Whether you’re looking for the best price, a quick sale or to get on with your next property purchase, we will take great care when selling your property, making sure you get the sale you want.
Below is a short guide of what to expect when selling your house with Hawes & Co. Our collaborative approach is tailored to your specific moving goals, so we first meet and listen closely to what you want to achieve and then work closely with you to ensure that your goals are taken in to account and the property is presented as you would wish.
If you would like to discuss your requirements further feel free to call into one of our branches, give us a call or book a free expert valuation.
Agree the guide price of your home
We will discuss with you the options for price positioning in the current market and agree a marketing plan for your property. Our market appraisal report will provide you with local and national market information, giving you details of comparable sold properties and a guide to the prices they achieved. You will also receive local selling statistics, giving you a realistic expectation of how long it might take to sell your property.
We’ll take colour photos, note down all the major selling features of your home, and take measurements to create an attractive sales brochure and online marketing material for your property. We can also arrange for you to speak with our partner Embrace Financial Services.
Helping you get you financially prepared
Our partners, Embrace Financial Services, are part of the same parent company and form an integral part of our team in all Hawes & Co branches. Embrace Financial Services have a comprehensive panel of mortgage providers and will work with you to tailor their service to your personal circumstances, whether you are a first time seller, investor, experienced mover - or looking to remortgage.
Work together to prepare your home for sale
With your help, we will launch your property onto the market as quickly and efficiently as we can. At Hawes & Co we use both Rightmove and Zoopla property portals to present your property to the maximum number of potential buyers. We aim to prepare property details and launch your home on our website and all portals within one working day - seeking approval and sign off from you on all materials, pictures and wording. Where appropriate, a ‘for sale’ board will also be erected outside your property.
Launch your home onto the market
The initial two or three weeks that your house is on the market are critical – so we will make the most of launching your home to the market and ensure we get you the best price for your home and attract a number of potential buyers.
Matching your home to the right person
When we launch your property on to the market we immediately undertake a matching process with our comprehensive and qualified database of buyers. Our network of offices have a database of 1000's of interested buyers and we will contact anyone whose criteria match your home.
Showing your home
We can help you to prepare your home by offering guidance and access to approved maintenance contractors. We are very happy to accompany everyone who wants to view your home.
To give the best first impression to buyers we suggest clearing clutter, tidying and cleaning your home and try and look at it through a ‘strangers’ eyes – so hide away anything you don’t want people to see.
Read our tips for preparing your home for photographs and viewings here.
Some clients use our open house service, whilst others prefer us to escort the viewers individually; whatever your preference we will make sure an experienced member of our team completely understands the selling features of your home and is ready to answer the most commonly asked questions from potential buyers.
Keeping in touch
After every viewing of your home we will call the prospective buyer and ask for feedback on their visit and find out their level of interest. We will call you as soon as we have got this information to let you know what we think and any next steps.
Interested buyers
Once we have someone who is interested in buying your home it is really important to keep in close contact with you and them. Where possible we will appoint a dedicated Sales Negotiator to your property to keep things moving smoothly.
Reaching an agreement
Our Sales negotiators will be the liaison between you and your buyer to make sure that we get you the best price for your home, in the timescale that you are looking for and with any extra considerations that you feel are necessary to ensure a smooth move into your next home.
When a buyer puts forward an offer, our sales negotiators will verify their ability to raise finances and check chain details, as well as timescales and other background information. If you are unsure, we can also advise whether to accept the offer or wait to see if the market responds further.
Once an offer has been received and accepted, your ‘for sale’ board will be updated to ‘sold’.
Looking after the legal side
There are two people who will be in constant contact with you during this part of your house move - our Sales Progressor and your conveyancer. Your conveyancer is appointed by you to undertake all the legal paperwork for your sale.
To help ensure a smooth start to your purchase, in the first 10 days after accepting an offer, make sure the following are completed:
- Solicitors have been fully instructed (i.e. all forms filled in and returned to them, including payment on account for searches.)
- Full Mortgage application has been submitted - or a date when this will take place has been arranged.
This will allow your mortgage application to be processed and the conveyancer/solicitor can begin work preparing draft contracts.
Keeping things moving
A member of our team will contact you regularly to keep you updated on what is happening and they will be close contact with your buyer and their conveyancer to keep everything moving and reduce any chance of anything going wrong.
Your conveyancer will receive draft contracts from the other party's conveyancer and on receipt of these will apply for searches and raise enquiries. The mortgage valuation and survey will be arranged once the mortgage company has contacted the surveyor. You might also want to get a full structural survey depending on the condition or age of the property. When all searches and enquiries are completed and your mortgage offer has been received, your conveyancer will be ready to report to you with the contract – ready for your signature.
Agree when you will be happy to move
The nature of buying and selling homes makes it very hard to predict exact timescales. However, we will do everything we can to keep to any deadlines or target move dates that you give us. The more we know about your plans and your aspirations, the easier it is for us to help you achieve them!
Prepare for the big day
Now would be a good time to arrange quotes from removal companies - look for the BAR symbol which is the British Association of Removers as members are verified with them so you have recourse if something goes wrong.
At this point you should also get quotes for buildings and contents insurance. You will receive a call from our sister company to provide you with a quote but we recommend you get a number of quotes for comparison. You will need the insurance to be effective from exchange of contracts.
Sign and exchange contracts
Once the contracts are signed, the buyer's deposit (normally 5 - 10% of the property price) is sent to the seller's conveyancer, along with the signed contract. This is known as exchange of contracts. You are now legally bound to the sale/purchase and cannot withdraw without suffering a loss.
Once the contracts have been exchanged it is time to continue organising to be ready to move. At this point a proposed completion date will be agreed so you can let the removal company know when you’ll need them!
Completion
On completion day, the balance of the sale price is paid and keys will be available for the new owners to collect from our offices.
