How to Sell Your House Easily

Knowing the basics of how to sell a house is not the same as knowing how to sell your house fast. There are some straightforward ways to make selling your home faster and easier, and it’s not all about lowering your asking price. This isn’t about clearing your home of clutter and adding a fresh coat of paint (although those are important too).

This is about streamlining the process. If you have everything lined up well in advance, there will be fewer stumbling blocks to your property sale. So if you’re about to buy a home, or you’re getting ready to both buy and sell, here’s how to sell a house fast and in the easiest way possible.

Begin Selling Before You Begin Buying

If you have a property that you need to sell before you buy another, don’t delay when getting your existing home on the market. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t browse sales listings to get an idea of what you’re looking for. What it does mean is that you need to begin the process of selling before you start the process of buying.

Property sales are often part of a long chain of people buying and selling. Estate agents are unlikely to advise their customers to accept your offer if you currently have an incomplete chain. Talk to your solicitor about how to set up your sale so that it’s subject to contract.

Be Smart About Choosing an Estate Agent

It’s common sense to look around for an estate agent before you commit to one. Always ask a few estate agents to carry out a property valuation so that you have a better idea of how much your asking price can be. Remember, though, that the prices you get quoted aren’t going to be the best way to find the right estate agent.

The temptation will always be to choose the estate agent that gives you the highest quote on the value of your property. This can be a risk. They could be overvaluing your home in an effort to tempt you to use them over other options. If you want to know how to sell a house fast, overvaluing your property will have the opposite effect.

Not only will this usually mean the house stays on the market for longer, but you may even end up having to reduce your asking price anyway. Learn how to find out how much your home is worth before choosing an estate agent.

Get a Conveyancing Solicitor

Far too many people put off hiring a conveyancing solicitor until they’ve found the perfect property and have put in a successful bid. This one decision alone will dictate the speed of your house sale and purchase. The earlier into the process that you get the support of your conveyancing solicitor, the faster the sales process can be.

The conveyancing process of a property purchase can take time, so the earlier your solicitor can get started, the better. Ensure that you know what a conveyancing solicitor is and how long each stage of the conveyancing process will take. This will ensure there are fewer roadblocks to getting handed your new house keys.

Prepare for Viewing Days

This is the section that’s often repeated in thousands of online articles. It’s all about making your home look as presentable as possible in the hopes of getting a quick and easy sale. Knowing how to sell your home means knowing about staging your property. That’s going to involve you going over all of the basics, such as:

• Making your front garden neat and tidy
• Repairing any damage or wear and tear
• Removing clutter from inside and outside
• Having fresh flowers or the smell of coffee/bread during viewing events
• Updating decor, fixtures and fittings to reflect a more modern property.

There are hundreds of ways to get ready for viewing days. The more time you can afford to spend on getting your home perfect for potential buyers, the better your chances of an easy, fast sale will be.

Negotiating the Price

Your house is in the sales process, you’ve held viewing days, and your estate agent has now contacted you with an offer from a potential buyer. Don’t just listen out for that all-important cash total. Instead, remember that the estate agent must have additional information that you need to see.

The main thing to check is how the buyer of your home plans to pay for it. In most cases, this will involve a mortgage. You need to see how much the buyer needs to raise to qualify for that mortgage and whether or not their mortgage is approved or subject to references.

Your estate agent will also need to let you know if that buyer is part of a chain and the status and viability of that chain.

What your estate agent should never do is accept an offer on your behalf without talking to you. They should also never let possible buyers know if you’re likely to accept a lower offer. Doing so means that a buyer could have a budget of £250k but knows now that you’ll accept a price of £245k.

Remove the Property from Sales Listings

You’ve taken the above advice about how to sell a house fast, an offer has been made, and now you’ve accepted that offer. This is where a common mistake often happens. If your property is still listed for sale, the chances are that you’ll get new offers, sometimes for more than your asking price.

Do you consider those options? If nothing has been signed yet during exchange and completion, it means that nothing is legally binding. There’s a trust element here, and in our experience, it’s always best to remove your property from listings as soon as you’ve accepted an offer. Trying to get a higher price after accepting an offer from a different buyer will mean everything slows down, and additional costs may arise as a result.

How to Sell Your House Easily and Quickly

When you’re selling a home for the purpose of buying somewhere new to live in, it’s easy to forget how big a deal it is. There’s a lot of money involved, changing hands and going to different people. It’s usually the biggest single purchase that anyone makes — so don’t expect it to be the quickest process in the world.

Buyers will have questions (remember, they’re agreeing to hand over a substantial amount of money), and with multiple potential buyers, you could be answering the same queries repeatedly. There may also be timewasters who want multiple viewings despite knowing that your home is outside of their budget. Don’t let them slow you down.

Get everything in place, and be ready to act quickly when an offer is made. Knowing how to sell a house means having as much in place as possible before it’s needed. So if you’re in the early stages of selling your property because you’re moving up the property ladder, talk to the friendly office team at Lockings to find out more about how we can help with all of your conveyancing. We can help get everything right so that selling your home becomes much easier.