• Establish the value of your current property
• Select an estate agent
• Preparing your property to maximize its sale-ability and/or price
• Conducting viewings
• Negotiating the deal
• Completing contracts

Establish the value of your current property

 

A realistic assessment of the value of your property is an important first step to ensure you understand how you will finance your home move.

Whilst local property newspapers and websites can be used to provide an indication of what your property might be worth, you will need the

experience of a professional estate agent to get a more accurate and realistic assessment of its real value. We will be happy to provide you

a free , no-obligation, property appraisal.

We can meet you at your property a time that best suit your needs. Our appointment with you would typically take between 30-60 mins and

would include a detailed inspection of your property. At our meeting, we will discuss the specific needs relevant to your own situation

market forces and current demand, previous transactions in your street and activity levels with other property similar to your own.

This information will help us advise you on: the potential value range applicable to your property anything you could do to enhance

this value, and a recommended marketing strategy that suits your particular objectives. Any questions or concerns you

have can also be addressed at this meeting

Select an estate agent

 

Having established the value of your property and decided to go onto the market you will need to choose us as an agent to act for you.

A successful agency will have a comprehensive marketing strategy and methods, professionally qualified & courteous staff and a

realistic expectation of what the market can achieve. With us, you only pay commission when we successfully sell your property

and you’ll always have access to a specialist team dedicated to sales. But, beyond that, we provide a significantly higher level

of service that you would typically expect from a traditional estate agency.

Contact us to find out more about what we offer you

Preparing your property to maximize its sale ability and/or price

 

The majority of buyers now use internet property portals to search for a home. Therefore the visual imagery used with these listings

are the first taste of your home a potential purchaser is likely to experience and this will be hugely influence whether

they contact us to arrange a viewing.

Preparing your home for photography and other visuals we develop (such as videos) is therefore one of the most important actions

you can take to maximize your chances of attracting interest. With us, you don’t have to as we can do all this for you as part of

the instruction process. Our consultant will allow enough time to work through your property on a room-by-room basis to carefully

consider the best layout of furnishings, removal of personal items and the best aspects to capture. Room dimensions and details

will be recorded and a plan of the property will also be drawn.

Conducting viewings

 

Estate Agents commit huge amounts of time and money towards marketing properties to prospective purchasers with the prime

aim of encouraging them to view the property.

We will discuss with you the best times of the day & week to present your property and do our best to steer appointments

around these times. Many considerations need to be made, including your normal weekly patterns.

Negotiating the deal

 

Any offer received will be put forward to you verbally at the first available opportunity, and in writing within twenty-four hours. You will

need to make a response to any offer. If the initial offer is rejected and the purchaser decides to increase their offer, the process

will simply be repeated.

We will make all best endeavours to qualify purchasers in advance of any viewings but at the very latest, at offer time. By “qualify”

we mean that we will formally check their status and ability to proceed with any offer they make. You will need instruct a

solicitor/conveyancer to act for you in the sale. It is only when this information has been provided and we have contacted the

necessary parties for verification of your purchasers’ situation that we will consider whether it would be pertinent to stop

showing your property to other prospective purchasers.

It is at this stage that we will try to make you aware of any chain implications and the likely timescale of any agreed transaction. Due to

the nature of the buying process, it is important to note and understand that any information provided by us concerning the transaction

chain is not guaranteed and could change at any time. However, regular liaison will be made with legal parties acting on both your and

your buyers behalf to ensure we can keep you abreast of progress on a timely basis.

Completing contracts

 

Once you have accepted an offer the legal process starts to arrange for contracts to be drawn up and agreed, to confirm payment is

made for your property, and that legal title is properly transferred to your buyer.

To support these activities you (and your buyer) will need to instruct a solicitor or conveyancer to do this work on your behalf. The

choice of who will act for you is entirely at your discretion but to help you with this, we promote a range of different and very

competitive conveyancing options. Please contact us for further information.

Summary of the legal process

 

In summary, the overall legal process to exchange and complete contracts with your buyer generally takes the following steps:

Terms are agreed between Seller and Buyer and both parties instruct their conveyancer to work for them.

The Seller’s conveyancer obtains the Seller’s title deed and prepares the draft Contract for the Buyer’s conveyancer to approve

The Seller’s conveyancer send to the Buyers conveyancer the draft Contract together with rest of the documentation needed to

form the overall contractual package.

The Buyer’s conveyancer reviews the detailed terms of the Contract, does the Searches and reviews the results, confirms that

there is a Sale Offer in place, and also checks the readiness of any dependent sale (in the same chain) to proceed.

Contracts are then signed and exchanged at which time a Completion Date is agreed between both parties.

The Transfer Deed is prepared by the Buyer’s conveyancer and approved by the Seller’s conveyancer, and then signed in

readiness for the Completion Date.

The Buyer’s conveyancer obtains the funds for the purchase from the Buyer.

On the Completion Date the Buyer’s conveyancer sends the required funds to the Seller’s conveyancer (on behalf of the Seller).

When receipt of these funds is confirmed by the Sellers conveyancer, the purchase is deemed compete and the Buyer

can take legal occupation.

The Buyer’s conveyancer pays any Stamp Duty due, and registers the Buyer as the new owner of the property at the Land Registry

Our advice: The time it takes to progress through this stage is dependent on various factors but the entire process could take

at least 2-4 weeks. However, to speed up the process from your end, we recommend you instruct legal representation prior to

finding a buyer as there are various things they can do well in advance, and hence save time later. This includes calling for

your title deeds office copy entries and various other documents all of which can take some time to get hold of. Its worth

completing various documents in advance such as the “Sellers Property Information Form” and “Fixture Fittings and

Contents” declaration as these will also help speed up things later.

Please contact us for any further information, advice or help you may need to help you with buying your next home.