A step-to-step guide to selling a property

1. Touch-up your home

It is vital to have your home in good showing condition before you put it on the market. This can have a significant impact on potential tenants and even on the asking price. Examples include, painting, woodworking, flooring, removing or adding key furniture, cleaning,tidying the garden, minimising personal items such as photos, and so forth.

2. Request a valuation

It is important to achieve the correct asking price. At VA Property we can asses the correct value of your home. Please complete the valuation form here

3. Choosing a real estate agent

This is an important decision as the agent will be your partner who will guide you through the entire rental process and negotiate on your behalf. If you’re interested for VA Property to act as your agent, we please ask you to register your property details with us.

4. Instruct a lawyer

It is advisable to instruct your solicitor at the same time as choosing your agent. This will help to avoid delays and allow time for the collection of necessary documentation involved in transferring ownership of your property to the new buyer

5. Putting your home on the market

 When you instruct VA Property to sell your property you will benefit from our unrivalled, comprehensive marketing package giving your home maximum exposure and a targeted strategy.

6. Viewings

To boost viewing opportunities, ensure your agent is giving you maximum exposure and has flexible opening hours. At VA Property you can arrange viewings after office hours and even weekends. Our flexible working style is essential to accommodate our clienteles’ needs given that most viewings are carried out after work hours.

7. Receiving an offer

This is the exciting bit. As soon as an offer is received, VA Property will formally notify you.

8. Negotiating

We will advise you and negotiate on your behalf, keeping you informed in every step of the way. If prospective buyers want to discuss your property or negotiate price or other terms, defer to them to a VA Property agent. We are the experts and can best handle all these details without emotion.

9. Agreeing to sell

Once you have accepted an offer you will normally receive a deposit from the buyer (usually 10% of the purchase price) which is held with your agent's or lawyer’s account. This is a reservation agreement which takes the property off the market. At this stage it is important that the following details are agreed

Details of any extras included or excluded from the purchase
Date for buyer's/lender's survey on your property
Date for exchange of contracts
Date for completion

10. Drafting of the contract

Once an offer has been agreed, your lawyer should collate all the supporting paperwork and send out a draft contract for your property to the purchaser's solicitor who in turn carries out preliminary enquiries.

11. Exchange of contracts

The Exchange of contracts occurs when all preliminary enquiries from the draft contract and local search queries have been agreed. If a buyer requires a mortgage, once the mortgage offer has been confirmed, the purchaser is ready to exchange contracts with the seller. This is a formal legal contract signed by both the buyer and seller.

12. Completion

This is generally set a few weeks after the exchange of contracts, depending on the personal requirements of the buyer and seller. The residual monies (usually 90% of the purchase price) are transferred from the buyer's lawyer to your lawyers account.

13. Closing

Congratulations, you have just sold your property!

14. Check-out

At the end of the tenancy period we can managed the entire check-out process for you, including the checking of the inventory, the return of the deposit, the collection of the keys and assessing any other factors.

15. Vacant periods

At VA Property we would be very happy to market and manage your property while your home is vacant in between tenancies. In this way you can keep a peace of mind that everything will be working in order by the time the next tenant moves in.