Buyer Finding Tips

The following are summarised extracts. For the full article see Action Plan - Owner Sale.

Sell Your House in March/April/May or Sept/Oct/Nov

There are many more people looking to move in the traditionally high demand times of Spring and late Summer. The more people looking, the more your chances of finding a suitable buyer.

Though there may be some advantages to selling 'off-season'. Buyers, though fewer on the ground, tend to be more committed, and may pay a fuller price.

Be Realistic with Your Asking Price

Value your property by comparing it to the price of similar properties. A good place to start is to find out the actual selling prices of recent sales in your area. See property prices for free at www.houseprices.co.uk.  You can also ask for free valuations from estate agents. Or, in some circumstances, you may feel a paid valuation from a surveyor is worthwhile. Remember that estate agents may quote high in order to get a listing, then hope that if the price needs to be reduced later, you will not change agent. So treat high valuations with caution.

A good rule of thumb may be to think of a price so low that you would consider it a 'steal', then think of a price so high that you would consider it impossible to achieve. Work out the average of the two prices, then add a margin to give you some negotiating room.

Don't forget your supermarket-style pricing either. If you value your house around the £205,000 mark, market it for £199,950 or £209,950.

Advertise, Advertise, Advertise

The key to achieving the best price is to market your property as widely as possible. Here's a marketing checklist:

1  Buy a sign (well, we would say that, wouldn't we!). But a good For Sale sign is a very effective way of advertising a private house sale. A paid advertising run in the local paper may come and go with no potential buyers. In contrast a sign gives continuous marketing for just one small sum. Various sources give different figures, but a conservative estimate would be that at least a third of all house sales are initiated by the board.

2  Start a continual classified ad run in your local paper. It helps to mention your individual web page, and you may think about adding an attention phrase such as 'Don't Miss This One'. You may find our classified ads ideas at Tenant Finding Tips useful.

3  Ask your local paper about the cost of display advertising (an ad with a picture). These can be expensive, so you should consider a run of perhaps once a fortnight.

4  Place a number of free adverts on the internet, www.home.co.uk, and www.loot.com (London & Manchester only) are probably the most widely used free sites.

5  Place an advert on one of the most popular web portals, fish4homes. This has have huge numbers of people viewing, and the ads are also distributed to local newspapers.

6  Prepare particulars. It is relatively easy to produce professional looking pictures with the aid of a word processing program and a digital camera. If you don't know how to use these, you are sure to know someone who does, and who would be happy to help you. Particulars should be given to potential buyers at viewings. Remember to append estate agency style disclaimers to the text.

You can buy a sign and/or fish4homes advertisement by clicking Order. (Don't forget to set up your property web page first, if you want internet advertising).

Be Your Own House Doctor

Everybody's now an expert, but it's worth remembering to remove all your clutter, tidy the front of your property, and paint the front door.

Negotiating

1  Never appear too keen or too negative. 2  Always take time to think about an offer. 3  If you agree an offer, ask the buyer to make the offer in writing. Accept the offer in writing. This is not binding, but helps clarify matters. 4  Without delay, instruct a solicitor to act on your behalf for the conveyancing of the property. The solicitor will ask you to fill in a 'Heads of Terms' form which itemizes details of the offer. Keep in regular contact with the solicitor.

You Have Saved More Than You Think

Remember that when an estate agent charges 2% plus 17.5% VAT on the sale price, you should really see the percentage in terms of your equity in the house. For example, if you are selling a £150,000 house with a £120,000 mortgage with a 2%plus VAT agent, the agent will charge £3525, which is actually over 10% of your £30,000.