Get a Move On!: How You Can Help Speed Up the Sale of Your Home
'How long will it take to sell my home?' - The burning question for anyone who wants to sell up… unfortunately, one without a specific answer. ‘How long is a piece of string?’ No two property sales are the same, and many different factors affect the length of time it takes to sell a house. In this blog, we look at this in more detail.
Firstly, a definition of 'Sell my home'.
When referring to the timescale of selling a property, it is from when the property is first marketed through to its legal completion and when the keys are handed over to the new buyer.
In this blog we look at this common question in detail and give an insight into the components that make up the answer. We look at:
- Expected time frames for the 4 stages of a sale
- The factors that most impact the time it takes to sell (Impact Factors)
- How to help speed up a property sale
Expected Time Frames To Sell Your Home
The first thing to point out here is that this question needs to be specific. The majority of statistics quote the time taken to a vendor accepting an offer. However, this is only stage 2 of the 4 stage process. This is best shown in a diagram:
Stage 1 – Preparing to Market your Property.
This stage is extremely important as it will lay the foundations for a smooth sale.
This is where you select your estate agent who is going to sell your home. Your choice of agent will directly affect the price you achieve, the stress that you experience and the time it takes to complete your sale.
At this point you can also start researching the legal representative that you will appoint to oversee the transfer of the property to the new buyers. This is very important as you will see later in the article.
If you are financing your next property purchase, you will also need to appoint a mortgage adviser to find you the best deal to suit your circumstances. Again, it is really important to choose a proactive adviser.
You can also really influence how much you achieve and how quickly you receive an offer on your home by preparing your property for a sale.
Stage 2 – Accepting an Offer
This is where your agent should earn their fee to achieve the best possible outcome.
Offers received on a property should not be just a quick ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. There are a number of factors to consider aside from which buyer is willing to pay the most. We have a four stage process that we adopt when considering any offer.
Bear in mind that it is a legal obligation for an estate agent to pass on every offer that is received on a property to the vendor, however silly that offer may be. Agent and vendor should then discuss the response before the agent goes back to the potential buyer.
The Buyers situation - First time buyer? In a property chain? Property to sell? It might be that a slightly lower offer from a chain free buyer might be more tempting than a higher offer from a buyer in a long chain.
The Buyers finances - Is the buyer actually in a position to pay the amount they have offered? Do they have a mortgage offer already approved? Are they a cash buyer?
Level of interest - If your property has only been on the market for a few weeks and you are still getting lots of viewings then it may be that you can take a harder approach than might otherwise be the case.
Is that your Best Offer? - Negotiating an offer is where your agent should excel. If you have chosen well, your estate agent should attempt to maximise the sale price for your property as well as identifying the most suitable buyer.
Stage 3 – Exchange of Contracts
This is the point at which the searches have been done, the contracts drawn up and the deposit monies paid by the buyer.
In theory, this is the point of no return for the buyer – if they pull out after exchange of contracts, they will undoubtedly lose their deposit.
Stage 4 – Completion of the Sale
It’s all over! The legal paperwork has been completed and you have received the balance of your sale monies.
So that’s it – 18 weeks, on average… and we stress the words ‘on average’ to complete the sale of a property. So now let's look at the things that can either reduce or increase the timescale to sell a property.
The ‘Impact Factors’
This data is taken from ‘The Advisory’ and presents survey data from a panel of house sellers, selling related professionals, market analysts etc.
Listed below are 12 ‘impact factors’. The list itself should not come as a great surprise, however, the order of importance does throw up a few surprises…
The data details the various factors that are most commonly cited as having an impact on transaction times and are rated based on the relative levels of influence exerted by each factor on a scale of 1 (not influential) to 10 (highly influential) on transaction timescales. Lets take a look at the top 3:
1 – Asking Price
Not surprisingly, the asking price in relation to similar properties in the area is the biggest influencer on actually getting an offer on your home.
This is the one factor you, as the seller, can influence.
- Beware of estate agents who will overprice the property just to get the listing and quickly ask you to reduce it citing lack of interest
- Overpriced properties can often get viewings, but rarely get offers
- Underpriced properties can convey the idea that there is something wrong with them but often will sell… but for less than the optimum price.
2 – Market Conditions
Your local property market conditions has a major impact on how long your property could take to sell. Lots of factors have an effect on how ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ the property market is. You only have to look at recent events; the General Election, Brexit and the Covid-19 situation to see this for yourself.
- You have little control over this and must decide on whether to stick it out or postpone your sale should your local market be ‘cold’ for whatever reason.
- A ‘cold’ market is a buyers market and properties must be priced very competitively to prevent them being on the market indefinitely.
- A ‘hot’ market is a sellers market. Homes will sell quickly if priced sensibly and bidding wars are commonplace.
3 – Quality of Solicitor
There is no doubt a good solicitor will help move the transaction along once an offer has been accepted but being third on the list could be deemed surprising.
- You have control on who you choose
- An overworked solicitor can take an age to respond to the simplest of queries
- Don’t choose purely on cost – a cheap solicitor is usually an overworked solicitor!
- The solicitor suggested by your estate agent will usually be very good. Why would your agent want to work with a poor one?
How to Speed Up Your Sale
You can’t control the market but you can control yourself and the professionals that you appoint to achieve a sale on your home.
The following tips will all significantly decrease the time it takes you to sell your home:
1 – Be Proactive
These are the things that YOU can control and all will help in speeding up a sale and, more importantly, reducing the chance that the sale will collapse altogether.
- Try not to be on holiday during the sale process
- Make sure that you have ALL the documents ready for your solicitor - planning permission, building regs, any relevant certificates
- Deal with all paperwork immediately
- Check in with your solicitor and agent weekly
- Consider gifting legal searches to your buyer
2 – Use a Quality Estate Agent
The majority of struggling house sellers make the classic mistake of choosing the agent who gave them the highest valuation, or the cheapest fee. Base your choice on value, not cost. Overpriced properties look good on the agents property listings but will struggle to sell. Choose an agent who will:
- Price your home to generate immediate interest
- Use proactive marketing techniques and not just list on property portals
- Qualify potential buyers in detail to identify the best ones
- Checks the entire chain (if applicable) to see any possible problems
- Chases everyone and keeps the transaction moving
3 – Prepare your Home to Sell
Preparing your home for viewers is extremely important. It will not only ensure your property is sold faster, but can potentially add thousands of pounds to its value. Check out our more detailed blogs on preparing the interior AND exterior of your home. Implementing just a few of these ideas will improve the chances of a a quick sale and achieve a higher sale price.