Firstly, let's define what we mean by 'Sold'!

Sold Subject To Contract (SSTC) means that owner of the property has accepted an offer from a buyer to purchase a property. However, the process to make a sale legally binding has only just begun. What it does mean is that your property will effectively be taken off the market.

 

Now that the property is Sold Subject To Contract, the conveyancing process can now begin. The legal representatives of both you and the buyer will now work to complete the transfer of ownership.

As mentioned, an accepted offer is only the beginning of the house selling process.

It’s now up to the estate agent to ensure the sale goes all the way through to completion as quickly and smoothly as possible.

The sales progression should actually begin before an offer is accepted. This will start with undertaking a process of due diligence on the potential buyer by assessing how 'proceedable' they are and whether their offer can be considered a serious one. If sufficient due diligence is carried out on the buyers, it filters out those who are not really serious or do not have the funds to make the purchase, thus mitigating the chance of the sale falling through.

With an offer from a legitimate buyer accepted, it’s time to get solicitors, mortgage brokers and surveyors involved.

Your estate agent should be in regular contact with all relevant parties, including the buyer, to ensure that everything’s ticking along nicely. It can be a stressful time for you as a seller, but your estate agent should significantly lighten the load through effective communication with all parties involved.

There is a lot that can go wrong in the following months, and unfortunately, they often do.

Mostly it’s minor hurdles that can be easily navigated, but there is always a chance that something major will crop up, causing the sale to fall through entirely. A 31% chance, in fact.

The most common reason for a house sale falling through is a change of heart or circumstance. Admittedly, there’s not a lot an estate agent can do about that.

Other reasons include surveys revealing issues, slow solicitors, mortgage complications, and delicate chains. These issues can seem very problematic to both the buyer and seller, and they do indeed often result in the sale falling through - but they are not insurmountable.

We have a saying in our office - a poster on the wall actually - it says "Discussing a problem without proposing a solution is called moaning". A good estate agent will work tirelessly behind the scenes to find a solution wherever possible, and thereby keep the sale on track.

With mortgages in place, surveys carried out, conveyances completed, hearts set in stone, and the exchange date fast approaching, there is surely nothing that can now stop this train. That’s a fair assessment; it’s pretty much a done deal.

But nothing, I repeat, nothing, is confirmed until those contracts are signed.

Which is why your estate agent should not leave your side until the contracts are signed, the cash is in the bank and the keys are handed over. Their work is not done until the buyer walks through the door as a new, happy home owner.

And beyond that, it wouldn’t hurt for the estate agent to keep in touch with you, just in case anything is amiss.

Otherwise, there’s nothing left to do but to say congratulations. Your house is no longer ‘Sold’. It’s Sold!!

Well, there’s no use beating around the bush any longer. Throughout this article, we’ve discussed what an estate agent should do to aid you on your house selling journey. But really, we’ve been talking about what we do do here at Amber Homes. To successfully sell your house with an estate agent who will be by your side until the very end.

Get in touch with us today. Call Simon or Tom on 01773 749972 to discuss your Home Valuation requirements.