A Guide To Selling Your House In A Buyers Market

Obtain an accurate and realistic valuation

In a buyer’s market you should look to obtain an accurate and realistic valuation of your property. Do not be swayed by agents telling you that they can get more for you than it is actually worth. Do your own research, look at similar properties to yours in your area and if they are not selling, price yours lower so it will. Don’t sell yourselves short but take active steps to ensure that if there’s a sale in your area, it is your house that sells.
Jonathan Waters Estate Agents have over 165 years of combined local estate agency experience. With our extensive knowledge of the local market we will ensure that your property is valued and marketed so as to achieve a prompt sale at the correct market value.

Choose your estate agent wisely

When choosing an estate agent, there are lots of things to think about. Many people go on simple gut instinct or recommendation from a friend or colleague, but there are some important and very relevant questions you need to have answered before you can make an informed decision;

What are the estate agent’s opening times?
How long has the agent been actively selling houses in your area?
Does the estate agent have a presence in the high street?
Do they have a good presence on-line?
What other forms of marketing does the agent use?
Do they “qualify” their applicants in terms of their position and mortgage arrangements?
Do they accompany viewings?
Will they organise your Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for you?
Will they progress the sale for you and keep you advised of developments along the way?

• Jonathan Waters Estate Agents are open Mon- Fri 09.00 to 18.30, Sat 09.00 to 16.30 and Sun 10.00 to 14.00 and of course 24 hours a day, online.
  We have been actively selling houses since 1992.
  
• We have not 1 but 2 high street offices and one of the most up-to-date and user-friendly websites of any estate agent in the country.
  We will “qualify” our applicants if required, meaning we know their position prior to viewings. Also all offers are checked thoroughly on the sellers behalf prior to being accepted. We will accompany viewings where appropriate or asked to do so, we arrange your EPC and we take great care to progress your sale/purchase, liaising with solicitors and mortgage providers to resolve any issues.

Instruct a solicitor

Having chosen your agent and in readiness for your sale, it’s now time to instruct your solicitor so that he/she is ready to deal with the legalities of sale on your behalf. If possible go with a solicitor who is recommended through a friend or family member, or one that your estate agency refers to you.

Jonathan Waters Estate Agents are happy to recommend a local solicitor to you. Having been in business in the area for nearly 20 years, we have built up good working relationships with many of the areas local solicitors and are happy to make an introduction for you.

Presenting your property for market

In a buyer’s market, this is probably the single most important thing you as a vendor can do, to influence the prompt sale of your home. First impressions count and never more so than when it comes to selling houses. Oftentimes, people will have made their mind up about a house within the first few moments of stepping inside and sometimes, they don’t even get that far.
The presentation of your property is critical to achieving a successful sale at the right price. Your home needs first to look appealing from the roadside - it needs “curb appeal to get people to want to cross the threshold”.

To increase your home’s kerb appeal, simply go outside and take a really good look at the front of your house. Is there anything that immediately jumps out at you and says “I need some attention”?

Maybe the front of your home could do with a lick of paint, maybe the window frames need repainting or the front garden needs tidying, whatever it is, unless it’s a huge job, (which should be reflected in the asking price) take care of it.

At Jonathan Waters we will be happy to give you constructive advice on some of the key areas in which we feel your property could be improved to promote a prompt sale, at the best possible price.

Marketing your property

Marketing your property is all about maximising exposure, ensure your chosen agent has a high street presence and ask about their opening hours. Long opening hours are essential to maximise the viewing opportunities for your property. Establish the level of their on-line presence; do they have their own website that is easily found by the search engines? Type in their name and see what happens.

Are they registered with the major property websites like Rightmove? Insist that they erect a “For Sale” board outside your property; after all, what is the use of your property being on the market, if someone can drive passed your house and not know it? Ask them what other pro-active steps they take towards marketing your property, to the widest possible audience.
Jonathan Waters have a comprehensive marketing programme to help sell your home fast. It includes:

• Displaying your property at our two busy offices – one in Ipswich town centre and one in East Ipswich
  Internet marketing – on our own successful website www.jonathanwaters.co.uk. Also within 48 hours your property will appear on www.rightmove.co.uk, www.propertyfinder.com, www.primelocation.com, www.findanewhome.com, www.findaproperty.com, virginmedia, msn, sky, aol, Yahoo, tiscali, channel4.com, orange, times online, thelondonpaper.com, uknetguide, zoopla, think property, hotproperty, upmystreet, ukpropertyshop, kelkoo, myvillage.com and www.home.co.uk and more! Upgraded Rightmove listings are available to attract serious buyers.
• Subscription to the Evening Star Stop Press facility. We can have your property in the newspaper within 48 hours of instruction.
• Phone calls to registered purchasers. We always have at least 200 potential purchasers registered on our extensive mailing lists.

