Step By Step Guide: How to sell your Property
So you have decided to sell your property, everybody wants a sales process that is stress free and simple, somewhere to just list their property quickly find a buyer, get paid and handover the keys. In reality the process is not that simple there are many factors that influence how easy or difficult your transaction would be. As well as how long it will stay in the market especially now post covid.
For example, where your property is located might influence how long your house lingers on the market or how much people are willing to pay and banks are willing to finance.
In instances where a lot of properties are in the market at the same time, it may take some time to attract the right buyer. Where there is few properties in the market and there are many people searching for properties to buy, you may be able to sell at a much higher price. In times when the household wallet is stretched you may need to be ready to negotiate and get the best price for your property.
Here are a few steps to take to sell your home in 2022:
Hire an agent who knows the market.
If you want to ensure that your property sells fairly quickly with as few hiccups as possible, getting the most the market is willing to pay, the right estate agent may but just what the doctor ordered. The role of an estate agent is to market your property, organize and bring potential buyers to view your property. Estate agents are required by law to vet any potential buyers, determine their source of income and that helps you avoid dealing with crooks and criminals in your transaction. Real Estate Agents are normally registered to a body of professionals and a regulatory body that ensures that their dealings with you are above the line, professional and within the bounds of the law in Botswana Estate Agents are to be registered with REAC ( Real Estate Advisory Council) contact details below are useful to verify that you are dealing with a registered agent.
Real Estate Advisory Council
PO Box AE 178 AEH, Gaborone
Tel: +267 3111994
Fax: +267 3111895
Estate Agents fees are 5% of the sales price and no higher than that.
Set a timeline for selling your home.
Give yourself a timeline of how long you are willing to wait to conclude the transaction. In a sellers market it may take 2 weeks to 3 months to find a buyer. While in a buyers market it may take upto 18 months to find the right buyer for your property so you have to give it the best chances. Selling a house is a major undertaking as soon as you decide to sell your house, jump right into researching real estate agents to find someone with the right experience for your situation.
At least two or three months before you plan to list, consider getting a pre-sale home inspection (more on that below!) to identify any problem areas, especially structural or mechanical issues that might need addressing to facilitate a sale. Leave enough time to schedule necessary repairs.
About a month before listing your house, start working on staging and deep cleaning in preparation for taking photos.
Here’s a checklist of things to do before listing your home:
- Research and interview real estate agents.
- Declutter, perhaps moving excess items to a storage unit.
- Get an optional home inspection to identify any issues.
- Schedule repairs if needed.
- Deep clean.
- Stage the house.
- Have professional photos taken
Get a pre-sale home inspection.
This is an optional yet wise upfront investment. A detailed inspection report can identify any structural or mechanical problems before you list your home for sale. This inspection may cost from P 400- P 700 not including transport of the inspector if your property is distant, but it will alert you in advance of issues that buyers will likely flag when they do their own inspection later in the process. Professionals that may carry out this inspection are Building Inspectors/ Surveyors and Property Valuers.
By being a few steps ahead of the buyer, you might be able to speed up the selling process by doing repairs in tandem with other home prep work. This means by the time the house hits the market, it should be ready to sell, drama-free and quickly.
Don’t waste money on needless upgrades.
Do not be tempted to may renovations to your property with the hope of increasing the sales price. If you’re going to spend money on costly upgrades, make sure that the changes you make have a high return on investment. It doesn’t make sense to install new granite countertops, for example, if you only stand to break even or even lose money on them. Plus, these improvements may not be necessary to sell your home, particularly if demand is low in your area.
A good real estate agent can help guide you. They often know what people expect in your area and can help you plan upgrades accordingly.
In general, updates to the kitchen and bathrooms provide the highest return on investment. If you have old cabinetry, you might be able to simply replace the doors and hardware for an updated look. For example, you can swap out those standard-issue kitchen cabinet doors for modern without breaking the bank.
Put your house on the market.
The first place your buyer is going to see your property is on a picture, this could be on a newspaper, whatsapp, website or facebook, so it is important that the first impression attracts them to the property itself. Focus on home appeal, areas that are the most attractive about your property, features that make your property standout; perhaps a fireplace, outdoor entertainment area, or well established garden. Stage your property for showing, make sure the beds are made, the kitchen is kept clean to give the buyer an impression of home, leave the television off and perhaps play some soft music in the background. Let someone else show the house and give you feedback. You probably have some emotional attachment to the property and may find yourself either over selling or becoming defensive to buyers comments, which ultimately gives potential buyers a bad experience.
Set a realistic price.
No matter how great you perceive your property to be or how much you spent building it or improving it, buyers do not want to pay more than they should for the property. Be well aware of how much properties in your area are selling at, to set your price right. This will ensure that you also do not leave money on the table because you underestimated how much the market is willing to buy. Check how much your property should be selling at here.
Review and negotiate offers.
When you sell your property , it is definitely not a take it or leave it situation, take time to review offers and negotiate. When you receive an offer you have 3 choices ; Accept/ Counter/ Decline. A counter offer is a response to an offer where in you can negotiate the terms and the price of the property. Be smart and flexible without leaving money on the table. There are many elements you can negotiate on the counter offer; payment terms, handover dates,
Cash vs Financing, Deposit. With each offer look at these carefully.
Anticipate seller closing costs.
Both Sellers and Buyers have closing costs. The seller typically pays the real estate agent’s commission, usually around 5 percent to 6 percent of the home’s sale price. Make sure all you property related costs are cleared, your property rates, electricity and water bills and any outstanding taxes, as these are likely to cause a delay on transfer if not cleared. Capital Gains Tax - charged on the difference between the value of the property when you acquired it and how much you sold it for.
Make Sure all your Property Documents are upto date
There’s lots of paperwork needed to properly document a home sale. Organize it all in one place to help things go more quickly. Some of the main documents you’ll need to gather include:
- Title Deed/ Certificate
- Rates Clearance
- Property survey
- Approved Plans
- Occupation Certificate
- Mortgage documents
- Utility Records
- Latest Valuation
- Insurance
Hire a Conveyancer
A conveyancer registers the transfer at the deeds registry, they prepare the sales agreement and they hold funds on a trust account until transfer has been successfully concluded. Your conveyancer may then distribute the funds between you and other players in the transaction eg, Estate Agent.
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