Beginners' guide to selling a house?

[Saracen]

It will be our first time selling and I don't know what's involved, how to ensure the process goes smoothly, and so on.

Can anyone recommend any forums, articles, or blogs so I can get up to speed?

There's no chain on our end, so we are spared the complication of trying to line up purchase with sale.

Thanks!

1. engage an estate agent. It is 1%+vat of the sale price achieved on commission where I am.
2. Tidy and de-clutter the house ready for photos. Do all of the niggly jobs like jet washing the patio/cleaning the windows. Photograph each room on your phone so you can see what needs to be moved/corrected. Put ironed bedding on the beds before the photographer comes.
3. Get all of the paperwork associated with the house together in a file. Fensa certs,electrical and gas inspection certs etc.
4. Decide what sort of viewers you want - sold already/anyone etc. and who is doing the viewing - you or the EA. If you have a driveway and own a car, park your car elsewhere for viewers to pull up outside (psychologically it’ll increase their unconscious disposition favourably towards your house) Consider what questions you asked about your own house
5. Once you have an offer and the buyers have sent a surveyor round, engage a proper solicitor to carry out the conveyancing for the sale.

good luck! You can save money by using online estate agents and online conveyancers but frankly, you get what you pay for and is sometimes a false economy.

Ps use this forum for any questions you might have.

Thank you, @Netaporter ! That's very helpful.

Fensa - is that windows?

What happens if we don't have those?

@houseselling it’s not the end of the world but a conveyancer will ask for everything…

moneysavingexpert forums are quite good for advice

If the first agent you try doesn't get you what you want, change agents. May be harder in this market, but I didn't appreciate how much difference an agent could make until I sold my first place (1st agent - bad photos, half assed, got one low offer; 2nd agent 5 really high offers, the one I took was £40k over what first agent got)

Yes its for Window installed after 2002 If you dont have one your buyer (or rather the buyers mortgage company) might insist you pay for an indemnity insurance which you pay through your solicitor.
It's not the end of the world at all.

Netaporter has a fabulous list.
Only things I'd add are declutter, declutter declutter. And the car parked round the corner can be used as a temporary storage lace for stuff you need that should be hidden for viewings (the cat stuff got moved into my car every viewing).

Great, thanks! I like moneysavingexpert and hadn't thought to look there. That is a very good idea.

Windows or the Fensa🤣
Sorry bad joke.
Building control will come around ( at your request) have a look at the windows. Only those installed after April 2004 are relevant. They will give you a certificate if they comply.. Generally it’s only the ones lower than 900 mm off the floor at first floor level that cause a problem and only if they don’t have a kite mark. In which case if they are not deemed ok you can put film over the glass. B control will advice which type. It cost £2/300 for building control.

I believe whoever installed your windows had to lodge the certificate with FENSA and you should be able to request a copy for something like £10.

Definitely declutter, way more than you think you need to.

Hide away personal photos, otherwise viewers find it harder to think of as "their" house as they walk around.

Also "stage" your house as much as you can so viewers buy into the lifestyle your house could give them. Think plump cushions on sofas, strategically placed throws on bed, fruit bowls in kitchen, unused fluffy towel in bathroom etc etc.

Include in your decluttering any fitted cabinets or wardrobes

if they are staying with the house they are fair game to be opened.

Fix any problems, & stain block and paint over any historic leaks

Ask a good friend to tell you what she would change/get rid of/move for selling

Remember that rightmove photos are tiny, so once you’ve decluttered add a few things back, I prefer to add a bold splash of colour in removable accessories - painting, lampshade, even fruit. It’s means my rather boring when empty mostly beige or white rooms stand out in a tiny picture.

And if you can, put a bed in each bedroom.

Particularly in a small room, which can look far too small empty or as an office.

@HotelNotPortofino Remember that rightmove photos are tiny, so once you’ve decluttered add a few things back, I prefer to add a bold splash of colour in removable accessories - painting, lampshade, even fruit. It’s means my rather boring when empty mostly beige or white rooms stand out in a tiny picture.

Oh, I love that tip! Very appropriate for us. The house is completely empty with all walls white: practical but dull. I plan to put a bed in each bedroom and maybe a few chairs to give an idea of scale, so people can see at a glance that rooms are decent-sized. A splash of colour would be a very easy addition, helping an otherwise boring house to stand out in the photos. 😍

And remember that if your home isn't selling - it's always the price!

Absolutely! It seems like people in my town are putting their houses on for silly high prices, not justified by actual past sales, and then nothing is selling.

I just staged my late DFs house for sale

Lots of old brown furniture & magnolia walls. Thankfully I’d chosen his curtains when he moved in so all were matching plain cream. £26 for tumble drier dry cleaning bag and fluids brought them all up looking almost new again, and I didn’t have to iron them.

We repainted everything a very soft grey 20l for £15 from wickes

Picked up free beds from FB marketplace.

I bought 2m of orla keily fabric for £20 and recovered all his chair pads with a staple gun, & picked one colour from the pattern for each room. So one bedroom had a blue painting, blue throw from sainsburys £6, & chair, next had mustard, next one red. Glued some of the scraps left over to his old slightly battered bedside lampshades. Suddenly every room looked more modern, & they all tied on together.

conservatory looked tired with old person style conservatory furniture, so I bought many green plant leaf cushions from Shein for £1-2 each, & they hid most of the dated fabric.

We sold for asking price before it went on the market, and before I’d finished painting.

Forgot fabric…this one, big and bold.
I then managed to sell all his chairs for £10 each 😆

Lots don’t though. Buyers don’t know to ask for one and there are lots of dodgy installers out there. If an owner doesn’t know what one is they won’t have one as the owner should be given a copy.

It’s not down to buyers to ask for this - there’s a specific question about it on the standard fixtures and fittings form.

Plus a decent conveyancing solicitor will absolutely ask the other side for this, so it's worth getting ready for the question.

Yes I know.
The PP said they can go online to get the Fenca cert.
I was pointing out there may not be one as some home owners don’t know to ask for it, some installers don’t provide it, so there isn’t one.

So.
If there isn’t one the homeowner selling needs to get it retrospectively from Building Control