Why the value of your home is crucial when trying to sell it
When a homeowner thinks about selling their leasehold or freehold property, in many cases there is often some type of financial situation that is prompting the decision.
You might want to sell your house of flat in order to resolve debt or other problems you are currently experiencing, you could need to raise funds to purchase your next dream property, you might be trying to get the finances required for a move to another country, or another scenario may apply.
Whatever the reasons behind your decision to sell your home, there are several important aspects of selling, including choosing which strategy to use for finding a buyer, deciding whether or not you are willing to pay commission on the sale, and what price to ask for the property.
The price at which your home eventually sells will have a direct impact on your future plans because it will determine how much profit, if any, you manage to make from the sale. And properties that are considered more valuable might in turn generate a higher sale price and potentially greater profit that those seen as less valuable that sell at a lower price.
But profit is not the only reason why the value of your flat or house is so important in the selling process. Prospective buyers are more likely to show interest in a home that is considered valuable for factors such as its condition, location, age, type, and more. That in turn might make it easier to sell the property, and you want it to appear as valuable as possible to buyers.
There are certain steps that owners can take to increase the perceived value of their homes ahead of trying to find a buyer – and this guide is here to help buy explaining several. Some of the tasks that you could pursue won’t cost any money and should only require a little time and effort, whilst others might need a lot of funds, effort and take weeks or even months.
In addition to learning about these various actions that you can take, this guide also provides extensive information on your different options for how to sell your home. This includes selling to a quick buyer like LDN Properties, which is a process that should only take a handful of weeks to complete and that has the additional benefit of never charging any commission.
Top tips for increasing the value of your property
There are several ways that you can add value to your property, ranging from tidying the garden and applying new paint to the doors through to converting a loft to another room. Here are some of the most popular, although the cost and duration of each project varies:
Rewiring and updating your electrical systems
If your house is old then you might want to consider rewiring it and installing a more-modern consumer unit both for safety and to increase the value of the property. Even simply adding more power sockets can help to make your home more attractive to buyers.
Install an upgraded plumbing system
While this can be an expensive and time-consuming option, replacing ageing pipes in your home is a solid way to add value to your property. It will help to improve the cold and hot water flow in your home, as well as curb any problems like leaking pipes.
Convert your loft into another bedroom
A great way to hike the value of your home is by adding another room, and one relatively straightforward way to do this is through a loft conversion. You can keep costs down by simply fitting out a loft to be habitable as a room, rather than adding a physical extension to your property which can require much more time and money.
Adding an extension
If you are not in a rush to sell your house and can afford to build an extension, adding size to your property can be another way to increase its value. But this can be a complicated process as it will likely require planning permission before it begins. The UK government’s website has helpful details on the steps you might have to take.
Tidying the garden
Sometimes the simplest improvements can help to improve the overall value of your home. One example is tidying your garden – if it is overgrown with weeds and hides the true amount of space then it will be a turn-off for buyers. In contrast, keeping your garden neat can help to make it look larger and more valuable to buyers.
Paint over cracks and walls
Another relatively low-cost option is to paint over cracks on window ledges and doors, and put a new coat of paint over walls inside the house or flat. This will improve the overall appearance of your home, in turn increasing its value.
Upgrade your bathroom
Because the bathroom is one of the most heavily used rooms in your home, buyers place a great emphasis on it being clean and modern. Consider investing in fresh tiling and redecorating to help make the bathroom more enticing to a potential buyer.
Install new kitchen appliances
The kitchen is also a frequently used room and therefore buyers prefer a kitchen that has modern appliances and a clean look. Spending some time and money on installing new appliances and improving the look of your kitchen can add value to your home.
Your options to find a buyer for your house or flat
Once you are ready to sell your property, you’ll have to choose a method to find a buyer. Typically, you should be able to decide among selling to a quick home buyer, enlisting the help of an estate agent, attempting to sell through a property auction, or selling on your own.
