Trading up or moving on? Here’s some key tips for selling your house
BUYING or selling a house is perhaps the biggest deal most of us do in the course of a lifetime. It brings all sorts of challenges, from finding your dream house to getting your finances ship-shape and negotiating the best price for you and your family.
No wonder it is also one of the most stressful experiences you can go through - in the battle to get everything from a BER cert to your packing done, it’s easy to overlook a detail. And we all know that the devil is in the detail.
Whether you’re trading up or moving on, for those selling, or thinking of selling their house, here are some tips from the experts:
1. Inform your pricing strategy by understanding how buyers’ purchasing power is determined.
Think of a couple - give them names, occupation, everything - that you think would buy your home. What do they work at and how much do they earn? This will lead to the obvious next question: what is 3.5 times their gross annual salary? This, plus whatever their likely deposit is, is their budget.
2. Organise all your paperwork.
If your property has a separate septic tank, make sure it is registered and check whether the septic tank and percolation area are inside your site boundary. Make sure any rights of ways are correctly shown on your property. Ensure all planning permissions and building certificates are to hand for alterations and extensions.
Explore carefully whether the property has any development potential. Carry out a Building Energy Rating Assessment - these need to be updated every 10 years and cost approximately €150.
3. If you’re selling a second house, make sure your NPPR (tax for second homes that preceded property tax) is paid up to date and that your property tax is up to date. Ensure all household charges and water charges have been discharged.
4. Pick a good agent - they will be your best (or worst) asset in the course of the sale.
Don’t necessarily choose the cheapest or the most expensive. Take time to turn up to open viewings of properties they have on the market and make sure they are there in person or at least that there is a competent senior agent who can answer questions there in their stead. It is crucial that the agent showing your house knows all its special features and can answer questions.
Check too that they are licensed and agree a sales fee.
Expect to pay between 1-1.75pc of the price your property eventually sells for. Some agents have a scale fee, charging 1pc up to a certain price and an increased percentage beyond that.
5. Most estate agents charge an upfront marketing fee on top of their fee - this will cover, for example, professional photography.
The flipside is that those who don’t charge a marketing fee may absorb the cost of photography themselves and the quality may not be as high. Make sure outside photos are taken with no part of your house in the shade. Ask for a walk-through video, if possible.
Make sure the auctioneer’s brochure contains room measurements and floor plans as they help interested parties to visualise the layout.
6. Don’t follow the herd; people traditionally sell in autumn and spring but demand is constant and less seasonal than it once was. It may work to your advantage to sell off-peak when there are fewer new properties and less competition on the market.
7. Don’t always believe the estate agent’s valuation of your property. Some may price high to get your instruction and up their market share, rather than working to get your house sold in a swift, active campaign for the best possible price.
8. Keep an eye on places similar to yours that are for sale in the area; Google them or view them, get a brochure, then use the information to guide your pricing strategy.
Examine the Property Price Register for price comparisons and remember, location and condition are the drivers of strong pricing.
If you’re not happy with the progress of a sale, change your estate agents. Sometimes a new agent can breathe new life into a sale. To this end make sure when signing your property services agreement with your agent that you can break the agreement with reasonable notice after an initial period of, say, 8-12 weeks, without penalties.
Be aware that if you have paid for professional photography, you can reuse it with another agent, so it’s a cost saved.
10. Instruct your solicitor and agree their fee - these vary hugely in amount and in structure. Ask for recommendations from people you trust.
11. Many sales fall through due to delays with contracts. You can’t do anything about the purchaser’s solicitor but you can ensure the delays will not be from your end.
If you have a mortgage, make sure your solicitor looks for your property deeds from your mortgage company as this can be a source of long delay. If you don’t have a mortgage, make sure the solicitor examines your property deeds to see if they are in order.
12. Normally, your house should sell in around three months. If it is lingering, sit down with your agent and discuss the possible reasons -
it may not be anything wrong with the agent’s campaign. In the current market, the price may be too high or the market may have slipped for your property.
13. You have eight seconds to make that all-important good first impression. Make sure you have ‘ curb appeal’ by sprucing up your front garden and entrance. Trim the grass, fix peeling paint and make your windows sparkle. Clean the gutters so there’s no greenery growing out of them.
14. Clean, clean, clean. Make the house clutter free, fresh and ready for a new owner to move in. This attracts those who do not have the time, inclination or patience to do work. If this means painting, it has to be done.
Pick light, neutral colours, use loads of white paint and replace old tired carpets.
Wash the windows, let as much light in as possible, when viewing make sure all curtains are open. Viewers love bright properties.
15. Consider renting a storage unit - with luck it will only be needed for a few months - and do a big de-clutter. You want to strike a happy balance between your house looking like a home and it looking like a show house. Sometimes people are buying the house for your taste.
16. Do the repairs you have always meant to - it will be worth several multiples of the cost on the price.
17. If you’re spending money just to pimp your property, ie, putting in new bathrooms or a kitchen in an old property that needs a total refurb, be aware that you may not get it back. A surveyor will spot what needs to be redone and a potential vendor will take this into account in bidding for the property. In short, you’ve wasted your money.
18. Try to look at your house with fresh eyes. Make sure each room has a use and a purpose - make a wasted space into a study, put a cot in to a tiny box room, a dining table in that second downstairs room you never use.
Get rid of bulky furniture and make sure that the circulation and flow through the house is as seamless as possible.
19. Decide on one fragrance for the house in terms of candles and diffusers, and stick to it. Don’t have a curry or fried fish the night before a viewing.
20. If you think a table or other piece of furniture will improve your dining room, so will a potential buyer - you can rent one from professional house stagers (try Design Source; design-source.ie) if you don’t want to buy one.
21. Avoid showing a house without furniture; remember, you’re selling a potential home.
22. Putting your house on the market just before you go on holiday is the ideal time - it will stay tidy and be available for viewers at all times.
23. Do your best to ensure that there is parking outside your house for anyone coming to view. That means moving your own car around the corner. Take the time to pick up litter and dog poo off the street before viewings.
24. Decide if you need a quick sale or can hold out for a better price.