Viewings

Find out what your chosen estate agents accompanied viewing policy is. If you are a woman on your own, insist that all viewings are accompanied, especially when showing round single men. Accompanied viewings give agents the chance to ask searching questions and find out exactly what people think. They also mean we can use our expertise to help sell your property. Remember, estate agents know what to say and when to say it, but they also know when to shut up and let your house do the talking. Be open to having people look around your home during the evenings and at weekends. A large percentage of viewings are requested at these times.

At Jonathan Waters Estate Agents, we will accompany viewings whenever we are asked to do so.

Offers

Your estate agent should notify you both verbally and in writing, as soon as an offer has been received and if the offer is conditional on a mortgage, or anything else, this should be highlighted from the outset. If mortgage money is to be used, your agent should establish where the finance is coming from and whether it has at least, been agreed in principal.
Once you accept an offer your agent should prepare what’s known as a “memorandum of sale” and write to all parties concerned with details of the proposed transaction. This memorandum of sale will confirm the price agreed and details of any inclusions in the sale. It will confirm the positions of both parties and give an approximate indication of the desired timescales.

Your solicitor then sends out a draft contract to the buyer's solicitor who will carry out preliminary enquiries. At this stage you will be asked to agree on a survey date, the date for exchange of contracts and your completion or moving out date.

Your estate agents work is not done yet, far from it. It is at this stage, when dealing with property sales chains, deposit monies, mortgage offers and the like, that your estate agents really have to start earning their money. A good percentage of sales fall through prior to exchange of contracts, for one reason or another and since an estate agent does not get paid until a house sale reaches completion, it is in their best interests, (and yours) that they work hard to keep things on track. Your estate agent should advise, negotiate and keep you appraised of developments every step of the way.

At Jonathan Waters we pride ourselves on our successful sales record. The vast majority of sales that we put together go through to successful completion. Our success rate is considerably better than the industry average. This is because we have a dedicated team of sales co-ordinators, whose sole job it is to ensure that any issues arising are sorted out as quickly as possible.

Exchange of contracts

Exchange of contracts can occur when the following queries and requirements have been met, satisfied, confirmed and agreed;

The buyer’s solicitors will often have queries resulting from their receipt of your solicitors draft contract. This is a good thing as it proves the buyer’s solicitors are doing their job properly. Your solicitor will need to provide satisfactory answers to these “preliminary enquiries” and evidence that you are in possession of “good title”. That is to say that you have the right to sell the property.

If the property is leasehold, there may be some issues thrown up that the buyers solicitor will need further clarification on. Some queries may result from local searches that the buyer’s solicitors conduct. A full list of the fixtures and fittings including any chattels to remain in the house must be drawn up and agreed and the buyer’s solicitor must be in receipt of the buyer’s mortgage offer and deposit monies.

Once these things are all agreed and in place and the contract has been signed by both parties, the deposit is paid, by the buyer's solicitor to your solicitor. Contracts are then exchanged and a completion date is set by mutual agreement.

It is at this point that the sale becomes legal and irreversible without serious financial penalty.
At Jonathan Waters Estate Agency we have a detailed understanding of the conveyancing procedure which enables us to deal effectively and competently with the majority of issues arising.

Completion

Completion occurs on the previously, mutually agreed date and is the day when the remainder of the money, is transferred from your buyer's solicitor’s account to your solicitor's holding account. Your solicitor will then call you to inform you of the transfer of money and inform your estate agent to release the keys to the new owner.

Jonathan Waters Estate Agents will not release the keys of your home without first receiving confirmation from the vendor's solicitors, that completion has taken place.

Estate Agents Ipswich – Contact Jonathan Waters now to sell your Ipswich Property.

Top Tips When Viewing Properties To Buy

Create a checklist

It is a great idea to create a checklist of all the things your new property must have, in order to make it work for you. This will save you a lot of time and shorten your list of possibilities tremendously. If for example, your new property must have a garage or off street parking, you can automatically rule out, all those that haven’t got it. If your new property must be within a certain distance of the town centre or train station, again, you can rule out all of those that don’t qualify. When you’ve narrowed down your list of possibilities, you can then look at your list of things you would like your new property to have and check them off as you go round. This sounds like quite a clinical way of going about finding your next home but is stops the heart from getting in the way of decisions your head has already made.

Do a walk-by

Walk past the house even before arranging to view it internally. You can get a good feel for the area and this will give you the opportunity to check the exterior condition and décor. Walk-by’s are a great idea because they bring everything into sharp focus, things that you may have missed when passing by in a car. A walk-by will help you to decide whether to take your enquiry any further.

