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How to sell a house step-by-step

Category Seller Advice

If you don't know how to sell a house, don't stress! The selling process happens step by step and once you understand what is involved at every step, you'll be able to sell your property with confidence.

The decision to sell your home is a big one and it's important to prepare before you put your property on the market. Among other things, it's vital to understand what will be expected of you as the homeowner during the sale. There are lots you can do as the seller to make things run more smoothly.

Whether you're selling your house through an estate agent (highly recommended) or considering listing your property privately, you'll be involved throughout the process so you need to get clued up on the various steps early on:

How to sell your house step by step

Step 1: Decide on your goals before you sell your house

This might sound like an unnecessary step in the process of selling your house, but your decision will come in very handy later on - especially when you start to receive offers from buyers.

Ask yourself: Do you want to sell your house fast or for the highest price?

The answer will determine the price at which you list your property. If you need to sell your home quickly, because you urgently want (or need) to move, then your price can't be that high. If you have time on your hands, you can afford to ask slightly more for your home, and then wait for the right buyer to bite.

It's important to choose only one of these goals because it very rarely happens that a highly-priced property gets offers within the first few weeks of listing. Now is the time to be realistic and decide what is most important to you.

Step 2: Choose who will sell your property

Are you going to sell your home by yourself or do you prefer to use an estate agent?

There are benefits to both private selling and working with a realtor. It all depends on your level of experience, knowledge and the time you have available. You'll find that most of the steps to selling your home requires expert knowledge. You can definitely gain this knowledge over time, but if you don't have several hours a day to spend getting clued up on the real estate industry, an estate agent is the way to go.

If you have your heart set on selling privately, make sure you understand the costs and risks involved, especially when it comes to disclosing patent and latent defects. You may be saving on paying an agent a commission, but you'll still need to:

  • Price your property accurately
  • Source relevant contracts
  • Fulfil FICA requirements
  • Work with attorneys and conveyancers
  • Organise certificates of compliance

As a private seller, you'll also have to qualify potential buyers before viewings to make sure viewers can actually afford your property and to protect yourself from criminals posing as buyers.

If you're working with an estate agent, all of those aspects are covered!

But make sure you choose the right realtor. What you need is a combination of experience, personality, local knowledge and reputation. Here's everything you need to know in our article, What to look for in an estate agent.

Step 3: Get your home valuated

Before you can put your home on the market, you need to decide on a price. Pricing a property is a science and determining the Right Price for your home is vital to reaching your goals.

Start your pricing journey with a valuation of your home. You can do this yourself or ask an estate agent - it's free!

Several platforms provide preliminary valuations of your home, including:

But many other factors influence a full valuation of your property, including:

  • Comparative Market Analysis to indicate the sale price of other homes in your area.
  • Building and plot size, design and location within the area.
  • How much accommodation the property offers.
  • Condition of the home's interior, exterior, fixtures, finishes and fittings.
  • Market conditions and price of other properties being sold in the area.
  • Annual listing trends in your neighbourhood.

Your real estate agent will take these factors into account when they send you a valuation report, making the process stress-free. If you want to do the valuation yourself, read up on the finer details of each of these elements in our article, 9 important factors that affect the value of your property.

Step 4: Pick an asking price for your house

Your valuation report, whether done by your estate agent or downloaded online, usually suggests a price range between R___ and R___. Now it's up to you (and your realtor, if you have one) to decide which amount within that range is the Right Price.

Of course, you'd want to choose the highest price in the range, but beware that even R25 000 too much could affect how soon you will be able to sell your house. That said, choosing the lowest price in that range isn't the answer to selling your house fast either.

Put yourself in the shoes of buyers and ask yourself what price they would expect to pay for your home. Also, keep in mind that they will be searching property platforms like Property24 and Private Property for houses. If your home is priced too high, search filters will simply exclude your property from search results - and the perfect buyer might never see your home online.

