Getting a valuation/going on the market

[housemove123]

We are on the cusp of accepting an offer which will mean relocating a few hundred miles away and selling our home in the process. Having never sold before, I'd love some tips.

I've seen flyers offering free valuations by local estate agents. I am assuming this is the first thing I need to do. Do I need to prep my house for this, or is it just a casual look around?

I know I'll need to touch up paintwork and minimise what's lying out when it comes to photo time. Is that usually a few weeks after the valuation process?

I'm also wondering about using estate agents vs one of the "purple bricks" type places I've seen advertised. Is it a huge saving or just a bit? If it's a small difference, I think I'd rather go for the easy option.

Also, there were some jobs we were in the planning stages of, e.g. replacing a fence, replacing a blind, etc. Is it worth rushing to do these things now (and spending quite a lot of money and time) or is it pointless as the buyers may not like them anyway?

Shamelessly bookmarking. I've bought and sold a house before but it was over thirty years ago and need to do so again in the not too distant future, but have no idea how things work now.

Hopefully someone will come tell us what's what.

We had 3 separate valuations from agents, after we instructed one it photographed and put on Rightmove in a couple of days max.

Purple bricks I think you have to do the viewings yourself, that's why we prefers more traditional agent. Ours was a 1% plus vat fee

It's such a big subject, your best option is to research. I know Zoopla have a step by step guide to selling a home. Maybe start there. It's usually worth making sure your house looks clean and tidy and maybe doing a little decoration. A good estate agent would advise on how quickly homes are selling in your area. Good luck.

Get the local agents round first, no obligation, they will advise if anything needs doing. Ask lots of questions Choose one if you think they will do a good job or if none of them inspire then give purple bricks a go. Get best pics you can , style things a bit so looks appealing.
We paid local guy to come for a couple of days and do a list of small jobs like fixing door handles , painting front door, fixing bits.

I'd get the house into a reasonable condition before the agents come round. It doesn't need to be perfect, but you don't maximise their estimation if the house looks tatty.

Also I'd get at least 3 valuations from local agents. We had 2 at the same, lower value, and one £25k higher than that. We went with one of the lower ones, but asked them to put price £15k above that, which we achieved.

Pictures can generally be done as soon as you want them, though it depends who is taking them. In our case, I had a professional on, as I wasn't taking any chances. Some agents go along with a digital camera!

In terms of preparation, I would fix anything which would put a question mark in buyers minds e.g. damp patch, that will be picked up in the survey.

We went got a traditional agents, as they know the area very very well, and we didn't want to show potential buyers round ourselves. Traditional agents charge around 1% if sole agents, or 1.5-2% if multiple agents. PurpleBricks charge a flat fee, up to £1k, I believe, depending on location and property value (not sure about this bit?)

Estate Agents don’t just publicise the sale and organise viewings, that’s the easy bit.

The bit where they can come into their own is seeing the whole process of the sale through. Negotiating and liaising if the buyer wants to change the price post-survey, chasing slow solicitors, keeping communication along the chain, holding the chain together, solving problems.

When I bought recently I prioritised viewings that were not Purple Bricks. But they have a terrible reputation in our area.

I would actively avoid online agents when I am looking. Awful.
Get your house looking good - declutter and as pp said do jobs that would be potential red flags, and make sure the approach is neat and tidy. Anything tatty wil make the buyers wonder what else you have let slide.
The photos are quick but the layout can take a week or so. But it's a matter of days not weeks from agreeing to seeing it on rightmove.

Always get the agent to do viewings. If you have dogs get them out of the house. Make sure the kitchen and bathrooms in particular are spotless.

I spent the last 3 months decluttering and finishing stuff off and so glad I got it all done first! Would definitely recommend getting it all sorted (however much you want to do) before contacting agents.

I had 4 agents come around mon-weds last week, decided thursday, photos on Friday, on the market Monday and open house happening this Saturday, so all very fast once I started the process!

Do the work you want to do before the valuation. It doesn't need to be pristine but the EA will value it based on what they see. Do some research on EAs in your area, check Google reviews and ask for personal recommendations.

Online EAs are quite a bit cheaper, but you pay upfront so they have less of an incentive to actually sell your house. When our chain got a bit tricky our EA was worth their weight in gold keeping communication going, they had to work hard for their commission! Online EAs don't offer that, and they don't really care if the sale goes through or not because they've already got their money.

Wow, ok - good advice. Thank you!

As others have said, get three valuations and don't necessarily go with the highest. Ask them what they have sold recently in your area, ask what they do to be proactive - It's also worth asking for agent recommendations locally, if you know lots of people.

They'll be round to take photos within days - please tidy things away even if it means boxing stuff up and shoving under beds. Having been looking at house details for the last year, I've been staggered at the amount of house photos that have been taken with bicycles parked in the spare room, beds unmade, clothes hanging on doors etc, there's just no need!

In terms of getting work done, it's always worth tidying things up if it won't cost much, like giving a grubby wall a fresh lick of paint etc, but I wouldn't spend a lot (if the fence is knackered you could get it fixed)

Thanks. The fence still functions, it just doesn't look nice (original wire, with a neighbour's creeping plant growing along it) and it's been towards the bottom of a long list of jobs since we moved in that we're just getting to the bottom of. It would need fully replaced so it's not a small repair job. Same with the blind - current curtains will look good enough for photos so I will just leave them rather than spending on a custom fit blind (awkward windows) just to freshen it up when it'll get binned no doubt by new owners if they don't like the style/colour. Luckily we've just finished two major jobs that should slightly increase value or at least mitigate negative survey results that otherwise might have been the case.

Our seller's EA has been the most efficient person in the whole transaction and acted as an excellent go between when me and the sellers have needed to gang up on our respective crappy solicitors. I would definitely list with them when we come to sell.