How Quick Can I Sell My House?
In this article we will cover how quick you can sell your house, the market average and what factors may delay a sale.
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How Quick Can I Sell My House?
If you are wondering how quick you can sell your house in England and Wales — you are in the right place! In this article we will delve into all things house selling and what can impact the length of a house sale.
What Is The Average Time To Sell A House In The UK?
When you look online for the quickest ways to sell your house, you will be bombarded with different time schedules and time-to-sell statistics.
These figures are usually associated with the time it takes to find a buyer and accept an offer.
But, accepting an offer is only part of the process; you may be looking at an average of 11 further weeks after the initial offer. Typical timescales across the UK to sell a house are 12 to 21 weeks.
Selling a house on the open market can be unpredictable, and much can go wrong with properties at other companies staying on the market for as long as 40 weeks.
At The Property Selling Company, we are a modern estate agent and can help you sell your property in as little as 28 days, help you handle any negotiations and streamline the conveyancing process with our partner solicitors — which we will cover as a gesture of good faith.
What Might Affect How Long It Takes To Sell A House?
The open market can be an exciting place to sell a house, especially when you have many factors working in and against you.
You must consider all of the following before you sell your house, as any house valuations may only be accurate if you factor these in.
What Might Delay A House Sale?
A house seller’s worst nightmare is a lengthy delay on a house sale, especially if they are part of a property chain, as they will have multiple people waiting on them. Other things which may delay a house sale include:
If you set your asking price too high, you will defer genuine potential buyers from buying as they will know the market via research and understand that you are asking too much for the property and won’t receive any offers.
Setting your asking price much higher than the market value may suggest that you are willing to wait around on the market for a while when compared to someone who sets their asking price below market value because they are desperate to sell.
A hot market is when there is a lower-than-usual supply of houses, fast-selling homes, and steadily increasing property prices, making the market highly attractive for house sellers.
If either of these factors begins to move in the other direction, buyers will benefit more than the house sellers — which could mean your house is sold faster but for significantly less.
Conveyancing is often the longest part of house selling, as ensuring the legal work is completed correctly is vital.
But, depending on the quality of your solicitors and whether they can communicate adequately with you will vastly improve this part of the process.
If you have a solicitor with poor communication skills, the process will likely be drawn out far longer than it should take.
If you have accepted an offer, but your buyer is waiting on their property to sell before they can exchange, this can cause delays in the property selling process.
A buyer may also be waiting on a mortgage to pay for your property, so it’s vital that you ensure they have the funds before you accept an offer.
The more houses involved in a property chain, the more complicated and tying the process can be. Only one house sale needs to be delayed for it to have a knock-on effect on everyone.
How Long Does It Take To Sell A House With No Chain?
If you decide to sell your house when no chain is involved, you may be looking at as little as four weeks to complete, although 12 weeks is the average.
However, there may still be some faults which can occur:
In the house-selling process, it’s essential that you have access to all the necessary documents, like your Title Deeds and that you have surveys carried out; sometimes, these are necessary for mortgage lenders to provide a mortgage.
If any documents are missing or damaged, you must instruct your solicitor or mortgage provider, as they may have the deeds on your behalf. Alternatively, you will need to apply for forest registration of land, which can dramatically slow the process.
If you live in a semi-detached or terraced property, your neighbouring property can occasionally affect the outcome of any offers you receive.
If your neighbour’s property is in poor condition or poorly maintained, this may put off potential buyers or even may mean potential buyers are putting in offers below market value as there may be huge risk involved in purchasing your property — even if your property is spotless.
Leasehold conveyancing can take far longer than freehold conveyancing because your conveyancer will need to wait on the landlord or leaseholder to respond to their enquiries.
The general rule of thumb is that the best time of the year to sell a property is in Spring, and the worst is at the end of Summer – July and August, to be exact.
But this doesn’t consider any external factors that may be creating a hot or cold market.
The condition and uniqueness of your property can also change the time your property takes to sell.
If you have a survey completed and it comes back with structural flaws, then you will need to have these resolved or face having to find a new buyer, selling below-market value or receiving a lower buyer from your current buyer.
What To Do If I Need To Sell Quickly?
If you need to sell your property quickly and don’t care how much it sells, you could use a cash house-buying company, but you will be making below market value.
If you want to sell your house quickly while receiving market value or above, you can sell with us!
We will help you buy your property quickly and securely, cover the costs of the marketing and legal side of the sale, and you will receive all of the agreed prices.
