Online Estate Agents
A Guide to Selling Your Home in Scotland
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Are you about to embark on selling your home in Scotland? Like every house move, there are steps that you need to take to ensure that you have the best chances of selling your home quickly and for the highest price possible. Here at Online Estate Agents, we make it our mission to support our clients while they undergo their house move; giving them a smooth and stress-free transition.
Continue reading this blog post for our step-by-step guide to selling your home in Scotland. With our experience, advice and by taking advantage of our online estate agent services, you can be at the forefront of your house move, as well as be guaranteed a service that delivers.
1. Home Reports
The first step in our guide to selling your home in Scotland are home reports. Now that you have decided to sell your home, you must produce a Home Report. Without one, you cannot put your home on the market as this report will need to be given to prospective buyers within nine days of them enquiring about your property. This Home Report is made up of four parts; a Single Survey, an Energy Report, a Property Questionnaire and a Mortgage Valuation.
The single survey is essentially an assessment outlining the structural condition of your property. The Energy Report outlines how efficient your home is in terms of its energy usage, as well as how well insulated the walls and roof are, what type of heating it holds and the level of emissions.
The Property Questionnaire holds key information about your property; for instance, the council tax band, any conversions and parking facilities. Finally, the Mortgage Valuation informs you of the amount a lender is prepared to loan a potential buyer which is either all or a percentage of your property’s valuation price. Although this isn’t vital, it helps the process of a sale to stay smooth.
These overall reports are required within 12 weeks of your home going on the market, and all information included should be accurate and up to date. They are not necessary for a new build or newly converted flats as they will not hold any history. The report stays valid for the entirety that your property is on the market, or if needs be, it can be kept on a 28-day hold if your home is withdrawn and then goes back on sale. Please take note; mortgage businesses can request another valuation if your property hasn’t sold after three months.
2. House Costs
Next, together we must determine how much you are going to sell your property for so that we can obtain the best deal possible. The Home Report gives enough detail to a mortgage lender when they are deciding on how much to lend a prospective buyer.
You have three options; sell for a fixed price, ask for offers over or for offers around. You should make this decision based on where you are located in Scotland, and whether or not you want a rapid approach for this sale. Your online estate agent will advise you on which option will give you the best chances at selling fast, but for a fantastic deal.
3. Time to Market
Your online estate agent will advertise your property on Rightmove, Zoopla and upon our site so that you have an increased chance at reaching further prospective buyers. Our adverts consist of professional photos, floor plans, descriptions and vital information that can determine whether or not your property is suited to someone; e.g. central heating or electric radiators.
To give us a hand, we ask that you present your property to the best of your ability so that your imagery represents the home well. At the end of the day, you want to entice potential buyers and sell them the dream, and clutter and an uneven paint job aren’t going to do that.
4. Buying Your Property
To find the best buyer for your property, we give you the choice of how much inclusion you have in the process. By using your online portal, you can see and manage viewing bookings, enquiries and even bids at first hand, amongst other features. You are able to deal with your prospective buyers so that you are always fully satisfied with your house sale.
While you manage your property sale online, your assigned estate agent will always be available to give you support and advice, especially with those urgent queries that your expertise may not lie in. This way, all parties are always up to date with the progress of your sale.
5. Offers
During these next steps, you will be assigned a sales negotiator and progressor to assist you when dealing with offers. Sales negotiators and progressors are inclusive within all three of our packages. Their part to play in this process is the legal side of the sale.
All documents need to be ready, including the land registry information. A contract will be created for the transfer of the legal ownership of the property, as well as the money transfer. You will be kept up to date with this system over on your online dashboard. If you receive a ‘note of interest’, do not worry; this is just to keep the interested buyer informed when a closing date is scheduled to receive final offers.
We understand that everybody’s schedule is different, so we would be more than happy to set a closing date that suits you. We will always be available during working hours to contact for discussing your offers, and to guide you in the right direction to the best deal. We must consider the amount, the financial position of the buyer and everyone’s timescales. Solely, this choice is yours.
6. Completion of the Sale
Now that you have chosen your buyer, your progressor will see this through to the finish line. In Scotland, it doesn’t work in the same nature as England is ‘subject to contract’ terms, meaning the deal is not binding until contracts are signed and exchanged.
Instead, the contract includes formal negotiating letters which are known as ‘missives’; these will be exchanged between your legal team and the buyers’. These will consist of all information on the legal issues that apply to the sale. It’s rare at this point for sales to fall through.
In Scotland, the buyer will pay upfront as opposed to the chain process that sales can undergo in England. Now that legal negotiations are cleared, the final stage is agreeing on the contract. It’ll then be legally binding. If you change your mind from this point, you will need to compensate the buyer.
Now, all there’s left to do is transfer the title; both you and the buyer sign a document called the disposition and arrange a completion day where you will hand over the keys. Your progressor will receive the mortgage funds, take their cut and pay off all other fees, as well as reimburse you with the difference. This can take 6 to 8 weeks, or even longer, however, we will keep you informed the entire time if we have any updates. Failing that, go onto your online dashboard to keep up to date on everything.
Now, all there’s left to do is move! Pack your boxes, switch your addresses over and hire a removal company in good time so that you’re ensured a reasonable price! This is the exciting part, so we recommend that you enjoy every moment.
We hope that our guide to selling your home in Scotland has helped you. We understand that home selling comes with a lot of information. But by hiring an online estate agent, you will be given a successful professional to assist you for the entirety of the process and an easily accessible one. We will do our utmost to ensure that your house sale runs smoothly, and with your best interests at heart. Continue exploring our website for a closer insight.
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