Tag: house sales

Pros and cons of a DIY house sale

Pros and cons of a DIY house sale

Within the property industry, the majority of people usually hire various professionals to help guarantee a smooth and successful sale. However, there’s nothing preventing you from undertaking a DIY house sale approach. It may or may not be the right solution for you. Why should you hire? What are the pros and cons of opting to sell your home by yourself? Let’s have a look at the options.

House for sale illustration

Pros

1. Enjoy profits alone

One of the major reasons people decide to sell a house for themselves is to avoid paying lots of money to a real estate agent. If you’re good at marketing and know the paperwork needed to effect a transfer, you can sell the property on a DIY basis and enjoy all the profits you make from it.

2. Avoid the stress of professionals 

Hiring specialists like realtors or flat fee agents to assist you to sell your house saves you the hassle of having to be there because you might not have the spare time. You might be on a busy schedule and receiving calls or showing the property to potential buyers may be quite a stressful situation for you. However, once you take on a professional to represent you or do the work for you, you can kill two birds with the same stone.

3. Better knowledge of neighbourhood benefits

As prospective buyers view the property, they need to appreciate the advantages of living in the neighbourhood. You may be more knowledgeable about local amenities than hiring a professional who doesn’t reside in the area or isn’t well informed about it. For example, you may have more experience of land for sale in Oklahoma by owner. Since you have a clear picture of the benefits they stand to enjoy, you’ll be in a better position than a hired expert.

Illustration of a house for sale sandwich board

Cons

1. Time

Hiring specialists to assist you to sell your house saves you the hassle of having to be there because you might not have the spare time. You might be on a busy schedule, and receiving calls or showing the property to potential buyers may be quite a stressful situation for you. However, once you take on a professional to represent you or do the work for you, you can kill two birds with the same stone.

2. Connected to the market

Ostensibly, selling properties isn’t your day job, and that’s why hiring someone that does it for a living is worth it. You’re not well connected to the market, whereas trained and experienced real estate agents are. They have the know-how and a network of prospective buyers and other professionals who can assist them make a fast sale – which you will not.

3. Save on marketing cost

Marketing your property by yourself can be quite costly for you – money which you may not be pleased to have to spend. However, when you assign professionals to lead on the publicity, they are skilled at marketing your property quickly and efficiently, to a wide audience, using the most economical methods available. You’ll therefore spend less on your marketing budget if you hire than you will if you opt for the  DIY option.

What are some of the professions you should involve when selling your property and benefits you stand to gain? They include the following:

1. Property solicitor

When you embark upon selling a property, you need to ensure that the transaction is conducted legally and accurately. A specialist property solicitor will be your legal representative, and will have an in-depth knowledge about the contractual paperwork required for a transfer of ownership. Some of the forms needed include title documents, transfer contracts and payment terms. The attorney drafts the legal papers for you and represents you to effect the transfer without you having to be present. How much is a real estate attorney? It will cost you an estimated $2,500 to $3,000 and fees are on a flat or hourly rate basis.

2. Estate agent

Real estate agents are professionals who represent a property owner in a sale to a potential buyer and effect the sale on your behalf. They’re well informed about the various key details a buyer looks for as they inspect the property and have the right words to encourage them to buy the property. A real estate agent earns his/her money on an agreed commission percentage on a successful sale or a fixed amount negotiated upon appointment. Hiring a real estate agent also reduces the anxiety about the documents needed for a successful transaction. They’ll draft them on your behalf and ensure the transaction is a smooth one.

3. Home stager

Home staging has become an increasingly popular method to help market properties today. A home stager dresses the property to make it appealing to potential purchasers. They arrange the space by introducing and/or arranging furniture, fittings and accessories; and by doing this, they make the space more liveable. Sometimes, a home stager can work alongside an interior designer to ensure the property is colourful and reflects a client’s personality. While marketing a property, an empty space photo may not be as attractive as a staged home, and that’s why hiring a home stager is undoubtedly worth it. It draws viewers’ attention and increases the number of visits to the property, which may eventually lead to a potential purchase.

4. Surveyor

Potential buyers will only complete on the purchase the property if it’s as per the quality standards that they (and their mortgage company) expect. Therefore, they often have the property inspected before contracts can be agreed and exchanged. A home & building surveyor is equipped with the tools and expert knowledge to inspect the property and recommend any repairs and improvements needed to ensure the property is per the client’s expectations. They will issue a detailed report after the inspection to inform the purchaser of the property’s condition.

