The Sales Process
You are probably quite familiar with the overall Sales Process, but hopefully this provides you with a good reminder of the key points and how we at Homes will manage these aspects for you.
Initial Valuation
You’ve lived there and you’ve loved it, but now it’s time to move on………
You’ll need an expert opinion on its likely value and Homes can do this for you in several ways. If you are looking for a ballpark figure, simply pop in to any one of our offices and we’ll be able to help you with this. If you’d prefer an instant valuation from the comfort of your armchair, you can do this by using our online ‘Value Your Home’ link which appears on most pages of our website. Alternatively, and by far the best way to really get an accurate valuation, is to arrange for one of our local valuers to visit you at your home. This full market appraisal is done on a ‘no obligation’ basis and the visit should take no more than 30-45 minutes. It couldn’t be easier!
Marketing Your Property
Once you’re ready, we’ll pay you a second visit to measure up and take all the required photographs so we can showcase your home in the best possible way. We will then prepare the property details, so your property is ‘ready to launch.’
High quality property brochures, great photography, listings on Rightmove, our website and social media, coupled with virtual viewings, quality floor plans and EPC’s (energy performance certificate) will all ensure that your property benefits from optimum marketing.
In addition to this, we have longer opening hours than most agents, we’re happy to conduct out-of-hours viewings and we can also arrange open houses where required or adopt more discreet marketing tactics if you’d prefer.
Managing the Interest
We identify potential buyers for your property from our centralised database which has up-to-date details of over 4000 individual applicants. This huge pool of potential buyers will generate a number of people who could be interested in buying your property. That’s why we place so much emphasis on managing these relationships.
Additionally, there are the potential new buyers who contact us having seen your property advertised and we will act on their interest and immediately liaise with you to arrange a viewing.
The Viewings
All viewings will be conducted by an experienced member of the team who will be familiar with the property and area. Viewings are pre-arranged for a specific time to suit you and your potential buyer and depending on the property, will usually take around 30-40 minutes.
We will provide you with feedback from the viewing within 24 hours and arrange a second viewing if required.
We recommend that you are not present during the viewing, as this allows the viewer to feel more at ease.
Tying Up the Sale
On securing a potential buyer for your property, the next stage is to negotiate/agree an acceptable purchase price and the team will handle this very sensitive part of the process for you. Once done and you are happy with all aspects of the transaction, we will change your property status to ‘sale agreed’ and, at that point, both parties will then instruct their chosen conveyancing solicitors. We maintain a panel of highly reputable and experienced local solicitors and we will happily provide you with their details if required.
Managing the Process Through to Completion
Your sale must go through the legal conveyancing process and once done we can agree a completion date before exchanging contracts. It’s in this area that attention to detail and a thorough knowledge of what’s happening with all parties is absolutely essential, particularly where chains of sellers and/or buyers are involved.
At Homes we are all committed to making this part of the process as pain-free as possible for you. That’s why we have a dedicated sales progression team, whose sole focus is on the conveyancing process, and the team will liaise with all parties to see the sale through to completion. Once your sale has been agreed in principle, we will introduce you to the sales progression team who will take over from here.
This is a premium part of our service, provided entirely free of charge and is not offered by many estate agents. If you are in any doubt about its value, then check out the 100’s of positive reviews we receive!