Check the exterior condition

You can of course do this on your walk-by but if you’ve made the appointment to view, you’ll get a chance to see it close up. Make sure you check the outside of the property as thoroughly as possible before you walk in and as you leave. Check for loose or missing tiles on the roof, cracked or missing rendering to walls and check the brickwork for signs of damage or erosion. Check around the windows and doors for cracks and review the condition of the window frames and exterior paintwork.

Take someone with you

It’s always a good idea to view a property together with a partner or a friend. Apart from the obvious security risks involved when going alone, it is nice to have someone else there to give you an objective, impartial view, to bounce ideas off and to ask the questions that you may either forget, or are too embarrassed to ask yourself. If your partner or friends are busy, ask the agent to go with you.

Check the cupboards

The cupboards in the kitchen and bathroom and the fitted wardrobes will more often than not be included in the sale, so check that they are in good condition and that the sliders work properly. Vendors should not mind nor should they see you as being nosey or intrusive. You are simply taking a healthy interest in what may well turn out to be your next home.

Check the loft

Take a torch along with you to check the loft. The vendor may not have one that works and there may not be a light or power source up there. A torch will also come in handy when looking at the garden especially in the winter when it gets dark quite early.

Check the water works

Check to see how long it takes for the hot water to warm up and to see if the central heating radiators are working properly. Check for noises in the system that might indicate the need for a system overhaul or replacement.

Ask for receipts and guarantees

If any work has been carried out on the property within the current owners tenure, ask to see any receipts and guarantees they may have. Ask if they have any paperwork from the previous owners.

Check the bills

Ask to see the last few fuel bills and the council tax bill, the owners shouldn’t mind as they should read it as a sign that you are genuinely interested in proceeding with the purchase of their property.

Check the fixtures and fittings

Find out what fixtures and fittings are included in the sale, e.g. carpets, cooker, curtain poles. This is also a chance to find out whether the vendors are prepared to include anything else or perhaps make other items available to you, by separate negotiation.

Check for damp

On your way around the property always be on the lookout for signs of damp. It is fairly easy to spot and usually manifests as a darkening or yellowing of the paintwork in patches or a musty smell from the fabrics.

Befriend the owner

Get the owner of the property on your side. If they like you, they will feel more disposed towards selling their home to you. They will be conscious that they don’t want their beloved home of “x” years to go to someone they don’t like and they won’t want their neighbours to think badly of them after they’ve gone.

Also, if you make friends with them during your initial visit, they are more likely to remember you and will be happier to have you round for a second time. They will be happy for you to bring mum and dad or even a builder if you wish, as these are all positive signs of your real intent to buy.

Homes for Sale in Ipswich – Jonathan Waters Estate Agents can assist you in finding your next home. Contact us today and we will put you on our mailing list.

Present Your Property Well To Sell It Quickly And At The Best Possible Price

In the current market, presentation of your property is key. We can put your property in front of as many applicants as possible and we can encourage them to view, but the presentation of your property, how it looks when people come to view it, is all important to achieving the best possible sale price.

Key to successfully selling your home is to highlight and enhance your property’s best features, its unique selling points. Every property’s got some and more likely than not, they are the ones that sold it to you in the first place. These may be a large kitchen diner that is great for sociable dinner parties, an un-overlooked garden with attractive trees and plants or original features throughout the property that add character and charm. Whatever they are, make sure you show them off as much as possible in the way you present your home.
For example, if it’s got two or three good sized bedrooms, make sure they’re tidy so people can see how big they are. If it’s got parking for several cars, ensure the space is clear so people can see how much room is available. If it’s got a large garden, make sure its tidy, well maintained and free of weeds. During viewings, keep your kitchen and bathroom(s) are as clean and tidy as possible, especially if they’re a little on the small side. Kitchens and bathrooms sell houses so make yours look as good as possible.

In a slow market, it’s all about improving marketability, making the very best of what your home has to offer and ensuring that every good point is highlighted to your potential buyers. If an area of your home has started to look a little tired and could do with a lick of paint to spruce it up then the time and money spent making these small home improvements will be well worth the effort. If a gutter is leaking or a tap dripping, have it repaired. Little jobs like these can put off a buyer when in reality they don't take much to fix.

Pay particular attention to the outside of your home and the view from the road. Often buyers will drive past a property to check it out before arranging a viewing. Make sure your property looks inviting and creates a positive first impression. If paint is peeling from window frames, have them re-painted, make sure your front door is clean and / or newly painted, keep windows sparkling clean and the front garden neat and tidy.

The result of taking the time to present your property well is that it will sell more quickly and for a better price. Well marketed and well presented properties will always attract interest from buyers and following these simple steps, will ensure your property stands out from the competition

Sell your Ipswich Property – contact Jonathan Waters Estate Agents today for your free valuation.