Choosing an Agent, Why Choose Regency?
Your house is likely to be your greatest financial asset… It has probably taken you years of saving to buy your property and longer still to pay for it. Before you sell, you should spend a few hours considering your options.
This guide may help you to achieve the highest price in the shortest time with the least stress helping you hopefully avoid making some costly mistakes along the way.
Step 1 – Arrange a Valuation
Find out how much your home is worth, we recommend at least 2/3 agents to each advise on a selling price. Each agent should provide comparable information so be wary of over/under valuing. Remember the person who decides on the value of your house is the eventual purchaser!
Step 2 - Check Terms of Agency & Fees
It is normal for an Estate Agent’s contract to have a minimum “tie in” period, to allow them sufficient time to advertise and sell your home for you. Some agents will tie you in for 6 months; our contracts have only a 12 week fixed period.
We charge a simple 1.2% INC VAT, (1.% + VAT) which includes high quality digital photos, floor plan, EPC, sale board, posting on all major property portals (Rightmove/Zoopla), newspaper advertising, social media advertising. There is a minimum fee of £1500 + VAT (£1800 inc VAT).
We are required by law to conduct anti-money laundering checks on all those selling or buying a property. Whilst we retain responsibility for ensuring checks and any ongoing monitoring are carried out correctly, the initial checks are carried out on our behalf by Lifetime Legal who will contact you once you have agreed to instruct us in your sale or had an offer accepted on a property you wish to buy. The cost of these checks is £75 (incl. VAT), which covers the cost of obtaining relevant data and any manual checks and monitoring which might be required. This fee will need to be paid by you in advance of us publishing your property (in the case of a vendor) or issuing a memorandum of sale (in the case of a buyer), directly to Lifetime Legal, and is non-refundable. We will receive some of the fee taken by Lifetime Legal to compensate for its role in the provision of these checks.
Step 3 - Instructions to Market
The next steps are simple, just call us to book a convenient time for us to come and take photographs, room descriptions and room measurements. We will visit at a time to suit you but for photo quality this is always best during daylight hours. We will produce a fully detailed colour sales information brochure which we will keep in the office and hand out to interested parties and on viewings.
Step 4 – Viewings and Receiving an Offer
Once on the market potential buyers will view your home, please see our helpful hints on preparing your home. If they like the house they will make an offer.
On receipt of an offer we will contact you immediately to discuss this and provide our thoughts and guidance. Remember, you do not have to accept any offer we put to you – if it does not meet your expectations we will be working hard to negotiate further on your behalf. If you decide to accept an offer then here is what you need to do next.
Step 5- Choosing a Conveyancer
Once you accept an offer you are then required to instruct a solicitor. We are not affiliated with any solicitor but there are several solicitors that we work with regularly.
Rawlinsons
Rowlinson House, Clifton Road, Sutton Weaver, Runcorn, WA7 3LF
01928 735333
Napthens
42 Hoghton Street, Southport, PR9 0PQ
01704 333 088
Step 6 – Conveyance Process
You will need to notify us of your solicitor and we will send out the necessary documents and paperwork. You solicitor will send out a sellers pack which will include property information forms along with a fixtures and fittings form. The information you provide on these forms is very important, as they will be used to draw up draft contracts. The quicker these are returned the quicker the sale can be processed. Once the buyer’s solicitor is in receipt of draft contracts they will request local searches. They will raise any enquiries with your solicitor, however the time scales for this can fluctuate. We would usually anticipate a completion timescale of 8-12 weeks, although each case is different and can depend on the chain of property transactions you may be involved in.
We can assist you at every step of the way to ensure a smooth a journey as possible through this complex process to make it as stress free as possible.
