Selling Your Home Guide

  This guide seeks to give an insight into the seven steps usually involved in the sale of a property if you use an estate agent. Seven step sale process 1. valuation 2. preliminaries 3. marketing 4. negotiating 5. conveyancing 6. sales progression 7. completion 1. Valuation If you are considering selling then ideally you should secure three valuations from local estate agents, who are prominent and experienced in the local market (if you are in the Cambridge area then we can recommend TuckerGardner as one of the three that you approach). This valuation should consider the marketability of your property and the agent should comment on any recommended work, in addition to being able to demonstrate comparable evidence to justify the value at which they believe the property should be marketed. They should also discuss their proposed fee level and the fixed length of any agency contract. Please be beware of entering into a long term agreement (anything over 4 weeks) and remember that in a lot of instances you do pay for the service that you get, so cheap is not necessarily best. You can have difference types of agency agreement: Sole Agency is where you instruct just one agent and is usually the cheapest; Joint Agency and Multi-Agency contracts involve more than one agent and whilst they potentially increase the marketing exposure of your property they can be significantly more expensive. A respectable agent should never expect you to commit to instructing them to act at this stage - unless you so wish - so following the visit they should confirm their advice in writing and you will have time to reflect upon what they have said. Selling your home is an important decision and they believe that it should be made without undue pressure. 2. Preliminaries Following instruction, the first thing that needs to happen is the organisation of an appointment to prepare the full property details (room dimensions, marketing photographs and, increasingly, a floorplan). After the property details have been drafted you should be sent a copy for approval and at the From http://limetreefs.co.uk

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same time you will receive a copy of the agency agreement for signature. At that stage you will also need to provide hard copies proof of identity and residency in order to comply with the requirements of the Money Laundering Regulations. From the 14th December 2007 it became necessary to have a Home Information Pack (HIP) prepared by a qualified HIP Provider on every property offered for sale. HIPs are intended to speed up the sales process by disclosing, at the outset, comprehensive information about the property. The contents of the HIP fall under two categories “required” and “authorised”. Required documents must be included in the pack where appropriate and authorised documents may be included at the seller’s discretion. The required documents are: - an index i.e. a list of the contents of the Pack - a Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) - a sale statement summarising terms of sale - evidence of title - standard searches i.e. local authority enquiries and a drainage and water search - an energy performance certificate which will provide A - G ratings on the energy efficiency of a home, plus advice on how to make further energy savings - commonhold information, where appropriate, including a copy of the commonhold community statement leasehold information, where appropriate, including a copy of the lease, information on service charges and insurance - a new homes warranty, where appropriate, a report on a home that is not physically complete The authorised documents include: - a home condition report - guarantees and warranties - other searches A good Estate Agent will guide you through the implications of the HIP legislation at the valuation stage and arrange the preparation of the HIP on your behalf if instructed. They should also be able to supply you with a blank Property Information Questionnaire for your completion. The only other thing that you will need to do, as the seller, is to provide early access to the property for the Domestic Energy Assessor to attend to complete the Energy Performance Certificate. A property cannot be marketed without this being completed so the agent should also make the arrangements in this respect. 3. Marketing From http://limetreefs.co.uk

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Website The internet is increasingly the tool of choice for purchasers and is a vital part of any property marketing. Look for the level of internet coverage of the agents that you approach and ask them whether you will qualify for an enhanced listing on any of the main sites like Rightmove. Have a look at the different websites to see which agents are using the different features, how attractive their brochures are, can you read the floorplans, etc. Advertising Notwithstanding the growing prominence of the internet there is still a place for traditional advertising and to this end you need to consider the quality of advertising within the prime local publications, which for the Cambridge area are: Cambridge Evening News, the Property News and the Ely Weekly News. Does the agent also produce a regular newsletter or list of properties for people without internet access? In-house and presentation Nowadays any agent should produce high quality colour details for all properties, with copies kept in each office for walk-in enquiries in addition to being mailed-out to interested prospective purchasers who have registered. However, the quality varies massively so make sure you see copies and also that you enquire about any possible enhancements, particularly if selling a larger, more expensive property. The preliminary aim of marketing is, of course, to secure viewings of the property by genuine prospective purchasers. Viewings can generally be accompanied by the agent or be arranged for times when it is convenient for you to be in attendance if it is your wish to conduct the viewings personally. Really should be a question of personal choice but quite often it s the current owner who can sell their property the best. If you do wish to carry out your own viewings then any good agent should give you a brief run through of the 'do's and don'ts' when it comes to viewings. 4. Negotiating Estate Agents are duty bound to report every offer that they receive on your property and will do so with an appraisal of current market activity and with a recommended course of action. Their role is not only to ensure that you achieve the best price for your property but also to assess the strength of the purchaser’s offer in order to maximise the chances of the sale moving through to exchange and completion. 5. Conveyancing Once an offer has been accepted you will need to instruct a solicitor and your choice in this respect can prove crucial to the success and speed of the From http://limetreefs.co.uk

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transaction. In our experience poorly handled conveyancing is one of the most influential factors in causing sales to fall through and it is therefore important that your solicitor is of a certain calibre. Our overriding advice in this respect is to use local law firms who specialise in conveyancing. People who know the area and whom you can go in and see, rather than using the services of a cheap but anonymous internet offering. 6. Sales progression Receiving an offer is only the beginning of the process. TuckerGardner for example operate a unique sales monitoring system which ensures that those involved in the sale of any property they are handling can speak to a named member of our staff, who will be fully briefed, at any time. Each of their valuers has a highly trained ‘buddy’ who is permanently based in the office dealing with any issues that may arise from the moment the property is placed on the market, right through to completion. Sellers, buyers, solicitors, surveyors and lenders can get instant assistance, support and guidance throughout the transaction, thereby speeding up the whole process and ensuring that fewer sales fall through. This dialogue and attention to detail is crucial to the success of any sale and is, they firmly believe, that this principally differentiates them from their competitors. Once the survey and/or valuation has been completed, the local searches have been done, a mortgage offer if applicable has been received, and all other enquiries have been resolved then you will be ready to exchange. This is the point at which both parties are contractually bound to the transaction and will usually involve the paying of a deposit and the setting of a completion date. 7. Completion This is the Champagne moment as it denotes the completion of the sales transaction and ownership of the property passes from the seller to the purchaser.

YOUR HOME OR PROPERTY MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE Limetree Financial Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under reference number 489626. The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate some aspects of buy to let and commercial mortgages. Neither does it regulate taxation and trust advice nor will writing services.A fee for mortgage advice will be charged on completion of your mortgage. This fee will typically be £205, but the exact amount will be From http://limetreefs.co.uk

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dependent upon your circumstances. The guidance and/or advice contained within the website is subject to the UK regulatory regime and is therefore primarily targeted at customers in the UK. Registered in England and Wales No. 6251076. Registered Address: 2 Newton House, Pioneer Court, Chivers Way, Vision Park, Histon, Cambridge CB24 9PT.

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