First time home sellers

The decisions you make when selling your first home could cost or save you thousands of pounds. We’re here to offer you useful advice to make your first experience of selling a property a bit more manageable.

Set expectations

Setting realistic expectations is a must. We recommend making a list of the goals you want to achieve such as wanting to purchase a larger house or move to a new area – closer to work or friends, or even somewhere nearer the countryside.

Prioritising your goals from ‘essential’ to ‘nice to have’ will help you set, and manage, your expectations.

Review your finances

Make sure that selling the property makes financial sense, before setting the wheels in motion.

First, get a rough idea of how much your property is worth. You can get a free online valuation estimate, for example from Rightmove, Zoopla, Mouseprice etc, but remember these are only estimates.

Once you have your estimated valuation you can set a price range for your new property search or work out how much money you will have after the mortgage is paid off.

As the housing market has recently slowed and property prices have fallen, it is important to check that you are not in negative equity. Negative equity occurs when a mortgage is higher than the current value of the property and would mean you’d need to pay additional money to pay off your mortgage.

If you currently have a mortgage on the property you are wishing to sell, you should be able to switch this to a new property. However there may be fees and costs associated with doing this. You should speak to a mortgage adviser to ensure you are aware of all potential costs relating to moving your mortgage.

In addition to mortgage costs, when selling, you may also need to pay:

• any other outstanding debts secured against the property
• estate agent fees
• Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) fees (unless the property is exempt, or a valid certificate already exists)
• legal fees
• land registry fees
• removal costs
• capital gains tax if the property is not your primary home or includes a lot of land
• for essential home repairs or improvements

It is therefore very important you know how much your property is likely to be worth so you can compare it to the outstanding balance on your mortgage and the other costs of moving.

When you know how much money you are likely to get from selling your property, you can budget for your next move.

Top Tip: If you are selling your property and are moving in with your partner/parents/friends, you should check your mortgage paperwork or speak to your lender to check if you will have to pay any early repayment charges.

Choose an estate agent

There are a number of ways to sell your property. But most sellers stick with the conventional method of appointing an estate agent. Appointing the right estate agent can make a huge difference, we recommend you check the following:

1. Where the estate agent is located (online or on the high street)
2. What is the estate agent’s reputation
3. How much do they charge
4. Are there any hidden costs
5. Who does the viewings

When you put your property on the market, the price at which you list it should be informed by both your own research and the opinion of local estate agents. Remember, the final decision is yours. Our advice section “Choosing the best estate agent” covers this in more detail.

Get your home ready for viewing

Once you’ve appointed an estate agent, you will want to make your house look as appealing as possible before the agent takes photos and advertises the property for sale

To help make your property more appealing, you may consider:

• Freshening up your rooms with a new coat of paint. Try to go for light colours which help to make a room appear more spacious and bright
• Have a spring clean and put some things in storage – making a good first impression counts, and the last thing you want is potential buyers looking at a cluttered property as it could make the property look smaller and in worse condition than it actually is
• Increasing the ‘kerb appeal’ of your property. The first part of the property potential buyers see is the outside, so making a good first impressions is key. Renew any decorated areas, tidy the front garden, and empty any overflowing bins.
• Fix any noticeable issues, such as leaking rainwater goods, cracks in the walls and ceilings or loose floorboards. Additionally, ousting any stains and marks from floor coverings is a good idea.
• Snags – you might not notice an unfinished DIY project, but it might put off a potential buyer. Try to fix any snags.
• If you have pets, particularly cats or dogs, deep clean the carpets and furniture.

You want to make sure that your property sells for the best price. So it needs to be well represented by the estate agent to increase the number of buyers interested in it.

About property viewings

A property viewing is a scheduled appointment for the estate agent to show a potential buyer around your property to let them see if they like it.

Whether or not a buyer likes your property can be affected by many things, including location, number of rooms and the condition of the property. Some of these things are in your control, others are not. But you need to make sure that the property is in the best possible condition for the viewings to make a good impression.

The amount of people who want to view your property may vary. If a lot of people want to see it, it may be worth having an open house with multiple buyers viewing it at one time.

Make sure you ask your estate agent to collect feedback from viewings so that you can rectify problems or adjust the asking price accordingly.

The property chain

You may find yourself in a property chain in which case there are several things that you should be aware of:

• Your buyer may change their mind about proceeding with buying the property. This is out of your control. All you can do is be aware that the buyer may pull out and prepare yourself to deal with that.
• Your buyer may have their own chain broken which means that they can’t proceed as planned. This is also out of your control, but you may be able to communicate with the buyer to see if the issue can be resolved.
• The buyer’s conveyancer may find issues with the paperwork. In this instance you should ask your conveyancer to explain the issues and ask how they can be resolved. It may just mean remaining patient while the paperwork is sorted.
• If your buyer has a survey done on your property, and the surveyor highlights some issues, you will need to decide whether you want to pay to fix the issues yourself or potentially accept a lower offer price from your buyer. Check the financial implications of these options and pick which works best for you.
• There may be legal issues that lead your buyer to pull out. These would probably be legal issues with the property itself, such as title deeds and planning permissions. Once you know what these are you can see if they can be legally resolved.

In conclusion

Although selling a property can be an exhausting process. Obtaining the right advice and appointing the right people should help ease the pressure. Remember, estate agents, mortgage advisers, conveyancers and surveyors are all there to help you through the process. And if you set yourself realistic goals, you should be able to sell the property on your terms.

If you require any assistance, advice, or general guidance, check out our list of local property professionals.