Step-by-step guide to selling a property
Step 1: Get an accurate valuation
Your goal is probably to sell your property at the best possible price in the shortest timeframe. Our expert residential sales negotiators regularly value property in Southend-on-Sea, giving us first-hand knowledge of property values in the local area. This is why we achieve the asking price for our clients’ properties time after time.
Step 2: Selecting an estate agent
When choosing an estate agent in Southend, consider their opening hours, will they conduct accompanied viewings, do they have a high street presence and what kind of marketing will your property will receive. These are crucial if you want to obtain the maximum exposure and price for your property.
Step 3: Instructing a solicitor
An experienced and efficient solicitor can make all the difference when it comes to selling your property in Southend. It’s worth doing your own research and asking family and friends for recommendations before deciding who to instruct. Be aware that price does not always equate to value. Read any small print to ensure a low headline price for conveyancing will not be inflated by additional charges once a sale completes. Unnecessary delays can be avoided by doing some research before putting your property on the market. We’re happy to recommend trusted professionals if required.
Step 4: Make sure your property is ready to be viewed
Potential buyers will make a judgment about your property as soon as they walk through the door, sometimes before. First impressions count. Finish any DIY jobs you’ve been meaning to undertake, give your property a thorough clean, add a fresh coat of paint where necessary and try to de-clutter to make rooms appear larger. Don’t forget the garden if you have one, poor kerb-side appeal can put a buyer off before they’ve even set foot across the threshold.
Step 5: Marketing your property
Today, potential buyers will search for property in a number of ways, using a variety of devices, which means you need to ensure your home is advertised across a variety of media. When you’re choosing an estate agent in Thorpe Bay ask if the marketing package offered includes both on and offline activity. Will your home be on the popular property portals and in the local newspaper? You need to be confident that potential buyers will see your particulars wherever the look.
Step 6: Accompanied viewings
Unlike many other Southend estate agents, we have extended opening hours to maximise viewing opportunities for potential buyers. We also offer accompanied viewings so we can use our expertise to help sell your property. Our office is open 8am-8pm Monday to Thursday, 8am-6pm on Fridays, 9am-4.30pm pm Saturdays, 10am-2pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Step 7: Receiving an offer
Once a buyer has decided your property is ‘the one’, they will make you an offer to purchase. As soon as an offer is received your estate agent will notify you. A professional estate agent will also check the buyer’s ability to proceed before you decide whether to accept the offer. For example, do they have a mortgage agreed in principal?
Step 8: Offer agreed
When you do accept an offer, your estate agent should prepare a memorandum of sale, contact all parties in writing to confirm the agreed price and request the details of your chosen solicitor. Draft contracts will be drawn up, surveys organised, preliminary enquiries and searches made.
Step 9: Exchange of contracts
As soon as the contract has been agreed and signed by both parties, a financial deposit (usually 10% of the purchase price) will be transferred by the buyer’s solicitor to your solicitor. The completion date is then set by mutual agreement.
Step 10: Completion
Completion is when the financial balance owed (usually 90%) is transferred from the buyer’s solicitor to your solicitor’s account. Your solicitor will telephone you when the money has cleared in your account. Your property is then officially sold and the final step is when your estate agent passes the property’s keys to your buyer.
Marcus James is Lettings Manager at Pace, an independent Southend on Sea Letting Agent. He deals with every aspect of the property letting process, providing expert and candid advice together with tailor-made marketing plans for each property he lists for rental.
Marcus prides himself on ensuring our landlord clients get the best return in the right timeframe for their investments by conducting rental appraisals, letting viewings and oversees the running of the lettings department.
