How should I sell a house?
Once you have you house looking presentable, it is time to get it valued. When setting a price for your house, you should get prices from estate agents, however they are not always correct and if you overprice your property it may not sell. You must hire a Solicitor/Conveyancer, these are the ones who can do the legal sale of the property. If you accept an offer, it is helpful to set a schedule with the buyer to arrange the sale. Once you have exchanged and signed the sale and purchase contracts, it is time to drop the keys off at the estate agents.
How should I buy a house?
It is advised to view the market of the area you are buying in for a while and see what the general prices of the houses are. This way you will know what a reasonable offer will be. The seller of the property will know what the local pricing is, so this could give you an edge over other potential buyers as you can give them the number they are looking for. It is advised that you have your finances in check before making an offer to the seller, to make sure they don’t take another offer. This is why you should sell first or go to the bank and query how much they can offer you on a mortgage.
What Happens After I have Bought My New House?
After you and the seller have agreed on the offer for the house, you will need to get your solicitor to transfer the legal ownership of the property to you. You Solicitor will also need to survey the property to give a valuation to the band for assurance it’s worth lending against. At this point the exchange contracts will be ready for both parties to sign, at which point the seller is obligated to the sale. The final steps towards owning the house are discussing any small issues such as furniture removal. When the exchange contracts are signed and the money has been transferred, the sale will be complete.
I’m the new owner of my house, is there anything else I need to do?
When you have obtained the keys and re the official owner of the property, you will receive an invoice from your Solicitor/Conveyancer with the amount which was agreed on hiring. If you are buying a house that is above £125,000 you will have to pay stamp duty land tax, which applies to residential properties in England and Northern Ireland.
CONSIDER
Important Steps in Buying & Selling
PRICE & OFFERS
The price property is advertised at is not always the price you will end up paying. You make your offer through the seller’s estate agent, who relays the bid through to the seller, and brings their reply back to you. Also, don't forget about stamp duty costs for the future.
MORTGAGES
In an ideal world you will have arranged a mortgage before you find the perfect house. It is important to arrange your mortgage as soon as you have had your offer accepted, if not before!
LEGAL MATTERS
It is vital that you find a solicitor or conveyancer to deal with the legal aspects of buying and selling property. There are numerous costs involved with the conveyancing process such as lender valuations and stamp duty.
HOME SURVEY
It is very important that you get a RICS Homebuyer survey report done on the property you are planning to buy, to ensure it is structurally sound. This is important for your mortgage provider too otherwise your house move and sale may fall through.
EXCHANGE & COMPLETION
The two most important parts of the conveyancing process! Exchange is when contracts are exchanged between buyer and seller. The whole sale and purchase are now legally bound. Completion usually follows a few weeks after, when money is transferred between parties.
THE CHAIN
The home buying process is already complex, but it is often the case that you are part of a chain. This means that your sale/purchase is one link in a chain of buyers and sellers, so it is important your legal representatives do tasks at the same time as the rest of the chain.
Moving Costs
Buying & Selling Calculator
Use our simple calculator tool to discover the expected costs for your home move, whether you are buying, selling or both!
Interested in Buying or Selling?
It is not news that buying and selling property is an expensive activity – alongside being one of the most stressful! Here at Moving Costs Calculator, we want to make things all the easier for you. By knowing ahead of time what the costs associated with your move are likely to be, you can be prepared for selling and buying property. These costs can include Home Insurance, Stamp Duty (one that many people forget), Removal Quotes and Conveyancing Quotes - all costs can be found on our moving costs calculator and moving house checklist.
- Building personal living, housing and personal debt can put people off the thought of moving to a new house
- We have developed a useful and easy to use calculator
- Read our top tips and advice on how housing you and your family will go, what additional payment you may not be expecting or any other ideas we bring to light
- We cover questions including personal debt, being preparade for building rent payment and housing your family
- Top tips about a house share, how to choose the right place and what you should search for
Why Not Try
Our Other Services
Take a look at the other services we provide! From purely buying property, selling your home or both.
Buy House Only
Calculate the costs involved in buying a new home using our calculator tool.
Costs of Buying
