Sellers Guide

Establish the value of your current property

Once we have been instructed to sell your home. We immediately put into action a marketing plan.

We would visit the property again, and point out any issues we believe will be important factors in presenting your property in its light. This could be de-cluttering, painting a wall or doing some tidying of the garden. Once these points are actioned, we will.

Arrange an EPC Professional photography and a floor plan.

Prepare a brochure of the property for all media forms.

Upload the property details to the all the major property portals and our own website

Arrange accompanied appointments to view the property at agreed times to suit your needs.

We would suggest first viewings should be with the agent when the property is empty, as this gives the best viewing experience and helps the purchaser feel at home in your property.

Feedback comments after viewings both positive & negative to give you a clear idea of what the clients thought of the property and how it compares to alternative property they have seen.

If the purchaser would like to come back for a 2^nd viewing, this is often a good time for the seller to be home as they may have answers to specific questions that a buyer may have, and you as the property owner are the best person to answer any questions about your property.

Agreeing a Deal / Progressing the Transaction

It's very important that a deal is agreed that suits both the seller[you] and the buyer. It may not always be the best price, it will sometimes be the buyer in the best buying position that we would recommend. This could mean that we may recommend a buyer who is 'chain free' and does not have to sell, or a cash buyer, who has proof of funds and does not need finance/mortgage to purchase.

To get a deal to progress and achieve your objective of a smooth sale, we would advise that we clearly set an objective of a timeframe and a date to get to an exchange of contracts [ when the property is officially sold]. This should be achievable and agreed upon at the outset by all parties, including the legal conveyancers who often control the timeframe of the deal.

Throughout the process, we will keep you advised and updated of progress, and what stages are concluded, or need to be concluded to get to an exchange. should there be any issues, they are dealt with professionally, and pro-actively to keep the deal moving in the right direction.

The legal process of selling a property once the deal has been agreed.

Please add in the details in your list of the summary of legal process.

Summary of the legal process

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

1. Terms are agreed between Seller and Buyer and both parties instruct their conveyancer to work for them.
2. The Seller's conveyancer obtains the Seller's title deed and prepares the draft Contract for the Buyer's conveyancer to approve
3. 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.
4. The Buyer's conveyancer reviews the detailed terms of the Contract, does the Searches and reviews the results, confirms that there is a Mortgage Offer in place, and also checks the readiness of any dependent sale (in the same chain) to proceed.
5. Contracts are then signed and exchanged at which time a Completion Date is agreed between both parties.
6. 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.
7. The Buyer's conveyancer obtains the funds for the purchase from the Buyer either directly, or though the sale of his/her previous property and the lender (if there is a Mortgage)
8. 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.
9. 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 6-8 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.

Surveys

In parallel to the legal process, one of more surveys may be commissioned on your property. If the Buyer requires a Mortgage their lender will make arrangements for a very basic survey (known as a Valuation) to provide assurances that it's worth the price being offered for it. In addition to this, the Buyer may also commission a more comprehensive survey which will assess in more detail the condition of the property and make appropriate recommendations.