. This can either be a sole-agency or multi-agency contract depending on if you go with one or multiple agents.
The key things to investigate before signing your contract is how long your notice period is, what the minimum term is and what is included in your fee (photography/marketing e.g.). An agent who is confident they will provide you with a great service AND sell your property at the valuation they have set – will not tie you into a long contract.
As a company, we have never believed in long contracts, which is why we offer zero-weeks contract as standard.
We offer zero-week contracts as standard
Get your property ready for pictures
How you and the agent present your property matters.
As a seller, your part in this will be to tidy and declutter your property before pictures are taken. Equally, the agent should never be taking pictures on an old smartphone, and you should expect that they take pictures from the angles that shows the full size of the rooms.
High-quality pictures do matter – even if you are selling an traditionally easy-to-sell property such as a three-bedroom house in a desirable area such as Bitterne, Southampton.
You can read more about how to prepare your property for valuations and viewings here https://edisongreen.co.uk/industry/preparing-your-property-for-viewings-and-valuations-to-increase-your-saleability/
Agents should never be taking your marketing pictures on an old smartphone
Final approvements before the property goes on the market
The agent should send you their pictures and property description for you to approve before it officially hits the market. If there is anything you are not happy about make you agent aware – they should amend it before the property gets marketed.
Viewings
Once the property is on the market, your agent will get requests for viewings. You should expect them to do a thorough check of all potential buyers to ensure they are proceedable before any viewings are booked.
Before the viewings, we encourage sellers to try and keep their property at the same or similar standard as the marketing pictures. This enables prospective buyers to see the potential of the property and makes your home as inviting as possible.
Offers
Once viewings have concluded, you will hopefully have offers to consider. Your agent is legally bound to put all offers made forward to you. Alongside your agent, you should discuss the offers including what the lowest offer you are willing to accept.
Agree a sale
Sale agreed – check out our post on what to expect from the selling process here https://edisongreen.co.uk/industry/what-to-expect-when-buying-or-selling-a-property-in-england/