Whether you are a Southampton landlord looking to liquidate
your buy to let investment or a homeowner looking to sell your home, finding a
buyer and selling your property can take an annoyingly long time. It is a step-by-step
process that can take months and months. In fact, one of the worst parts of the
house selling process is the not knowing how long you might be stuck at each
step. At the moment, looking at every estate agent in Southampton, independent
research shows it is taking on average 41 days from the property coming on the
market for it to be sold subject to contract.
But trust me ... that is just the start of a long journey on
the house selling/buying process. The journey is a long one and therefore, in
this article, I want to take you through the standard itinerary for each step
of the house selling procedure in Southampton.
Step 1 – Find a Buyer
You need to instruct an estate agent (of course we can help you with that) who will talk through a
marketing strategy and pricing strategy to enable you to find a buyer that fits
your circumstances. 41 days might be the average in Southampton, yet as I have
said many times, the Southampton property market is like a fly’s eye, split up
into lots of little micro markets.
Looking at that independent research, (which only focused on
Southampton), it was interesting to see how the different price bands (i.e.
different micro markets) are currently performing, when it comes down to the
average number of days it takes to find a buyer for a property in Southampton.
Asking Price (Southampton)
|
Average Time to Find a Buyer in Southampton (days)
|
Under £100,000
|
57
|
£100,000 to £200,000
|
41
|
£200,000 to £300,000
|
41
|
£300,000 to £400,000
|
40
|
£400,000 to £500,000
|
31
|
£500,000 to £1,000,000
|
82
|
Over £1,000,000
|
149
|
Interestingly, I thought I would see which price band had
the highest proportion of properties sold (stc)... again – fascinating!
So, now you have a buyer ... what next?
There are a variety of distinctive issues at play when
selling your property in Southampton, together with the involvement of a wide
and varied range of professionals who get involved in that process. That means
there is are enormous differences in how long it takes from one property to
another. Moving forward to the next steps, these are the average lengths of
time it takes for each step to give you some idea of what to expect.
Step 2 - Sort
Solicitors (and Mortgage)
Again, something we can point you in the right direction to,
but it will take a good few weeks for your buyer to apply and sort their
mortgage and for your solicitors to prepare the legal paper work to send to the
buyer.
Step 3 – Legal Work and Survey
Once you buyer’s solicitor receives the paperwork from your
solicitor, then your buyer’s solicitor applies for local searches from the
local authority (to ensure no motorways etc., are going to be built in the back
garden!). These Searches can take a
number of weeks to be returned to the buyer solicitors from the council, from
which questions will be raised by the buyer’s solicitor to your solicitor (trust me – you don’t see a tenth of the work
that goes on behind closed doors to get the sale through to completion).
Meanwhile, the surveyor will check the property to ensure it is worth the money
and structurally sound. Overall, this step can take between 3 and 6 weeks
(sometimes more!).
Step 4 – Exchange of Contracts
Assuming all the mortgage, survey and legal work comes back
ok, both the buyer and solicitor sign contracts, the solicitors then perform
“Exchange of Contracts”. When contracts are exchanged, this is the first time
both buyer and seller are tied in. Before then, they can walk away ... and you
are probably 4 or 5 months down the line from having put up the for sale board
– this isn’t a quick process! BUT hold on ... we aren’t there yet!
Step 5 – Completion
Between a week and up to six weeks after exchange of
contracts, the buyer solicitor sends the purchase money to the seller’s solicitor,
and once that arrives, the keys will be given to the buyer … phew!
To conclude, all in all, you are looking at a good four,
five even six months from putting the for-sale board up to moving out.
If you are thinking of selling your Southampton home or if
you are a Southampton landlord, hoping to sell your buy to let property (with
tenants in), either way, if you want a chat to ensure you get a decent price
with minimal fuss ... drop me a message or pick up the phone.
If you are looking for an agent that is well established, professional andcommunicative, then contact us to find out how we can get the best out of your investment property.
Email me on brian.linehan@belvoirlettings.com or call on 023 8001 8222.
Don't forget to visit the links below to view back dated deals and Southampton Property News.
Twitter, https://twitter.com/sotonbelvoir
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