How to sell a house quickly
Deciding to move home and sell your house is a big decision and one that contains a huge amount of factors.
Putting your house up for sale isn’t as simple as sticking up a ‘For Sale’ sign on the driveway and agreeing on a deal; there are a wide range of considerations and decisions you’ll have to make before it’s sold. For example, which estate agents will you use? Have you thought about redecorating simply to make your home more marketable?
If you’re desperate for a super-quick house sale, have you thought about using a cash house-buying company?
There are so many questions you must ask yourself.
Fortunately, at GD Property Solicitors, we’re experienced in helping people buy and sell their homes, so know the exact steps you must take to ensure a smooth property sale.
Steps to follow for a fast house sale
Check your mortgage agreement
First of all, you must check your mortgage finance agreement. This is to ensure you don’t have any penalty fees for moving.
If you do have an early repayment charge, make sure you find out exactly how much you would owe your mortgage lenders by selling your home now and moving.
If the early repayment charge is too high for you right now, then you know it isn’t the right time to sell your property quickly.
Consider your next step
When hoping for a fast sale, the next step isn’t always obvious.
Of course, many people sell their homes because they’re buying another and moving into it straight away – but it isn’t the case for everybody.
You may be downsizing and looking for a smaller property to rent, moving into sheltered accommodation, moving in with family or even moving abroad.
If you are buying another home but the new one won’t be ready to move into yet, you must consider where you’ll live until it is. Will you move into a short-term rental or live with family?
How much will it cost to sell your house?
A house sale requires spending a little extra on conveyancing solicitors, estate agent fees and other things, such as a removal company or hiring a van.
Consider your options here carefully as an online estate agent will be cheaper but you’ll get a more personal experience with high-street or local estate agents.
Online estate agents could cost up to £1500 while a high-street estate agent could cost up to £10,000, depending on the market value of your home.
In terms of removal companies, this could cost up to £1,200. Even if you don’t use a company to move your items, and choose to do it yourself, you’ll still have to pay a couple of hundred pounds to hire a van for a day.
Also, if you’re hoping for a quick property sale, you must ensure the property has an up-to-date energy performance certificate (EPC), which costs up to £120. This is mandatory for any property sale – no matter the asking price – and the certificate lasts for 10 years.
Redecorate
Think about it carefully: is your home ready to be sold?
And by that, we mean, is the style of home neutral and appealing to all different buyers? If you have striking, dark colours, it can put some buyers off – especially those who don’t want to do too much immediate cosmetic work after they’ve moved in.
Here’s how you can redecorate the right way to appeal to prospective buyers and sell your house fast:
- Clean the property’s exterior – first impressions count for a lot
- Make main features stand out
- Allow rooms to clearly show their purpose
- Hang up mirrors in hallways to add light and create the illusion of space
- Get rid of unpleasant smells
- If it’s cold outside, turn on the heating and make the home welcoming and warm
Use estate agents to value your property
Once your home has been revamped and is ready for property buyers, it’s time to seek the services of an estate agent to value your property.
But, wait! Before contacting an estate agent, you must do your research on the local area and figure out the potential full market value of your home.
You can easily find out how much the other homes on your street have sold for in recent years to gauge the price for your own house sale. This way, you’ll know around about the right figure to sell your house for before an estate agent comes to value.
Next, once you have a good understanding of your potential market value, bring in a traditional estate agent to look around your property. They’ll look all over your home and offer a balanced view of its asking price.
It may also be a good idea to bring in two or three estate agents to value your property to gauge different opinions and set it at a price you’re comfortable with – often an average of all values.
However, if you’re keen on a fast house sale, you may want to drop the asking price a little lower to attract more attention.
How will you sell your home?
There are three different ways to sell your house, and depending on how quickly you want a sale may depend on which one you choose.
The three ways to sell your house are:
- On your own – while this is the cheapest option, you must do everything yourself, including listing the property on advertising platforms, organising viewings, etc.
- Online estate agents – This is cheaper than a traditional estate agent but you must pay upfront and your agents may not be local to your area. You can follow all progress via an app or website.
- High street/local estate agents – This is the most common way to sell your house. You’ll pay more for their services but only upon completion of a sale. The agent will be in control of the whole process, managing the listing, viewings and more.
What about cash house-buying companies?
If a quick house sale is what you want, and you’re keen to sell your house as soon as possible, a cash house-buying company may be the solution.
A property-buying company can, usually, purchase your home within one month of starting proceedings. Ideal, right? Well, there is one large caveat.
A cash property-buying company will only pay around 75-80% of your property’s market value, which leaves you out of pocket, despite the quick house sale.
So, it’s a big decision. Sell your house quickly but at a lot less than you’d get putting it on the market. What’s more important to you?
Use an online estate agent?
An online estate agent has become a popular way to sell a house fast. If you’ve spruced up your property and put it on the market at a reasonable asking price, online estate agents are popular choices because they’re a lot cheaper than traditional estate agents.
