Selling your existing home and moving to a property can sometimes be stressful, particularly if there are problems along the way that slow down the sale. But it doesn’t have to be like this, and there are some simple steps you can take to keep your house sale moving quickly.
The strength of the UK property market continues, with The Express suggesting there could be more than 1.5 million homes sold by the end of 2021, worth hundreds of billions of pounds combined — record numbers last seen almost 20 years ago. And that demand for buying houses and flats is making many homeowners think about selling.
If you own a property and have started to consider selling it, there are some steps that you should know about that can help to avoid roadblocks later on that might slow down the process. Regardless of whether you decide to find a buyer for your home through an auctioneer, an estate agent, or a fast property buying company, it’s possible to keep the sale going smoothly. Consider some of the useful tips below for a speedy and stress-free house sale.
Instruct your solicitor or conveyancer early in the process
Getting a head start on the legal work involved with selling your house or flat is a simple way to keep the sale moving rapidly. You will need to instruct a solicitor or conveyancer, a type of property lawyer, to start on processing the various complicated documents involved with selling your home. It’s recommended to do this either before listing for your home for sale, or at the same time that you list for property for sale, in order to keep things moving smoothly.
You can also help your conveyancer or solicitor in advance by trying to identify and collect as many important documents as possible that the buyer will want, such as the title deeds. Other vital documents can include notices, lease details, ground rent, and more if applicable.
When trying to select a conveyancer, you should try to find a firm that has a certificate from the Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS). The Law Society accredits the CQS, which is a recognition of a conveyancer’s high quality of service on a certain area of property transactions.
Ask buyers to organise their property survey quickly
When someone wants to buy a home, they usually get a property survey which is an independent review that aims to uncover any undisclosed problems with the house or flat. The sooner that such issues can be identified, the earlier they can be addressed and the sale can proceed.
Identify any possible problems with your home
You might be attempting to sell your home yourself, via an auction or an estate agent and yet aren’t receiving any offers or you’re only getting offers far below your preferred sale price. If that’s the case then there could be some problems with your property that need to be fixed.
The asking price is a major issue, and can be one of the most obvious stumbling blocks. If it’s set too high compared to similar properties for sale in your neighbourhood, you won’t get any or many offers and the sale will slow down. Ask around estate agents and others for free sale price quotes, and use this information to try and find a value that is reasonable for your location.
Or your home might have a structural problem that is turning potential buyers away. Outside, this could be issues such as overgrown weeds in the garden, chipped paint on the front door or window ledges, and missing roof tiles. Inside, the problems could range from the relatively minor such as dirty and cluttered rooms through to bigger concerns such as dry rot or subsidence. You should perform an honest review of every part of your home as if you were seeing it for the first time, identify any negative aspects, and then take steps to remedy them. Hopefully doing so will make your house or flat more attractive to buyers and you’ll quickly start to get some offers.
Quickly complete your home’s information form
Another crucial part of the routine of selling your home is to complete what’s known as a property information form. This is a document with a number of questions that you must answer about your house or flat, and it’s important that you be completely honest with your answers.
The queries could include asking you to provide information about changes that you might have made to the property whilst living there, any previous or ongoing complaints or other disputes over the home, providing certificates for work you’ve done on the house or flat such as installing damp proofing or double glazing, electrical repairs, and a number of other factors.
Ensure regular contact with property chains
It’s possible that you have entered into a property chain and that this is slowing down your sale, but don’t panic if that’s the case. Property chains exist when there are several homes involved in the buying and selling process, for example with the purchase of one house contingent on the prospective buyer being able to sell their property. The longer the chain becomes, the greater the odds that someone could pull out and then the entire process will collapse.
If you are in a property chain and it appears to have slowed down, there are some steps you can take to try and get it moving quickly again, and to guard against the chain breaking.
Ensure regular contact with everyone involved in the chain, or at least with their legal representatives. Ask to see whether any issues have cropped up that you might be able to help resolve. More communication is always better than none when dealing with property chains.
Consider selling your home to a fast cash buyer
Perhaps you have tried to sell your home via an estate agent and you haven’t received any offers for several months. Or maybe you tried your luck at a property auction and your house or flat didn’t sell, which means you have to restart the clock on finding a buyer. If that’s the case, one option for securing a swift sale could be to sell your home to a quick cash buyer.
These companies, such as the London-based LDN Properties, work one-on-one with homeowners to give them competitive and fast offers for selling their properties. And they can typically finalise the purchase of a home in a handful of weeks, including the time that it takes to exchange contracts and pay homeowners their proceeds.
Further, the reputable fast buyers never charge any fees, which means that you’ll get to keep all of the cash profit without having to deduct commission that estate agents and auctioneers charge.