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How to improve your chances of selling your home

How to improve your chances of selling your home | H is for Home

Whether you’re looking to sell your house now or sometime in the future, it’s worth considering that it’s not something that just happens overnight. However, if you’re looking for the option of selling quickly or would just like to improve your odds of selling when the market improves, we’re sharing some simple steps on how to improve your chances of selling your home.

Cane furniture set in a garden

Attend to your garden

Despite the garden being a big selling point of a home, it’s sadly often one of the most overlooked and neglected areas. This isn’t done deliberately, it can have a lot to do with the weather making it an area that doesn’t get used a lot, so it can get forgotten quite easily.

However, especially if you’re hoping to sell the place, it’s definitely worth taking some time to give your garden a bit of a freshen up. This doesn’t need to be intense or expensive work; you can make it look miles better simply by cutting the grass and adding some affordable garden furniture. Do this and you’ll quickly notice a big difference.

Workman carrying a ladder into a house

Take care of any repairs

If there are things in your home that need doing such as repairs that you’ve been putting off, then now is definitely the time to consider tackling them. Not only can this boost the value of the property in general, it can help you sell it more quickly. Even if it’s bringing in a plumber to carry out some pipe leak detection work, sometimes it can be the small things that make the biggest difference in terms of repairs.

Testing a fuse box

Carry out a full check

When it comes to safety, you can never be too careful. So, if you’re planning on selling your house and you’d like to get things moving quickly, a good thing to do is get a full check carried out. This can cover anything from the external structure of the house, to the internals such as the electrical wiring to make sure that everything is as it should be. Not only is this something that should be done regularly, if you have this done and ready to show potential buyers, it will give them a feeling of confidence and perhaps encourage them to submit an offer.

Paperwork in a folder

Have all the paperwork ready

When you sell your house, there’ll be a lot of legal paperwork involved. Instead of waiting until the last minute when the mortgage lender, solicitor and estate agent request information, it’s a good idea to have it ready and at hand before you require it – especially if you need to prepare for a quick sale and want to boost your chances of completing.

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5 Ways to prepare your home for selling

'5 Ways to prepare your home for selling' blog post banner

House for salecredit

When it comes to selling your home, there are some simple strategies that can help generate more interest from potential buyers. The following 5 suggestions are easily implemented and guaranteed to keep any prospective purchasers engaged from the outset, rather than turning them away to purchase elsewhere.

Well maintained cottage gardencredit

1. A well-maintained garden

Make sure any garden or outdoor area is well-maintained and manicured as this will make a great first impression and arouse curiosity as to what may await beyond the front door. Many potential buyers will drive by to get a sense of the property and if they see a garden that is overgrown and unappealing they may never bother to arrange an initial inspection with the real estate agent. They will likely assume that the same level of disregard applies to the condition of the rest of the property.

Mid century modern decorated sitting roomcredit

2. De-clutter

Create a light and airy atmosphere and increase the sense of available space by de-cluttering the property before placing it on the market with eMoov, the online estate agents. Environments that are messy and claustrophobic are unappealing and can be psychologically intimidating. It’s a kind of territorial marking that makes ones space personally meaningful, however a buyer will be trying to imagine how the space would look furnished with their possessions. Make this task easier for them by reducing clutter and providing room for their imagination to soar.

Cream painted living roomcredit

3. Paint & repair

A few coats of paint are a minimal cost compared to the figures involved in selling a home. If the walls are looking drab and dirty, or the existing colour scheme is dated, unusual or just visually jarring then taking the time to spruce things up is well worth the effort. Most decorators recommend using neutral colour schemes so that potential buyers can more easily visualise their own belongings in the house. Colours that reflect the present owner’s unique lifestyle and tastes may be unappealing to other people.

View the property with a critical eye and notice any obvious defects that are in need of replacement or repair. Cracked walls, rusted guttering, stained carpets or broken windows will ring alarm bells for a prospective buyer and cause them to wonder what else may be wrong with the property.

Small, white galley kitchencredit

4. Clean & tidy

Make sure the house is clean and tidy when buyers come for inspection. Although it can be a hassle to continually stay on top of the cleaning it is an effort that is worthwhile. First impressions really do count and ideally the prospective buyer ought to be able to easily imagine living in the property. Not many people picture their dream future as living amongst filth and grime so leave nothing to chance and attend to the basics by increasing the charm and appeal of the property.

Vintage furnished dining and sitting roomcredit

5. Consider renting furniture

If your furniture is old and dated, consider leasing high quality furnishings to provide the wow factor to potential buyers. The cost of leasing can be surprisingly affordable and any leverage you can get in your favour to help sway a buyer is certainly worth the investment.

Preparing your home for selling is not a complicated affair and hopefully, with these easy tips put into action, a sale will soon be on its way for you.

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