Nested guides: Chapter 2 - How to speed up your sale

How to speed up your sale

Whichever option you use there are a number of things that can be done to sell your property quicker:

Pick the right agent - Different agents have different advantages so make sure you pick the agent best suited to what you need. Online agents are great where you want to do the work yourself but not necessarily where you want to get under offer quickly. Similarly, high street agents can get you under offer quickly but a third of transactions fall through, and there is no guarantee of how long it will take, so if you need the money by a particular date, you should consider alternative ways to sell your property quickly.
Price to go under offer quickly - The main cause of slow sales is over-priced property. This typically happens where agents promise higher valuation in order to win the instruction knowing that they are unlikely to be able to achieve them. If your property is priced correctly it should sell quickly. See how much your property is worth now with Nested’s instant valuation tool.
Be flexible - Whatever method you choose to sell it is going to be much easier if you make it as easy as possible for potential buyers to view your property. Plan availability times ahead and be flexible to give buyers as much opportunity as possible to view at their convenience.
Prepare your property - You should make sure to show your property in it’s best light, both when being photographed and during viewings. You should definitely invest in a professional clean and possibly even consider minor alterations. For example, consider putting excess furniture into storage or re-painting tired rooms. Even though it is a massive transaction buyers can be very fickle and put off by the smallest things so think about the kind of people likely to buy your property and make sure there is nothing likely to put them off.
Pick the right buyer to go under offer with - This is probably the most important tip. Under the current English and Welsh system, buyers are not committed until the point of exchange and therefore a third of agreed offers fall through. This can be because they were never fully committed to going ahead with the transaction or because their chain has fallen through. The first thing to do is make sure you fully understand the financial position of all buyers before considering their offer. A committed cash buyer is best, then a committed first-time buyer, then a committed chain-buyer. If time matters to you, for instance you are a chain-buyer and your next purchase is dependent on the sale, you should price this in and be prepared to accept a lower offer from a more certain buyer. If you have multiple offers a little used but useful tactic is to test for commitment up-front by asking if buyers are happy to pay a small deposit (c.1%) at the point of going under offer to secure the property. You should also get them to commit to exchange by a date on the understanding that the property will go back on the market if they haven’t exchanged by then.
Pick the right conveyancers - There are two things to consider here. First, pick a firm who specialise in property conveyancing, ideally with strong local experience in your area. As great as your family lawyers may be, property conveyancing is a specialist task with lots of steps which simply require someone who does this every day and knows exactly how the system works to get things right. Second, with professional service you generally get what you pay for, so picking the cheapest provider can often be a false economy. If you’re looking to move on a particular time-frame you want someone that you can pick the phone up to in case anything goes off track. Also, it sounds silly but make sure they are not stuck in the 20th century and insisting on communicating by letter. There are still firms who operate in this way and it can mean that every back and forth between your lawyers and the buyer’s lawyers can take days rather than minutes.
Be ready to move - Make sure that you’re not the one holding things up. If you need additional finance for your next move speak to a broker or lender asap to secure a mortgage in principle or similar commitment. If there is a chain above you consider getting rid of it for the right buyer by moving into rented or moving in with family.

If you need to sell quickly this guide includes further information on how to sell quickly, as well as when a quick house sale might be the right choice.

Nested

We believe that it should be possible to sell your property with certainty, without compromising on price. Nested is an estate agent that will achieve the best price on the market. Unlike other agents, from day one we also fix an advance amount that you can use if and when you need to. This makes you chain-free and you can unlock money to move to your next home. Click here to find out more if you think we can help you.