As boring as it is to most of us, get your paperwork in order! Don't wait until someone is making you an offer, getting you property paperwork in first class order a top priority.
Ensure your title deeds are checked over by your solicitor and your mortgage arrangements and other loans are fully up to date. Collect together all your utility and service bills and ensure they are readily available. In short be prepared to put everything on the table when that person comes along and starts to negotiate. Do not leave any room for a prospect to back out because you are too slow in getting your paperwork together.
Get your solicitor or attorney to draw up a draft sales contract. This should have everything on it except the buyers details and closing date. When your buyer comes along you can complete the missing data, give a copy to your buyer to give to his solicitor and send a copy to your solicitor for review and producing the working copy.
In some areas, houses over a certain age are subject to additional inspections and disclosures related to insulation and lead paint levels.
Finally, prepare a fact sheet or small brochure about your home that prospects can take away with them. This should include, photos, property description, service costs, location of amenities and your contact details.
When you meet someone for the first time, the impressions you gain in the first seconds are vitally important. The same is true with your house, when a prospect first sees your house and garden those impressions garnered in the first minute are vital and long lasting.
Make sure your paintwork is fresh, your gardens are tidy and, if possible, colourful, that the sidewalk in front of your house is clean and tidy. Your property should exude pride and do all that you can to prevent your prospect simply driving by.
Inside your home, redecorate so that every room is fresh. Clean, tidy and declutter every room. Remove excess furniture to create space within each room. Now is the time to go through the house room by room, through the attices, cellars and sheds and find a way dispose of everything you no longer need or want.
You should consider having a home inspection or survey carried out. OK it costs money but you will be forewarned of any potention issues that could arise when a buyer has a survey carried out and you can start to correct any defects that may arise as the result of the survey.
Having a survey carried out gives prospects increased confidence in you and can sometimes save you time once you have found a buyer as he or she may forgoe a second survey and accept your survey results.
Please not that if you have a survey carried out you may, in some countries, be required by law to reveal the surveys contents to any potential buyers.
