Sellers Guide
Property Valuation
Choose an Estate Agent
Tips On Home Staging
Offer Negotiation
Qualifying your Sale
Sales Progression
Finance
Conveyancing
Managing The Chain
Perhaps the most important part of the process is establishing the value of your property and agreeing a “go to market” price. It is important that you find a sound balance with this price. Too high and you could alienate potential buyers and spend a long time marketing your property without success. Too low and you can potentially miss out on thousands.
Cricketts will visit your home and conduct a thorough inspection of your property, discuss the marketing options as well as set expectations and service levels with regards to all correspondence. This is also a great opportunity for us to learn as much as we can about your own situation and requirements as well as giving you the chance to clarify any concerns you have of the process as a whole.
Following this meeting we shall provide you with a suggested “go to market” price, this shall be based upon our initial inspection as well as research conducted on comparable sales prices of properties in the region.
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Choose an Estate Agent
Choosing an estate agent in today’s market can be a daunting prospect, with so much variety, how do you begin to decide who will suit you best. Here are a few things to consider whilst deciding.
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Beware inflated valuations
In a competitive market place it is not unknown for estate agents to over value or “top” a property to gain an instruction. The danger of this is that you could alienate potential purchasers and be left languishing on the market when those around you sell successfully.
You get what you pay for
Estate agents offering cut price fees often have to rely upon selling a larger volume of properties to cover their own overheads. Of course price is important, but beware that you do not sacrifice quality of service and marketing as this can cost you thousands on your eventual sales price.
Marketing Strategy
Choose an estate agent that offers you a varied approach to marketing. With applicant attraction increasingly being driven by the internet it is important to opt for an estate agent with a strong online strategy, as well as good print advertising and pavement presence. Cricketts offers a comprehensive marketing strategy, tailored to an individual property, covering the internet, local advertising, direct telesales, text, e-mail and picture message marketing and much more.
Communication & Trust
9 out of 10 times vendors will choose an estate agent based upon the personality of the valuer visiting their home. It is essential that you instruct an estate agent that you will be able to build a good working relationship with, it is important that you are confident in taking advice from this person and their team, after all that is what you shall be paying them for.
Cricketts prides itself in employing personable professionals that understand and empathize with people they work on behalf of every day.
Cricketts will offer you the option of accompanied viewings, If you are happy to conduct your own viewings, here are a few tips to make it a more pleasurable and successful experience.
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Tidy up
Rooms look larger and more inviting when they are neat and uncluttered. Put clothes away and close cupboard and wardrobe doors, make the beds, do the washing up, clean the sink and remove any limescale from taps. Kitchen work surfaces should be clear, make sure bathrooms are clean and toilet seats are down. Remember that the presentation of your kitchen and bathroom are very often key to leaving that good impression.
Get the lighting right:
Your home should look warm and cosy, inside and out. Replace any burned out bulbs, open the windows, (even for a few minutes – to get rid of any cooking or pet odours). If it’s winter, make sure your home feels warm. Empty the kitchen bin, make sure the windows are clean inside and out, turn off the TV and put the radio on softly and tidy away any children’s toys you have.
Prepare for Some Questions:
Take a look at our buyers guide for an insight into what a prospective purchaser will want to know, alternatively, put yourself in a buyers shoes, what would you want to know.
During the Viewing
If you are at home while people are viewing your property, you have an opportunity to find out what’s important to them. Listen for clues and, where possible, tell them about the features of your home and the neighbourhood that you think would appeal to them.
Once you have told them everything you think is useful, let them look round the property again on their own so that they can gather
Cricketts shall inform you of any offer made on your property both verbally, at the earliest opportunity, and in writing within 24 hours. In turn we would appreciate your response and feedback on any offer made. Cricketts then conveys this response either positive or negative to the prospective purchaser.
At the point of receiving an offer, we shall also impart to you the purchasers own buying position and expected timescales to allow you to make an informed decision. Please note that we are not always in control of our purchasers position, therefore, any information on this status could be subject to change.
Cricketts will always endeavor to achieve the optimum market price for your property, and to make the negotiation process as transparent as possible.
