This month, real estate expert, Amy Hodgson, reveals her top tips for selling property, and maximising the chances of selling quickly and achieving the best sales price. Amy, from HIVE and Partners, has sold over 600 houses and knows what it takes to showcase property to its best advantage.
Before viewings take place, how should you best prepare your home for sale?
The lead up to viewings can be an anxious time for sellers, so there are a few simple things we advise to make the viewing process more successful. Before photos are taken, use this opportunity to have a good tidy up. Don’t worry about paperwork or children’s toys that can be easily put away into cupboards last minute, concentrate on larger items that impact the view of a room or window. The garage can be a handy space to store things.
HIVE will schedule an open day for your property once your marketing has commenced online; this will help you prepare for a set day of viewings. On your open day, we advise setting aside an hour before your first viewing to tidy last minute objects into cupboards and drawers. Don’t worry about hiding kitchen gadgets or ornaments, people like to see you ‘living’ in a space, it helps them to visualise your home as their own!
The next step is to make sure all curtains and blinds are fully open, flooding rooms with as much natural light as possible. Open some windows and display fresh flowers if you can. During the winter, set the heating at a comfortable temperature to encourage a homely feel. Your agent will always arrive early to prepare the ‘HIVE’ finishing touches. They will also confirm the number of buyers viewing, their position and the time viewings will finish.
How is the viewing best approached from a seller’s perspective?
HIVE recommend that, if possible, viewings are left to your dedicated HIVE agent. Buyers tend to be more open when the owners of a property are out. Without the owner there, buyers can feel more comfortable asking questions, discussing changes they may wish to make and deciding what the property is worth to them. We will overcome any objections they may have and encourage them to consider making an offer. If you would rather be there, or you are not able to leave the house, we can work around you! Choose a room to settle in and we will introduce
the buyers to you as we look around.
What are the key points of offer negotiation and how do you know when you have got the best offer?
Prior to buyers viewing your property, I will have asked each of them their position of whether they are selling a property and whether they require mortgage finance; this allows us to be confident in their ability to proceed with an offer. By structuring viewings over a concentrated timescale, we gather offers in close succession. This provides you with a concise view of the interest in your home.
Once all interested parties have been fully qualified, we will discuss each offer with you in turn. We revisit all parties, advising the level of interest in your property, and give everyone a timeframe in which they need to submit an increased offer, if they wish to do so.
This transparency allows us to ensure that the best possible price is achieved from the buyer in the strongest position to proceed.
Once you have agreed the sale price, what are the next steps to consider and how do you get the legal process moving?
Accepting an offer is an exciting time! The next step is to put your sale into the hands of a conveyancer to begin the legal process. HIVE can recommend a local firm, if you don’t have a chosen solicitor or if you would like comparable quotes. If you are looking to buy another property in line with your sale, then you should aim to secure a purchase within a few weeks to enable the chain to keep moving at the same pace.
We always recommend using the same solicitor for your sale and purchase, this allows us to talk with one solicitor about both your sale and purchase so that we can provide regular updates to you. To formally instruct a solicitor, all owners of the property will need to sign and return their initial forms and provide ID, then the legal process can begin.
And you can save some money on fees with HIVE! For all new property instructions listed with HIVE before 30th April 2022, HIVE will pay the conveyancing fees for your sale on completion, up to a maximum £2,000. Call 01202 122 002 to book your market appraisal.
CONTACT
T. 01202 122 002
E.sales@hiveandpartners.co.uk
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