Selling Your Property – What’s Involved?
In most cases, the biggest obstacle to successfully moving home is the problem of first having to dispose of your existing property. Unless you live in rented accommodation or you’re a first-time buyer or an investor, before you can get down to any serious house-hunting achieving a successful sale will be key to getting what you want.
Despite reassuring promises of a quick and easy sale from smooth-talking estate agents, selling a property means embarking on a major journey, littered with traps and potential pitfalls. This is what the sale process involves:-
THE SALE PROCESS
The stages you go through as a seller will run something like this, although not always in this precise order. If you’re buying your next property at the same time, some stages will overlap. All these stages will be explored in detail in future blogs.
1. Appointing your conveyancer
First make sure you have your legal team ready in good time – in case an eager buyer wants to snap up your property and move quickly
2. Getting it valued and putting it on the market
Having decided on an asking price, select a suitable estate agent and/or sell it privately. You, or your estate agent, will need to arrange an inspection for the Energy Performance Certificate.
3. Viewings
You or your agent act as tour guides, showing prospective buyers round the house.
4. Negotiating the sale
Sooner or later an offer is made, and it’s down to you or your agent to negotiate the best price.
5. Conveyancing
The legal process of transferring ownership can now fully proceed.
6. Valuations and surveys
Most buyers will need a mortgage and the lender will normally require an inspection to be carried out for the mortgage valuation. Often the buyer’s private survey can be done at the same time.
7. Exchanging contracts
When both sides’ solicitors are ready, contracts can be exchanged. Only now is the deal legally binding.
8. Moving and completion
Take the money and move out!
Our next blog – coming soon …….
The legal framework to selling a property
Check out our Rightsurvey blog page for more industry tips and secrets written by property professionals to help put you in control.
