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Guide to Selling Your Home in England, Wales and Northern Island

Should I use an Estate Agent?

If you choose to market your property yourself, you will need to arrange to value it (many Estate agents offer free valuations, or you could value it yourself if you have a good idea of the current market in your area), negotiate a final price with the buyers, market it and show prospective buyers around your home. Advertising it yourself may include:

• Making a for sale board and erecting it in your garden.
• Advertising your home in local newspapers.
• Advertising it on noticeboards and shop windows in your area.
• Marketing the property online.
• Making a brochure describing your house (quite straight forward if you have a computer and a digital camera).

If you have neither the time nor energy to contemplate the above, then you would be better off using a traditional estate agent. However, you can save thousands of pounds in commission by selling your home yourself.

How can I make my property more saleable?

First impressions can count for a lot when selling a house, so keep in mind the following:

• Keep the outside neat and tidy. Trim bushes and trees, remove weeds, especially from driveways, and consider adding tubs of flowers or hanging baskets to the front of your property.
• Try and remove any clutter from the inside of your house. Generally, the less a house has in it and the tidier it is, the larger the rooms appear. Try not to cram small rooms with too many pieces of furniture.
• Any essential and noticeable repairs should be complete before any viewings take place.
• Consider whether or not you are prepared to include carpets, curtains in the price of the house, or whether you would sell them separately.

What fixtures are included with the house?

Generally as a rule of thumb, anything that is physically attached to the house is included as part of the house and must not be removed unless specifically excluded in the contract. Such things would include light switches, fitted kitchen appliances, curtain rails and toilet roll holders.

It is adviseable to prepare a list of anything that may be considered a fixture that you are going to remove, to avoid legal problems in the future.

I've decided to use an estate agent. How do I choose one?

Compare things as: their reputation (if possible), whether they are members of the appropriate professional body eg NAEA (National Association of Estate Agents) and of course the commission rates. These are generally charged at 1%-2.5% of the final selling price, but they can always be negotiated lower, especially on expensive properties. You will need to check if these fees cover all costs, such as advertising, brochures, for sale board etc.

Pay attention to the contract you will be agreeing with the agent. Are you agreeing to:

• A sole agency
  You can only advertise through one estate agent. You agree to pay the commission to the estate agent if they find the buyer. If you find the buyer yourself (eg through an online service) then you don't pay commission to the estate agent unless you have a contract giving them "sole selling rights" in which case you will have to pay the agent even if you find the buyer yourself. If you are going to advertise the property yourself, make this fact clear to the estate agent and do not agree to sole selling rights with him.
• A joint agency
  You employ two or more estate agents who share the commission when the property is sold.
• Multiple agency
  You employ two or more agents but the commission is only payable to the one that finds the buyer.

Doing your own packing and removals?

You can collect cardboard boxes and packing materials free of charge from many supermarkets, or watch out for deliveries of new computers etc where you work and offer to remove the empty boxes!