Everyone understands that buying and selling property is a stressful business, and often all parties involved will want to move quickly.
Our specialist Property Law Team put their minds together to share some tips to make sure your house move keeps moving in the right direction.
Top 5 Tips
#1 Stay on Top of the Paperwork
Make sure you prioritise returning emails, phone calls and any paperwork to your solicitors, brokers or estate agents. With the property market open for business again, there are hundreds of transactions taking place and you do not want to cause delays by missing important phone calls or misplacing an email. Read through paperwork carefully and make sure you have completed all areas of forms and answered all questions asked of you.
#2 Overcome Disputes to Move Forward
Emotions can run high when moving to a new house, especially if you are stressed or trying to purchase your dream home. Disagreements can arise between buyers and sellers and it can be easy to get bogged down in minor disputes. Try to rise above small issues and pick your battles, for example you can choose not to worry about minor issues around curtains or appliances being left behind. But it is best to put your foot down on any major problems such as matters arising from your structural survey.
#3 Avoid Gazundering
Gazundering is when buyers lower their offer at the last minute before exchange. This can unfortunately happen when markets are tricky or competitive and it can be really stressful. Often sellers accept reduced offers so as not to lose their buyer, but it is not professional behaviour. Although there is little you can do to avoid gazundering, you can appoint a trusted estate agent and ask that they gauge the buyer’s mindset and reliability before you accept their offer. In America realtors often have a ‘back up’ buyer for properties.
#4 Avoid Gazumping
You are probably more familiar with this term, but gazumping is when a buyer willing to pay more than your offer comes into the transaction and you could potentially lose the property you had an offer accepted on. The only way to overcome this is to make yourself an attractive buyer. A simple or non-existent chain, your mortgage offer and solicitor in place can express how keen you are on the property and how flexible you are to move. These things can help a seller stay loyal if even a slightly larger offer is put on the table.
#5 Instruct Trusted Property Professionals
Most of the sale or purchase is in the hands of the people you instruct to take your transaction over the line. It is important to do your research and appoint knowledgeable and experienced professionals who you can rely on. This will include your solicitor, lender, broker, estate agent and surveyor. Remember that you are paying these qualified people to act in your best interest and it often pays to get it right first time.
Of course, sometimes in property transactions problems or delays occur that are out of yours or your solicitor’s control. But if you can follow the above tips and keep in regular communication with all involved then hopefully your house sale or purchase can complete in good time.
If you are looking for a conveyancing estimate for your house move, sale or purchase then please get in touch with our dedicated Property Law Team on 01256 844888 or email enquiries@lambbrooks.com.
Our team are experienced with a wide range of transactions, from new builds to buy-to-lets, help-to-buy schemes to investment purchases. They also regularly advise clients on transfers of equity, probate sales, matrimonial sales, equity release and auction purchases.
For a competitive quote please get in touch or speak to our online chat assistant who is available 24/7 via our website.
The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should take appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.