You can also use an online quick-sale estate agent to push through your house sale much quicker. But, like property-buying companies, you’d be expected to sell your house at around 80% of the market value.
Property auction
Listing your property in auction houses is a fantastic way of achieving a quick house sale but it’s very risky. It may sell for a lot less than you’d like, or, it may not sell at all.
An auction house allows you to put your property into a live bidding war as quickly as you’d like, rather than listing it on the market and waiting for interest.
But, like a cash house-buying company, the price may not be as attractive as you’d like. Again, it comes down to preference. Are you more interested in selling quickly at a property auction or is the price of the sale more important?
Find a conveyancing solicitor
If you’re unaware, conveyancing is the legal process that sees a property transfer between one party to another. When selling or buying a property, you should hire a conveyancing solicitor to perform all of the background processes involved in a house purchase or sale.
At GD Property Solicitors, we’ve conducted sales and house purchases for people all over the UK – in major cities and quiet villages – so we can help you too.
Request a FREE quote to find out how much our services would be for your house sale. We run an efficient conveyancing process so are able to conduct a quick house sale.
And remember, you don’t have to use the solicitor or conveyancer your estate agent recommends. They’ll likely have an agreement to pass their clients onto them and it may not be the most cost-effective solution for you.
Accept the best offer for you
Hopefully, after your property is listed on the market, you’ll be inundated with offers.
Now, accepting the highest offer may seem like the most obvious choice, but if you’re in this for a quick house sale, then you must consider which offer will achieve that goal.
Often, buyers will offer below the asking price to try and save some money. Others go straight in at the asking price, but you must consider your options.
Will you be in a chain with the person offering the asking price? If the person who offered slightly less money has no chain and is ready to move right ahead with the purchase – or is a cash buyer – this may be more appealing to you.
A good estate agent will alert you to any offers, knockbacks, compromises and acceptances as soon as they hear from potential buyers.
If you’re looking to sell your house quickly, it’s important that you carefully consider all offers, even if some are lower than others. You may get a bad vibe from a person offering on or above the asking price, while the couple with a young child looking to buy their first home that offered slightly lower could be a better option.
Negotiate over the finer details (if necessary)
Once you’ve accepted an offer from your buyer, there are likely to be a few small factors to negotiate and agree on.
For example, a survey conducted during the conveyancing process could flag up some structural issues. The buyer may want to negotiate a slightly lower price because of the additional cost of repairs they’ll incur when moving in.
Fixtures and fittings must also be discussed. Some people take their carpets with them to their new homes, so the buyer will want to know exactly what’s staying and what’s going.
With a quick house sale, you may even be open to leaving a few appliances behind to save time during the move. You’ll have to let the buyer know.
Also, a completion date will be discussed. You must both agree on this. Hopefully, there’s no chain so you can wrap up the entire sale quickly.
Close accounts and finalise bills
So, the house sale is almost all wrapped up. Contracts have been exchanged and all negotiations have been agreed. Now, it’s time to close your energy accounts and finalise your bills.
You must ensure you’ve paid for everything you own before you vacate the property. This prevents any issues for the new owners.
Get hold of your energy and water meter readings so you have evidence of what you used before vacating the property.
Be prepared, though. Your final bills may be a lot more than you expected, especially if you’ve been on estimated billing. This is why it’s handy to have the meter readings, so you can argue your case if you feel you’re being overcharged.
Consider the extra costs of sell-to-buy
Finally, if you’re selling to buy, you must know the additional costs your new home will incur so you can adjust your budget accordingly.
When selling a house quickly, it can be easy to forget small details like paying for local searches for your next property. Here are a few things you’ll have to account for in your budget when selling to buy:
- Mortgage arrangement fees – Unless you’re using your existing mortgage on your new home, or you’re a cash buyer, you’ll have to pay for your mortgage to be arranged, which can cost up to £2,000.
- Valuation fee – Lenders must check that the property you’re purchasing is worth the value you’ve agreed to pay. These checks will cost around £400.
- Surveys and searches – As a homeowner, you’ll know how important surveys and searches are. These will cost around £1500 combined.
- Conveyancer fees – Paying for a conveyancing solicitor to conduct the property transfer process can cost between £500 and £1500.
- Stamp Duty – You’ll have to pay Stamp Duty on properties purchased for more than £250,000, so account for this percentage in your budget.
Hire reliable conveyancing solicitors
So, you want to sell your house fast and you’ve already agreed on a price with a buyer? We’re here to complete the next step for you.
At GD Property Solicitors, we’re experienced in all different types of house sales – including cash house buyers and more.
Our mission is to make it easy for people in the UK to access high-quality, expert legal services at an affordable price.
If you need a reliable conveyancing solicitor to efficiently complete your house sale without stress, contact us today. You can either call 0161 710 1786 or send an email to info@gdlegal.co.uk.