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When
selling your home you must remember that the first impression
the potential buyer gets is very important. Even the "curb
appeal" is vitally important. (What the house looks like
from the street)
So
you must work on the appearance of your house if you want
to sell it quick and get a good price. So go out and clean
the garden, mow the lawn and get rid of all loose articles
laying around the house.
Make your
home look like a show case!
Let
your home look like the Garden and Home example at least while
it is in the market. Consider storing unnecessary goods, those
you never use but do not want to dispose of, at friends, family
or a storage facility. One concern among buyers is space.
Create space. You will be surprised to how much extra space
you can create by re-arranging your furniture. It might not
be as practical as it use to be, but for two to four months
your home is not supposed to be practical but a show case
to potential buyers.
Let
your home look and smell fresh. Arrange fresh flowers when
people come to see your home. You can even add some colour
to your garden. Plant flowers like Petunias, Pansies or "magrietjies".
They flower regularly in summer.
Some people do not
want to spend money on their house when they are selling it
because they want to "put as much money in their pocket
as possible" This is not a very clever way of doing it.
If your house needs to be painted you can easily add another
10% to the price by just painting the house. I have made R300,000
profit from a house which I bought, cleaned the yard, painting
it inside and outside and sold it again. Spending some money
on good quality paint is a good investment.
Broken
tiles and doors make a home look neglected. Replace broken
tiles, doors and windows. Spending R2,000.00 replacing such
items might just get you R10,000.00 more into your pocket.
Do not overspend. Look at what you can get for your home and
how much profit you want to make. If you have to hire somebody
to do your repair work, it sometimes might be cheaper to give
the buyer some discount and sell the property as it is.
If you cannot do
above mentioned yourself, have a look at
http://www.rentarenovator.co.za/
they might be able to assist.
Store
counter-top items in the kitchen which are not frequently
used inside a cupboard. This will create more SPACE.
As
harsh as it may sound, clean the garage and pack everything
neatly. Allow enough space for the potential home buyer to
visualize his new car in the garage. Consider storing unnecessary
items at friends or family.
On
the outside, replace missing or broken slats in the fence.
Replace broken hinges and repaint rusted or stained gates.
Mow the lawn, trim the edges and remove dead plants or trees.
Water the lawn so that they can be as green as they never
been. Clean the paving and try to remove oil stains from the
driveway as well as the garage floor.
This
all boils down to "Spring clean your home and make it
look nice"
Tips
on selling your home in your private capacity
Allow
estate agents to list your property. Do not sign a
"Sole Mandate" form at an estate agent.
Signing a sole mandate will mean only one agent may market
your property. If you let all interested agents list your
property, you have several persons marketing your property.
If you allow agents to list your property, let them understand
clearly that you are also selling it privately and that you
will allow other agents to list it. The more agents that list
your property the more exposure your property get. However,
do not allow more than 2 or 3 sign boards to be erected on
the side walk. If there is hundreds of estate agencies' sign
boards on the side walk it seems like you are having trouble
selling your home. I normally do it on a first come first
serve basis. The first two agents who list my property can
put up a sign board, the others not. If they do not like it,
they can take the deal or leave it. Or another way to do it
is to initially allow the first 3 to put up their sign but
let them understand that you will rotate the signs and put
up the most active agent's sign the most.
Agents
will ad 5-10% to your price. Thus you can advertise your property
for less than their price. Having estate agents list you property
will increase your property's exposure.
If
you want to sell your property privately you must advertise
it. If you do not advertise, nobody will know that you want
to sell your property. You can do so on this web site, click
here for details or list it at Private
Property (click here), their service are great and they
will assist you with the whole process. It is just a pity
that they charge their fee on a sliding scale and again the
rich get screwed as they have to pay more to have their property
listed although the price of the property has nothing to do
with the service Private Property have to deliver. But besides
that they are great and I think it is worth the fee you have
to pay.
You
must obtain a electrical certificate from a qualified electrician
before you can sell your home.
If
a buyer decide to buy your home, the first step will be to
get him to sign a "agreement of sale and purchase".
You can download an offer
to purchase contract by clicking here.
DO
NOT spend money on your new property until your lawyer
received a letter from the buyer's bank which confirm that
the buyer's lone had been approved. It often happen that a
buyer's loan gets rejected and then your transaction might
get cancelled. Do not take anybody's word for the approval
of the loan, insist on a letter from the buyer's financial
institution or attorney.
You
as seller are entitled to make use of the lawyer of your choice
to handle the transfer. If you buy in the same town or city,
it could be a good idea to use the same lawyer as the one
who is handling the transfer of the home your buying. This
will mean that the paperwork do not have to be transferred
from one attorney to the other. This safes time and might
also help on getting discount on legal fees.
On
the agreement form, the date of occupation will normally be
"date of registration" (if not agreed otherwise).
Make the occupation rental an amount which you can afford.
It might happen that your new home is not ready in time and
then you have to rent your property from the new owner. This
rent is normally about 1% of the purchase price.
advice
on buying a property |