If your price is much lower than other homes of the same value, those same buyers might think there's something wrong with the property and simply ignore it.

Once you've chosen your price, try to stick to it. It's never a good idea to increase the price once you've started promoting your listing on the internet and media. Dropping your price is not ideal either because it makes buyers think your home has an issue. And if you're working with several estate agents through an open mandate, make sure everyone is using the same price.

Read more about the Right Price in our post, Pricing property: How to choose the Right Price for your home.

Step 5: Prep your property for sale

You've picked your goal, your estate agent, and settled on an asking price. Your next step is to clean up, declutter and do the essential maintenance. A little can go a long way in making sure your home makes a good first impression on buyers.

Clutter: When you get photos taken of your property, your house should be free from clutter so its strongest features can stand out in the photographs. When there are too many things standing around on counters and floors during viewings, buyers get distracted and don't focus on the parts of your home that matter most. Remember that they might be looking at several other properties and it's the home that makes the best impression that has the largest chance of getting sold.

Maintenance: It might not be necessary to repaint the house or remodel the bathroom or kitchen. But if there are cracked walls, leaking roofs and overgrowth in your garden, buyers will think twice about paying the full price for your property - or buying it at all. If there are things you can fix yourself or get a handyman to do affordably, it will pay off.

Step 6: Get your house listed

Gone are the days when it was enough to advertise a property in a local newspaper to get it sold. Buyers from across South Africa (and even other countries) are interested in Western Cape properties. To reach them, your home needs to be visible on digital platforms.

If you're selling your home privately, you'll have to put lots of time into listing the property online and spreading the word on social media. If you're working with a proper estate agent, it will all be done for you!

Estate agencies such as NS Property Solutions promote homes on these platforms:

  • Property24
  • Private Property
  • Facebook
  • Gumtree
  • Propbay
  • ImmoAfrica

You'll also want to work with a realtor who has an established social media presence and network so they have people they can reach out to as potential buyers for your home. An estate agency with its own website is a must if you're selling through an agent.

Not sure how to choose an estate agency? Get advice in our article, What to look for in an estate agent.

Step 7: Cancel your bond before your home is sold

If you're still paying for your property, now is the time to send your bank or home loan provider a notification of bond cancellation. If you're working with an estate agent, this process should be easy. Your realtor will take the lead and let you know what they'll need from you to notify your loan provider.

If you're selling privately, you need to send an email to your credit provider to cancel your bond three months before you expect the sale to be approved. Make sure to confirm that your credit provider received your cancellation or you may have to pay penalties.

Step 8: Get ready for viewings of your house

Interested buyers want to see your house, sometimes more than once, before they'll even consider making a decision.

It's important to make time for viewings at periods of the day and week that will suit most buyers. You wouldn't want to miss out on potential offers because you're not opening your home up at convenient times.

Make time in your schedule to clean up your place before viewings. There's nothing worse than putting energy into making sure your property gets noticed online, just to lose the interest of buyers during a viewing because your house was smelly and disorganised. Let your home shine by keeping it neat and clean for the period that it's on the market, even if it means getting a little help to keep it in order.

Step 9: Review and adjust your sales strategy

Sometimes you'll get offers soon after listing, but getting bites from potential buyers often takes a while. If your property has been on the market for a month or more, you need to review the interest you've gotten so far and adjust your strategy. Sometimes this might mean reducing the price of your home slightly, but there may be other solutions too.

If buyers remarked on the poor condition of your home, it might be necessary to do maintenance. Consider any feedback you received from buyers and, if you are working with an estate agent, ask for their recommendations to adjust your strategy.

You can also speak to your estate agent to promote your property more widely through advertisements on property platforms, social media and print publications.

If you've been trying to sell privately, now might be the time to hear what estate agencies have to offer to help you sell your home. Check out what property practitioners like NS Property Solutions offers here.