Be aware that there are distinct advantages and disadvantages with all four methods in terms of whether they charge fees, their average schedule and other issues. By way of example, it might take many months or even more than a year to sell your home via an estate agent or without any assistance, whereas it should only take a few weeks when selling to a quick buyer.
One helpful step can be writing down your top goals with the sale of your property, such as how fast you want to sell, whether you are willing to pay commission, and your ideal selling price. Then compare these aims against the specific details of the four selling options below, and this should highlight which one is the closest match to your unique needs.
Selling to a quick home buyer
Quick buyers are companies like LDN Properties that have the funds available to purchase your home immediately, so they don’t need to wait weeks or even months to get approved for a mortgage to afford the transaction. This cuts the typical sale schedule down to just a number of weeks, and that includes the time for exchanging contracts any paying you the proceeds.
Selling this way is streamlined and avoids the need for complications like property chains, as the website UK Investor Magazine notes. You can avoid any risk of a property chain collapsing as only your home is involved in the sale, dealing directly with the quick buyer.
And these companies are also an excellent choice if you are trying to sell a home that other buyers might see as a deal-breaking “problem” property due to factors such as its age, condition, location, shape, size, type, or issues like ongoing legal disputes, significant faults in need of repair, unpaid council tax arrears or anything else that might complicate a sale. Quick buyers promise to give a fair and fast offer for practically any property.
When you sell to a quick buyer, you can also avoid having to pay any commission because the legitimate companies will never charge an owner any fees when purchasing their home. This helps you save money compared to selling through an estate agent or an auctioneer, as those two methods require that you pay commission that is taken out of the sale proceeds.
Enlisting the help of an estate agent
If you’re trying to avoid the burden of having to put in effort to selling your house or flat, you could get assistance from an estate agent. They’ll handle all the main tasks, starting with creating a listing that features photos of your home’s interior and exterior and a description of its main features. They’ll advertise this in their office, online, and in local newspapers to get buyers interested, organise viewings for people to tour your property, and hear any offers.
Should an estate agent manage to get one of those offers to the last stage of exchanging contracts, they will ask that you pay them commission on the sale. This fee is deducted right away from the sale proceeds, which will increase your costs when selling. It’s often charged within a range from 1.15 percent to 1.40 percent of a property’s final sale price, but note that the exact rate can vary among estate agents and could be above or below this range.
Homeowners looking for a speedy sale might not want to use this approach because it can take a long time to find a buyer – possibly months or even more than a full year. If you’d like a faster sale then you could consider contacting a quick buyer like LDN Properties as the entire timeline should only be a few weeks from the start through to the end, including the last steps of exchanging contracts and paying you the full sale proceeds.
When you sell with an estate agent, there’s also the risk that a buyer makes an honest offer on your home but later changes their mind and cancels it. This would cause the sale to fall apart and the person rescinding the offer can’t face any penalties unless you have already exchanged contracts. You would then have to start again with trying to find a buyer for the property, which could add much more time to your overall selling calendar.
Attempting to sell at a property auction
Auctions remain a popular choice for a number of buyers seeking a home, as a recent article on the website Property Investor Today says. And there are some perks of selling this way.
One benefit is that you would not have to put much effort into the sale because the auctioneer will handle all the important tasks, starting with putting together and advertising a listing for your home, followed by hosting the auction and overseeing the completion of a successful sale. Not having to do any of these tasks can greatly reduce your time and stress spent on selling.
But this approach can have several drawbacks, including the fact that auctioneers charge commission for their work in selling a property. Usually this is charged at 2.5 percent of a home’s auction sale price, and this will increase your costs as it’s taken from the sale proceeds.
You could ask individual auctioneers if they are open to reducing the rate of commission that they will charge you, or to require that the winning bidder pay a share of your costs, as this can help with reducing your total selling expenses. Just beware that some auctioneers might charge an even higher rate of commission than 2.5 percent, which will increase your fee further.
