1. Decide on the reason for which you are selling
There are many different reasons why you may sell your home. These could be anything from wanting more space, downsizing or maybe a personal issue.
2. Ensure your finances are in order
This is a major area when deciding to sell your home. First of all you will need to find out how much equity you have in your current home and make sure you can afford to sell. It may be a case that you have an early repayment charge on your mortgage and therefore this should be considered.
If you are buying a new home then you might want to consider the size of the mortgage you require. Always speak to a qualified mortgage adviser who can talk through your finances and help to understand what you can afford.
3. Decide what price to sell and who will sell the property.
Ultimately, you need to be happy with the price you accept when selling your home. However, make sure you do not price yourself out of the market or accept a price that you’re not happy with. Your Seven Keys Property Consultant can help you with that.
4. Prepare your home for the market.
In order to attract the most attention when selling your home, it is always advisable to make it seem as desirable as possible. This could be anything from a fresh lick of paint to just tidying away the clutter.
5. Hire a conveyancer or a solicitor.
It is essential to hire a conveyancer or a solicitor to take care of the legal aspect when selling your home. They will transfer the ownership of the property from the seller to the buyer. The point at which you instruct them to carry out this process will come after you have accepted an offer. However, to speed up the sales process, it is advisable to have chosen someone around the same time you choose an estate agent. If you need us to put you in touch with someone, we are more than happy to do that.
6. Complete all relevant questionnaires.
These will be provided to you by your solicitor and will provide all the relevant information (i.e. boundaries, council tax, tenure, etc.) regarding your property to the buyer.
7. Accept an Offer and negotiate a draft contract.
At this point, it is our duty to relay all offers to you, regardless of how high or low they may be. It is your decision to accept or reject an offer or you can leave it with us to try and negotiate a better deal for you, should you wish to do so.
Once an offer has been accepted a draft contract will be drawn up by both legal parties and you will need to decide a number of factors, including the length of time between exchange and completion, what fixtures and fittings will be included in the sale and any discounts due to problems that may get flagged up during the survey.
8. Exchange of Contracts.
It is at this point in the sale of your home where you become legally committed to selling the property and the buyer becomes legally committed to buying your home. Consequences from pulling out after this time may result in you being sued and the buyers deposit will be returned.
9. Complete the sale and Move out.
The conveyancer or solicitor will register the transfer of ownership with the Land registry and any property deeds, along with the money are transferred between both legal parties. You can move out before the completion date should you choose to do so, however, if you are in a chain and moving into another property that will be occupied until completion then you will need somewhere else to go.
10. Pay off the mortgage and Settle up.
Your solicitor/ conveyancer will have received an outstanding amount from the mortgage company to be paid on the day of completion. Now that the buyer has transferred the money to your solicitor/ conveyancer, they will pay off the mortgage for you.
Settling up with your solicitor/ conveyancer and the estate agent will be carried out after completion, unless you have opted for one of our up-front payment packages. The solicitor will provide you with details for all costs and disbursements and if you are buying and selling at the same time, they can settle up both transactions, including the payment of stamp duty for the house you are buying.
