If you’re looking to move house in 2023, now is a great time to get started. The warmer spring weather brings with it a more active housing market. According to Rightmove, more people enquire about property sales in March than any other time of year. You can take advantage of a spring clean to get your home ready and selling now will likely land you in your new home ready for the summer.
With so many things to organise and decide, the decision to move can feel overwhelming. We’ve put together a simple guide to make things easier for you.
Get your house valued
This is one of the easiest and most useful steps in the process. Knowing the selling price of your home will help you determine your price scope and if you’ll need any mortgage support if you’re moving up the property ladder. We offer a free online valuation service that will instantly provide you with a valuation range for your property and independent mortgage brokers who can help you secure the extra funds if you need. Then you’re ready to start looking for homes for sale!
Are prices falling?
There’s been much written recently about the potential for house prices to fall. However according to new research from financial services company, easyMoney, house prices have only fallen four times in the past 50 years. The biggest of these were not surprisingly during the financial downturns of 1992 and 2008 with smaller drops of less than 1% in 1990 and 2012.
Our property valuer, Craig wrote in a recent blog that he expects more of a settle than a plummet. ‘Buyer affordability will have a say in the market but, with stock levels still relatively low, availability will offset significant reductions’.
Getting your property listed
An in-person valuation of your property is the next step to getting your home on the market. On average Poole Townsend sold 2 properties every day in 2022 and 99% of those were at the asking price. Our local property experts within our branches can support you to agree on a price that’s good for you and the current market, so you’ve got a realistic chance of selling the property.
Decide what you’re looking for
With your property value in hand, begin to explore what you’re looking for from a new home. Are you looking to downsize, gain extra bedrooms, a bigger garden or a better space to entertain? These decisions with help you narrow your search when you’re looking at what local estate agents have to offer.
Prepare your house
A picture is worth a thousand words so it’s no wonder beautiful pictures of your home looking its best can have a massive impact on selling your home. Decluttering your property will not only leave you with fewer boxes to pack later down the line but it will also help your home look brighter and more spacious to viewers. Clean, tidy properties make it easier for potential buyers to imagine themselves and their possessions within the space.
Prepare your paperwork
Whilst not the most exciting job, digging out your paperwork will help reduce your stress later down the line. Make sure all your legal documents are to hand, including your deeds, electric and gas checks, energy efficiency certificates, any planning permission, building guarantees or any other paperwork applicable to your property.
This is also a great time to get a conveyancer lined up. At Poole Townsend, we have our own conveyancing team that are on hand to help keep the legal proceeds as easy and stress-free as possible.
Getting ahead on these tasks can go a long way to making your moving process simpler, easy and stress-free.
Ready to get started? There’s a whole team at Poole Townsend to support you from valuation through to exchange and completion. Take your first step with an online valuation . . .