Step 10: Secure an Offer to Purchase

If you've chosen the Right Price for your property, had it promoted on all the right platforms and made sure that viewings went well, then you should receive an offer - or even multiple offers - from buyers soon enough.

But not every offer will be the right offer. Negotiating price is a big part of the sales process so you will most likely get offers from buyers for a price that is lower than your asking price. It is important to prepare yourself to negotiate and to decide how low you can go.

If every offer you've received is too low, then carefully consider whether your home is making the right impression. Clean up and maintain where necessary, and ask your estate agent to explain the lower offers.

If you're a private seller, it's important to do as much research as possible about legal risks and requirements. You may have to assist buyers to source a valid Offer to Purchase document. Beware of loopholes and blind spots in generic contracts though!

Private sellers: Remember to specify which fixtures are excluded from the sale, including air conditioners, ovens, valuable plants and special fittings.

Step 11: Wait for the sale to go through

One of the most challenging parts of the sales process kicks off after you've accepted an offer from a buyer. Once you've done so, there's very little left for you to do - especially if you're working with an estate agent.

At this stage, most of the action is happening on the buyer's side. Unless they have the cash to purchase your property, they have to apply for a home loan. It takes time for banks to consider their application and decide whether to grant a bond. If the buyer's application is rejected, they may have to apply to other home loan providers, and that can drag out the process.

After a loan has been approved, the transfer and registration process still needs to happen. Your estate agent will recommend a transfer attorney (also known as a conveyancing attorney) and make an introduction. They will also liaise with the registration attorney to make sure the process goes smoothly.

Private sellers have to hire a conveyancing attorney to transfer the property to the buyer. The buyer will work with a registration attorney, appointed by the new home loan provider. As a private seller, it's important to keep in contact with these attorneys to make sure everyone works together.

Step 12: Get your certificates of compliance

The law requires that homeowners prove their properties comply with regulations before they can be sold. You need evidence that your water, electricity, gas, electric fencing and pest control are up to national standards, which requires that your house be inspected for compliance.

To sell a property located in the City of Cape Town, you'll need an up-to-date:

  • Electrical Certificate of Compliance
  • Certificate of Conformity applicable to all gas appliances and systems
  • Water Compliance Certificate
  • Beetle Compliance Certificate
  • Electric Fence Certificate of Compliance

Your estate agent will be a big help in making this process easy. If you're selling your property privately, you'll have to find licensed providers to inspect your home and issue you with these certificates.

Step 13: Hand over the keys to finalise the sale

Once your certificates of compliance have been handed over to the buyer, and the buyer's property has been transferred and registered into their name, their payment will be released to your bank and any difference paid into your account.

All that's left to do at this stage is to hand over all keys to the new homeowner. The occupation date, or date at which the buyer is allowed to move into your property, is stipulated in the Offer To Purchase contract so make sure they have everything they need by then.

Leave it to your estate agent to let you know what to do and when to take the next steps. At this point, you can start focusing on your move and leave the experts to take care of the rest.

Private sellers: Carefully organise moving in and moving out dates with the new homeowners to avoid paying occupational rent.

Step 14: Plan the next step in your property journey

Your journey as a homeowner shouldn't stop here. If you've already purchased a new property, well done! Make sure you make optimal use of your new investment by getting your new house valuated every year so you can keep track of its growth.

If you're not planning to buy a home again soon, now is a good time to think about the incredible investment opportunities that come with buying a house. If there's a reason why you're not buying again straightaway, make sure you plan for the future.

Property is one of the best ways to invest your money and owning a home can bring stability to your household, no matter what happens in the economy, your career or your personal life. Continue to save up, even if it's a small amount every month, so you have money to spend on a deposit on a new home when the time comes.

On the fence about renting or buying? Read our article on Decision time: Renting property VS buying a house.

If you're still working on buying a home, read our tips on purchasing a property that is a true investment in How to invest smartly: Things to keep in mind when buying a home

Author: NS Property Solutions

Submitted 24 Jun 22 / Views 2922