There’s a multitude of reasons that may leave you wanting to sell your house fast, maybe you’ve been given short notice to relocate for that dream job, or your dream home has came up on the market and your buyer has pulled out. Regardless of your reason, selling a property will always be a challenge, and if you’re on a time limit, it’s even harder. That’s why we wanted to provide a handful of tricks and strategies that can help you achieve the fast sale you’re looking for.
Find the proper timing
Year on year, the surge in people looking to buy properties tends to start mid-spring, and ends in September alongside school starting again. The two worst times of year December-Early March and July-Mid August when a lot of people decide to go on holiday. If you’re in a position where you can choose when you start selling your house, avoiding these times could get you a fast sale without having to reduce your price too heavily.
Find the proper price
A lot of this will come down to your choice in estate agent, but if you have the time to do your research, you can most of the time find the correct price for yourself. Researching and checking recently sold (within the last year ideally, 2 years if you’re struggling to find similar homes) properties in your area that are a similar size and quality to yours will give you a good indication of the value of your home. Be really specific when doing your research, you should only be comparing houses that are a similar size and build type to your home, this should help you stay more accurate on price. Whilst your doing your research, you may come across a few tricks that others have done to their houses in order to add value. Going lower on asking price will help generate interest and most of the time will lead to a much faster sale.
Find one or more good estate agencies to help you
Doing your research on local agents and deciding to work with a good, experienced local agent can help save time and even money if done correctly. They have experience listing properties and know all of the tricks on how to list these properties and take great photos to entice potential buyers. If there’s no one living in the property, allowing your agent to conduct the viewings could work in your favour as well. They’re experienced in showing people around and can guide prospective buyers around your home ensuring they create a good impression.
List it on high traffic websites
Obviously, the more exposure your listing gets the more potential interest there will be, sites like Rightmove and Zoopla are the go-to for listing properties for sale. However, high traffic sites that allow users to create free listings such as Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree can increase your exposure even more, which is always going to help in securing a fast sale. Making your listings seem attractive as possible is always the best way to do things, but make sure to avoid saying things that simply aren’t true. Buyers will find out at some stage in the process, and this distrust could even lead to your buyer withdrawing for fear of anything else that isn’t true.
Take high quality photos
In this day and age, the vast majority of people have a smartphone capable of taking high quality photos. When taking photos try to ensure that your angles and lighting are well-chosen (if you’re unsure about how to take good photos we would definitely recommend hiring a professional photographer). Take as many photos as you want, then go through and delete all but the best you’ve taken, be sure to analyse your photos thoroughly to make sure they are showing your home in the best way possible. Avoid having clutter and anything personal like family photos in your images as this stops people from envisioning their life in your home, and leaves them feeling like they’re encroaching on yours.
Find that real good cover photo
Your listings cover photo is what gets peoples’ attention and is what they base their decision on as to whether to have a deeper look at your property. Because of this, it’s essential that this image is one of the best you have of your home. As a foot note: Looking at the listings posted by estate agents and observing the quality of their cover photos can instantly differentiate between a decent estate agent and a bad one.
Consider your other options
Working with an estate agent to sell your home isn’t your only option. The route you take should depend on your situation: do you want a fast sale? Or do you need a fast sale? Whilst it can be possible to achieve a quick sale by listing on the open market, it’s probably not your best option if you’re pushed for time. The majority of buyers on the open market rely on mortgages or other financing in order to buy houses. Because of the uncertainty of being approved for financing, around 1 in 3 sales will fall through on the open market, meaning it’s back to square one. A cash home buyer such as North East House Buyers won’t rely on financing to buy your house, meaning they can guarantee their purchase, which is great if you need to sell and can’t afford to go all the way back to the beginning in a few months. Most cash buyers will cover all of the fees necessary to sell, and can get things done in as little as 14 days. If you need to sell quickly, a cash buyer is definitely your best bet, especially if the market is slow.
