Estate Agent Leicester guide to moving house before Christmas
There’s 10 weeks until Christmas, so for Leicester’s army of hopeful house sellers hoping to complete contracts for Christmas, you need to act fast.
Selling your property before Christmas can have a lot of advantages, a lot of people want to be in their new property for Christmas and celebrate Christmas and their new home. You may also beat the New Year’s price increase from many firms including solicitors, surveyors and removal firms.
At Open House Leicester, we’ve put our top 4 must do’s together, to ensure your Leicester property is sold and completed to moving house before Christmas.
Is your property ready?
The obvious things are to declutter, redecorate if necessary and make rooms look fit for the purposes for which they were designed. So, turn those storage rooms back into bedrooms to maximise your properties potential.
A property that is ready for the new owners to move into will typically sell a lot quicker than a property that needs work or required the potential buyers to look past the clutter and see its potential.
Be realistic on price
Do your research and be realistic if you’re serious about moving house before Christmas. If you want an excellent price for your property, you’ll be waiting those full 6 weeks, if not more. Look at what else has sold nearby recently, consider the price and what your property has to offer in comparison. Price yourself fairly, or at least, work out what the lowest offer you’ll be happy with is, and get that property on the market. You want a buyer who is thrilled at what a good deal they’re getting, and can move quickly. This might mean favouring cash buyers, or being clear to your estate agent that you don’t want anyone in a chain.
Secure your mortgage
Consult an independent broker to see how much you can borrow and discuss whether a fixed or variable rate is best as soon as possible. It is important to discuss timescales as many lenders will have backlogs.
Have all your necessary paperwork prepared including your past three months’ payslips, past three years’ P60s, bank statements from the past six months, a passport and a utility bill. If self-employed, you need three years of audited accounts. Sorting your mortgage and having the necessary paperwork in place is often what delays property completion and could stop you from moving house before Christmas.
Move, move, move!
Hopefully, the minute you get an offer on your home you’ll get started packing those boxes. Work out how many boxes will need moving, note what needs to be dismantled and what you are throwing away. Book a reputable moving company as soon as you know the sale has gone through, because it’s likely the holiday period will either be very busy, or people will want to be off with their families, rather than moving the entire contents of your home!
So, there are our top tips to moving house before Christmas. You’ll be hanging your stockings in your new home before you know it. Just remember to pop a we’ve moved card in everyone’s Christmas cards!
Do your research, keep an eye on local news, visit the area and talk to us at Open House Leicester – we’re more than happy to help you on all aspects of selling your home. Call 0116 243 7938 or email info@openhouseleicester.co.uk
