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6th September 2017
Home sellers can’t be faulted for breathing a huge sigh of relief once their house is under offer. After all, this means the stressful period of viewings has come to an end, and you’re one step closer to completion.
For 34% of sellers however, this is far from the end of the road. One in three house sales fall through before completion, due to surveying issues, failure to obtain a mortgage, breaks in chains, and last minute changes of heart.
A fall through is challenging on many levels, particularly when you’ve already made arrangements for your next move. A curtailed sale could also incur thousands of pounds in solicitors’ and surveyors’ fees.
While reasons for a sale not working out may differ, working with a trusted estate agent will ensure your property goes to the right buyer for the right price - and with a significantly lower chance of falling through.
Your estate agent will act on your behalf throughout the sales process, negotiating with buyers’ solicitors, arranging necessary surveys, and offering advice all the way through to completion.
Check estate agents’ track records before committing to working with them. They need to be able to negotiate skillfully on your behalf to ensure a good price, as well as being attuned to any issues or doubts that may be raised throughout the sales process. You also need to trust your estate agents to keep you in the loop throughout negotiations, updating you on any likely delays and providing honest feedback from the buyer and their representatives.
With over 18 years of service as independent estate agents, we’ve done our fair share of negotiations - and last year alone we achieved an amazing 99.3% of all asking prices on properties sold. Do your research and pick an estate agent with the right credentials, as well as plenty of positive testimonials from previous sellers.
Make sure you ask a few questions about how your estate agents handle negotiations. While larger agents use administration teams to manage the sale process, we believe that a personal, individual touch will ensure a smooth sale. By assigning you a dedicated estate agent, we will ensure you feel comfortable asking questions and expressing concerns throughout the process. Furthermore, a single point of contact will ensure consistent expert knowledge about the state of your sale.
Transparency is key when it comes to avoiding fall throughs - while all estate agents will want to reassure you that a fall through is unlikely, we ensure that sellers are aware of any potential issues such as complicated chains, surveying issues or disputes from the very start so we can work around them together.
Time-wasters are a home seller’s biggest nightmare: after multiple viewings, a solid offer, and weeks of negotiations, your buyer simply decides they’re not as interested as they thought they were. This can lead to high levels of stress and disappointment, and leave sellers demotivated.
We work hard to ensure that you only enter into negotiations with the right buyer - someone who loves your property as much as you do, and who has the means to see the sales process through to the end.
A serious buyer will ask the right questions about a property and the surrounding area, moving away from the aesthetic and into serious consideration about how their life in the property would play out. Buy picking up on questions about long-term considerations such as renovation and extensions, we can tell that buyers are beginning to imagine themselves in the space.
We also check to ensure that buyers’ finances are in order when they make an offer. Buyers who have already looked into mortgages and solicitors are not only demonstrably committed to the process, but also doing their research, meaning they’re less likely to pull out as a result of a surprise later down the line.
We ensure our listing have accurate, high-quality photos and descriptions, so buyers know what they’re getting from the very beginning. By conducting viewings in-person, our qualified estate agents can gather honest feedback from buyers and work with you to address any potential issues.
By recommending your property to our own database of interested buyers, we can match buyers to properties even more closely, finding a buyer who’s truly passionate about purchasing your home.
Chances are, you’ll be looking to buy a new home after sale. Likewise, your buyer is likely to have a property on the market. Complicated chains are responsible for 9% of sales falling through, and can lead to long waits before completion.
While issues that arise further down the chain are often beyond your control, you can help streamline the process by being clear on your intentions for moving from the outset. Discuss your goals with your estate agent, and work out whether moving to a rental property while searching for your dream home would move you closer to exchange.
We strongly advise that you put your house on the market before purchasing your next property - this will give you a solid position in the chain when it comes to sellers accepting your offer. Many sellers choose not to accept offers from buyers who have yet to put their own properties on the market, as this implies that they’re not serious about committing to a purchase.
Put your mind at ease by exploring options for your next big move early in the selling process. If you plan to stay in the same area, your estate agent could even match you to your next dream home while finding a buyer for your current property, getting the wheels turning for a swift buying and selling process.
Many home sellers are keen to race through negotiations in favour of a quick sale. However, taking the time to consider what you’re agreeing to can make all the difference between a sale falling through and a mutually beneficial agreement.
Due to market fluctuations, you may be offered a lower price than you’d hoped for. After the summer’s snap election, property prices dropped by an average of 0.4%, meaning that buyers are expecting to find property for a lower price than they would have last year. Our property experts will take this into account when offering their initial valuation, and negotiate to ensure that the best possible price is reached.
The good news is, it’s all relative. If you have to accept a lower offer than you were hoping for, it’s likely you’ll be able to negotiate on the next place you’re looking to buy. As the market fluctuates, sellers are having to adjust their expectations accordingly.
Negotiations are about much more than just the price of the property - you need to come to the table with a thorough idea of which fixtures and fittings are included in the sale, as well as any issues raised by the surveyor that will need to be addressed.
This is also the time for you to get to grips with the technicalities of your own situation: come to the table with a knowledge of your current mortgage, any early repayment fees, the length of lease on a leasehold property, and any service charges. This will ensure that you’re in a strong position to negotiate a fair contract.
Our qualified estate agents will discuss these aspects of the sale with you early on, ensuring that everyone’s on the same page about what’s on offer, and what you don’t want to budge on. With a combined 78 years working with Maslen, our managers know all the ins and outs of the negotiation process, and will work hard to avoid any surprises later down the line.
We will also work with you, your solicitor, the buyer, their estate agent and their solicitor to establish a realistic target date for exchange, giving everyone involved a comfortable timeframe to work within. This has the advantage of giving the sales process a clear endpoint, and ensuring that everyone gets their affairs in order to make it happen.
Are you ready to kick-start the selling process? Put your mind at ease with expert advice from our expert team.