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Once you have received an acceptable offer we shall begin firming up the details needed to progress your sale. We shall obtain full details of the purchasers mortgage lender (if not already received, details of their solicitor or conveyencing firm. As well as the details of any estate agent acting involved in selling the purchasers property. This will enable us to pro-actively manage any existing chain through to successful completion. It is only at this point that we shall advise you to cease marketing activity in faith of the firm offer subject to contract.
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Our job does not finish here, unlike many of our competitors we provide a dedicated sales progression manager to liaise with both yourself the purchaser and all other interested parties, including solicitors & mortgage companies, right through to completion or “moving day”. This all starts with a letter from ourselves to all parties confirming the sale.
Several things need to be in place before your solicitor is able to exchange the contracts sale which ultimately secures your sale. The time needed to get to this stage is at the mercy of many variables, but the speed with which you start the ball rolling will hugely influence the overall timescale involved, see the purchasing timetable for guidelines. There are two basic areas to cover detail Finance & Conveyancing.
To aid in speeding up the process here are a few pointers on the stages to be completed with regards to finance. Please note that this is for guidance purposes only and Cricketts recommend that you seek detailed advice on your own situation from a qualified financial advisor. Cricketts regularly recommend Shirley Hughes financial services (insert contact details)
- Complete a Full mortgage application – either direct or with the assistance of a financial advisor
- Survey/Valuation – the lender will seek to guarantee the funding you require by way of a formal survey. This can take the form of a basic valuation or homebuyers report, the latter being more detailed perhaps highlighting smaller areas of concern.
- Reciept of Mortgage Offer – this shall be provided by the mortgage company when they are happy with the report, provided by the surveyor as to the safety of their investment in your new property. A copy of this should be provided to your sales progressor to allow her to liase with the mortgage company & solicitor with regards your completion date
Both buyer and seller will require a solicitor/conveyancer that can act for themselves and their lender, but both parties cannot use the same person, as this creates a conflict of interest. Cricketts are happy to recommend a solicitor that we have a working relationship with.
It is essential that you instruct a solicitor/conveyancer who will deal with the purchase of your property promptly. It is important the solicitor is experienced in handling residential property sales, can be readily contacted and can deal with your case speedily.
When choosing is may be important to remember, Although it’s a good idea research a number of conveyancers for an estimate of their costs before instructing them to work for you, many people make the mistake of asking several firms and then selecting the cheapest. It should be remembered that the only way that a budget firm can keep afloat and make low charges is by processing very high volumes of business. Experience suggests that the result is often poor service
With regards to your own purchase you will need to furnish your solicitor with payment to start the process and they will also require funds for executing local authority, drainage and sometimes other searches on the property you are proposing to purchase. Any delay with instruction of this process and payment to the company chosen can directly affect the overall timescale of the transaction.
Our sales progression manager shall stay in contact with your solicitor throughout the sale process to monitor your progress and to assist with any issues. They will liaise with all parties involved across the entire chain so it is important that you instruct a solicitor that is prepared to communicate with the sales progressor directly. You can also help by agreeing all of the timescales with your solicitor upfront, and continue to stay on top of them monitoring progress.
During the transaction your solicitor will, amongst other things, instruct the draft contract of sale, the property title deeds and land registry records, and liaise with your mortgage provider. Once they have approved the contract and all the relevant documentation is in place, you will meet with your solicitor to sign the contract.
Contracts can then be exchanged and the completion date (the day you hand over possession of the property) can be set. This is usually four weeks after exchanging contracts or sooner. On completion the purchasers Solicitor hands over the remainder of the purchase money to your Solicitor and you can move into your new home. Keys will be handed over to the purchasers by one of our negotiators at our offices.
This is arguably the most difficult part of the whole process, chains take time to develop but cannot progress until they are complete, with a beginning and end. Whilst the individual elements of the chain may mature at different times, exchanging contracts and completion have to occur simultaneously. It can sometimes be challenging to get agreement for a common completion date from all parties involved and compromise is often required.
It is important to liaise very closely with your sales progressor, monitor your own chain progress at Cricketts online customer lounge.