Call us on
0845 430 9202
Our Blog
What's involved in selling your home privately? Posted: Friday, 23rd October 2009
1. HIP - If you haven't already got one, legally you must have a HIP (Home Information Pack) before marketing your property or face a fine. There are a number of different suppliers out there, some better than others, but you should expect to pay between £200 and £500 in most cases.
2. PHOTOS - You can take photos of your home yourself with a digital camera and upload them or you may decide to pay someone else to take photos, produce a virtual tour, or even film a video for you.
3. FLOOR PLANS - You may already have a floor plan that you can use from when you bought the property, or from when you had a planning application submitted. In which case you can upload this document to your home profile. If you don't have a floorplan, there are a range of options from sketching out each floor with measurements, and using a sketch and fax supplier (expect to pay around £20) to a professional floor plan company who will come and measure up and produce one for you (around £45 for properties up to 1,500 sq ft).
4. LEASE (FOR LEASEHOLD PROPERTIES) - Find out the details of the lease if you own a leasehold property. To start with you will need to know how long the lease has left and how much the service charge and ground rent is.
5. BOARDS - Do you want a sales board outside your home to increase awareness? They are proven to help with marketing, order your board with this home 4u then all you have to do is to put up outside your home. We charge £35 for the board.
6. VIEWINGS - Do you want to do the viewing yourself or do you have a friend or relative who could do them for you. Alternatively you can pay to use a key holding company who will do the viewings for you. Rates for this vary considerably.
7. PUT YOUR HOME ONLINE- Load your details onto our website. Try to be creative here, you really need to make your property stand out. The more photos and information you can give a prospective buyer the better.
8. SOLICITORS - Contact your solicitor and let them know you would like to get paperwork in order in preparation for a buyer. If you do not have a solicitor I would suggest you ask family/friends for a recommendation. This is one area I think it is a bit unwise to be money driven.
9. PAPERWORK - Your solicitor should send you a fixtures and fittings form and a preliminary enquiries form to fill in. I would suggest you get these filled in and sent back as soon as you can. There may be extra paperwork that needs hunting down i.e. planning permissions, building regulation approval or details of your lease.
10. NEGOTIATION - When a potential purchaser contacts you, I would recommend that you negotiate with them initially online and do not give out more personal details than you have to, i.e. when you are away on holiday, where you work, whether you live alone, or your personal details.
11. SALE AGREED - Once you have agreed a sale figure you will need to agree exchange and completion dates and swap solicitors details. You then need to instruct your own solicitor giving them all the details of the buyer and sale.
12. CHECK - Ask your solicitor to contact the purchasers solicitor and check they have been instructed and that everyone is in agreement as to dates and details of the sale.
13. MORTGAGE/SURVEY - If a mortgage is required, check when it is booked in to be carried out. It is at this point that the purchaser will have had to part with some money and so you can be a little bit more confident that the sale should go through.
14. ACCESS - You may well need to be around to let valuers/surveyors into the property.
15. CHASE - Keep chasing your solicitor, asking them to check that the buyer's solicitor has all they require and has put any searches in place.
16. MORTGAGE OFFER - Check with the buyer as to when their mortgage offer will be through.
17. EXCHANGE - Once both sets of solicitors are happy that all paperwork is in order, a deposit is being held and that the mortgage offer is agreed, your solicitors can exchange contracts. This is done by a phone call between them.
18. POST EXCHANGE - Between exchange and completion you will need to arrange removals, contact your energy suppliers and arrange for post to be forwarded.
19. COMPLETION - You move out of the property. The monies are sent to your solicitor who will pay any charges against the property i.e. your mortgage and generally their fees. Any remaining monies will either be used to buy your next home or sent to you directly.
20. USE This home 4u – It’s new, exciting and until January 1st 2010 we will not charge you to advertise your property.
Home owners save more than £3,000 by selling online, says Which? study Posted: Wednesday, 19 August 2009 Selling your home privatley online means home owners can avoid using traditional high street estate agents that typically charge between 1 per cent and 3 per cent of the sale price. The study by consumer group which? said fees charged by online agents tend to much lower – from as little as 0.5 per cent. However, it warned to watch out for additional costs, such as for sale signs, which can add £30 onto your bill. The study compared three different online agents marketing a home with an asking price of £200,000 and the potential savings made versus an average high-street agent charging a commission fee of 1.5 per cent. But while some home owners may decide to bypass the middle man and sell independently, Which? Money warned that this option can cost time and money to market the property. Sarah Beeny, property television presenter and founder of online property service Tepilo.com, said: “Times are moving on – we don’t need to pay for estate agents shop fronts, mini bars, telephone systems and branded cars – if you would rather keep the money and spend it on a holiday in Seychelles or a new kitchen when you move into your new home, then pop your house online. “Now in 2009 most people wanting to buy a house will go online pop into Google ‘houses to buy near Northampton’ and come up with a modern equivalent of those high streets. One click away and you are on an online portal and you can check out what is available, for how much and download the details.”
