I want to move, do I find a property first?

If you are dependent on selling your own property before you can buy then looking for your next dream home before selling may be a serious waste of energy.

By the time you have found the home of your dreams it is likely to be someone else’s idea of a good buy and if that other person is in a proceedable position you will face disappointment.

It makes sense to investigate if what you want exists within your budget particularly if you are moving to a different area and are uncertain about property values.

Pattaya is an upcoming city and many professionals are deciding to move to this city to get a chance of sun and sea, whilst still being able to work. If you are interested in this lifestyle, see what properties are available to buy. This includes houses for sale as well as condos and apartments.

How do I sell a property?

To start the process you need to arrange to have a Current Market Valuation. Most Estate Agents will provide a free valuation for this purpose. In our case the appointment will take approximately one hour and we provide examples of similar sold properties and how long the properties took to sell. Need a RICS Level 2 HomeBuyer Survey?

The biggest thing that makes your property much more difficult to sell is visible damage to your roof.

This will instantly put potential buyers off and can cause your asking price to be lowered massively if not sorted.

Get in touch with a local roofing company and ask them for a free estimate to see what it takes to get your roof restored to its former self.

What is a Current Market Valuation?

A current market valuation is an indication of an anticipated sale price it is NOT a guaranteed sale price.

Ensure that the agent can support the valuation with evidence of similar properties that they have sold and that the valuation is not just a wildly inflated guess designed to secure your business.

Most sellers have a reasonable idea as to the value of their property so if a valuation sounds too good to be true it usually is. Find out more.

The best advice that we can give is to ask lots of questions regarding the valuer’s knowledge, experience and relevant expertise.

Over valuation will lead to disappointment, a prolonged sale and a likely under market sale price.

How do I prepare a property for sale?

If you were to sell a car it is usual to give it a wash and polish.

The same should apply to selling property. Showing it off to its best advantage can achieve a better price and a quicker sale.

Make sure gardens are tidy, windows cleaned, front door is newly painted, declutter, declutter, declutter, and ensure that there are no pet odours. If there are any pet odours, the carpets need to be professionally cleaned.

For rubbish removals in London, see this website.

When dealing with an Estate Agent, who do they act for the seller or the buyer?

Always the seller, to whom the agent has a legal responsibility. However an estate agent has a duty of care to all with whom they deal, under the Consumer Protection Act.

Agents cannot mislead a buyer, make false statements or create a false impression.

Conveyancers

To transfer the ownership of a property from the Seller to the Buyer both parties employ a legal representative called a Conveyancer.

This work is carried out by Solicitors and Licensed Conveyancers and the standard of service that they provide varies dramatically.

Competition has driven their fees down to exceedingly low levels and the low fee structure means that Conveyancers have had to adopt a high volume/low fee business strategy.

The knock on effect of low fees means that they are not able to employ enough staff to deal with the volume of work that they need to generate. Find out more.

Low fee income, a high volume work load combined with low staffing levels plus the added fear that their Client and Mortgage Lender will sue for negligence tends to slow the majority of Conveyancers down resulting in service standards varying from dire, poor, to good.

Sadly we would rate the majority in the first two categories and it is very important to attempt to find those in the good category.

Generally there are two different types of operation; the first being a smaller local operation and the second large remote organisations who function similar to a factory production line.

These “Factory Conveyancers” are our least favourite, they can be difficult to deal with, poor responders and regularly lose paperwork.

More often than not the decision to engage one Conveyancer as opposed to another is based solely on the level of their fee perhaps making the misguided assumption that the level of service will be the same irrespective of the cost.

One should never be surprised with the notion that rarely do you get more than you pay for but that is exactly what Clients expect from their Conveyancers.