Another downside of selling through an auction is that it can be a lengthy process, starting with a wait of many weeks or longer from when you choose this strategy and when the auction occurs. If your property does manage to sell, the winning bidder then has about a month to finish all their required tasks like signing the legal documents, delaying a sale even further.
If you opt for selling at an auction, remember that you will have to choose a reserve price, which is the lowest value at which you agree your home can sell. A bid at this value is a binding legal agreement to sell your home, and the winning bidder can sue to enforce the sale if you try to back out of it after the auction. Take time to calculate a reserve price that should produce a profit from the sale, even after subtracting the auctioneer’s fee.
Selling on your own
The fourth choice for selling your house or flat is doing so without any help from an estate agent or an auctioneer. This means you’ll have to take care of all the steps needed to find a buyer, starting with making a listing and advertising it, scheduling viewings and hearing offers, then trying to convert a serious offer into the final exchange of contracts.
All of this work will require a significant effort from you and it can also be very time-consuming, which in turn can create a lot of stress. That’s why selling on your own is usually only recommended for people that have previous experience with finding buyers for properties, or that have a suitably skilled friend or family member that can help with the sale.
Even with such knowledge, you might find that it takes many months, or even more than an entire year, to sell your flat or house without any help. And even if you get a serious offer on your home, the person making might later withdraw it, causing the sale to collapse – and they can do this without penalty if you have not yet exchanged contracts. This will inevitably extend your selling timeline because you would then need to begin again with seeking a buyer.
Perhaps the only prominent benefit of selling without any third-party assistance is that you won’t have to pay any commission once you find a buyer for your home, which will help with lowering your expenses. But you could discover that any saving you make this way is cancelled out by the funds that you would need to spend on advertising your listing and various other tasks.
Instead of the time, stress and money required to sell your home on your own, consider getting in touch with a no-fee quick buyer like LDN Properties. You will achieve the same advantage of not having to pay any commission on the sale, but with the extra perk of securing a much more rapid sale that will take just weeks to exchange contracts and pay you the proceeds.
Seven frequent questions about adding value to your house or flat
Homeowners often ask us about whether changes to their properties might add value, and when we chat with them, these are the seven top questions we usually hear:
You don’t have to, and it’s possible to sell your home as is without making any changes. But some homeowners are willing to invest some time and money to make either cosmetic or more structural improvements to their houses or flats, knowing that they’ll get a good return on investment as it’ll improve the value of their home.
Not at all, and the amount of money that you might end up spending on changes to your house or flat to increase its value will depend entirely on the type of project you do. Some relatively simple rewiring might not cost very much, whereas adding an extension such as a new room or a garage could require significantly more expenditure.
It doesn’t have to be. Some projects can require several weeks or longer to complete, such as completely renovating a kitchen or bathroom, but the benefit of investing that time is that you’ll add great value to your home. Other changes, like painting or tidying the garden, can be done on a much quicker schedule.
Many prospective buyers are likely to view a house or flat more favourably if it appears more valuable to them than other properties, based on factors that can include its location, the condition it is in, and more. And such homes often attract more interest from buyers compared to those requiring upgrades, repairs or other work and therefore seen as less valuable.
You can often select from four different methods for selling your property, and they are contacting a quick buyer such as LDN Properties, using the help of an estate agent, trying your luck with a property auction, or selling on your own. Carefully review all of the options as they vary on important factors including whether they charge commission and how long they take.
Typically, you will find that selling your home to a quick buyer like LDN Properties will be the speediest option because the entire timeline should only be a few short weeks, and this covers the time needed for exchanging contracts and you receiving the full sale proceeds. Selling with an estate agent, at an auction, or on your own can all take at least several months.
You won’t have to pay any commission if you decide to sell your home to a zero-fee quick buyer such as LDN Properties, or if you sell without the help of a third party. But if you choose to sell your property using the services of either an estate agent or an auctioneer, and they manage to find a buyer for the home, then you would have to pay them commission on the sale.
