With house sales and prices reaching record highs in recent months and the stamp-duty holiday deadline rapidly approaching on March 31st, now is a great time to sell your house. But with the average house sale in England taking over four months and many people experiencing further delays due to a backlog of transactions that accumulated during the first lockdown, how can you sell your house fast? Is it possible to seal the deal in 30 days?
Top Tips for a Quick House Sale
There are plenty of things you can do to increase the chance of a buyer making an offer within the first month of your property being on the market.
- Set a Realistic Asking Price:
It may be tempting to go with the highest valuation you receive, especially in a buoyant market, but research by Rightmove found that the average time to sell a house almost doubles if the asking price is reduced (compared to properties that are priced right from the start).
- Boost Your Home’s Curb Appeal:
First impressions count. Sprucing up the exterior of your house – painting the woodwork, tidying the garden and/or cleaning the drive – will get viewings off to a positive start.
- Highlight in-Demand Features:
When the first lockdown ended in May, estate agents reported a rise in demand for properties in rural locations that have gardens, fast wi-fi, home offices, and proximity to green spaces. If your home checks any of these boxes, highlight these features in your advertising and during viewings. Consider staging an under-stairs space or box room as a home office and removing clutter from the garden to make it appear more spacious. You could show these features to your real estate agent, whom you may have hired from a firm like Finlay Brewer, who could then showcase them to potential buyers, potentially increasing the selling price of your home.
- Declutter:
Prospective buyers need to view the entire property to ascertain its features, state of repair and suitability for their lifestyles. They need to be able to imagine themselves living in the space. An overly personalised house that’s brimming with knick-knacks and trinkets will make it difficult for a buyer to view the property as their potential home. What’s more, a clutter-filled hallway or lounge will make the space seem smaller and prevent the buyer from seeing the room’s full potential.
- Make Minor Repairs:
It’s time to take a look at that tap that always drips or the curtain pole you’ve been meaning to put back up. Checking these items off your buyer’s to-do list will make your home more sellable.
- Update Your Kitchen:
According to research by the Nationwide Building Society, a new kitchen can improve the value of your home by around 6%. Okay, you probably don’t have time to have a whole new kitchen installed in just 30 days, but you can freshen up your existing one. Replace old handles, add a fresh coat of paint and give the tiles a good scrub. Swapping tired-looking cabinet doors for updated versions can make a kitchen look as good as new.
- Have Your Home Professionally Cleaned:
A deep clean of the whole house will make it look well cared for and buyers will see it in its best light. If you’re keen to save some pennies, do the cleaning yourself or enlist the help of a few willing friends. A deep clean should go beyond your standard weekly hoover, dust and mop. Remove pet hair, shampoo the carpets, get rid of bathroom limescale and make your windows sparkle.
- Update and Neutralise Your Décor:
A home with highly personalised or outdated décor can be off-putting for buyers and make it difficult for them to envision living there. Replace garish wallpaper with neutral tones and paint over any areas that look too dated to even be considered “retro”.
If you want to complete the whole sales process in 30 days, there are a few options available to you.
- Sell by Auction:
You can sell a house at auction even if it needs significant repairs – a lot of bargain hunters and developers will snap up a property they can “flip” and sell on for a profit. An auction appeals to homeowners who need to move fast because the buyer must complete the sale within 28 days (or 56 days in a modern auction). However, the time it takes to actually sell your home at auction can be around four months – similar to selling on the open market. There will also be selling fees to pay, and if your property fails to sell at the reserve price, you will lose time and money.
- Sell to a Cash Home Buying Company:
The easiest way to sell your house fast is via a quick house sale company. Take your time to identify a reputable company – The Advisory website sets out nine rules to protect yourself from scams and its “Advisory Approved Program” will help you to find reliable and trustworthy companies. A reputable cash home buying company will have the funds to buy your property outright in as little as seven days. The sale is guaranteed, and most companies will buy any type of property regardless of its condition.
- Part-Exchange Your Home:
If you want to sell your house to fund the purchase of a new-build property, part-exchange will speed up the process. The developer will buy your property from you and sell their new-build home to you in one transaction. The value of your property will be deducted from the sale price of the new home.
If you’re keen to capitalise on the current spike in house prices and the stamp-duty holiday, it is possible to sell your house in 30 days. Whether you choose to spruce up your home and sell on the open market or fast track to completion by using a quick house sale company, now is the time to act.