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How to prepare your property for selling? Get to know 4 simple steps!
Selling a property can be really challenging in many aspects: organizational, logistic and legal. Proper preparations will save you stress, time and money. Get to know 4 simple steps that will get you closer to closing the sale and generating the biggest profit possible.
1. Understand what you are selling and the current market
Make you pre-work before you sell you property and understand the property market in your neighbourhood. You need to know what sort of apartments are for sale and how much they cost, you need to know how easily they can be sold and who the buyers would be. Thanks to this you can prepare your own offer in a much more effective way. Search for tips online and amongst the property market agents who are active in your district. Set your benchmark looking at similar properties in your area. Compare your property with similar ones and asses how it should look like and how much it should cost. This might seem difficult when you do it for the first time, but ask your friends for help.
2. Complete the documentation
The first step is to get the land registry number and check if there is anything that could stop you from selling the property. You can also do it online. Next, find the notarial act to certify the sale or donation. If you inherited the property, you also need to have documents to prove it – and get the appropriate proof from the Tax Office.
If you have taken mortgage to pay for your property, you need to be able to show how much of it has been paid already – the appropriate documents can be obtained from a bank. It is a good idea to also complete the full documentation from the housing association, including utility bills and monthly rent figures.
In addition, you need to prove there are no other people allowed to live in your property and that you are up to date with property taxes. Make sure all the documentation you are to complete is up to date. The buyer can potentially ask for more documents, for example to check if the actual state of the property is as good as described in the offer.
3. Take care of the state of your property
Before you start the renovation, ask someone to asses the state of the property. The most basic thing to do is to clean the apartment (furniture, walls, floors, windows) and the to paint it. Pay attention to the floors and check if they should be renovated. Make the property as free of any personal traits as possible to make it more attractive for the potential buyers. Hide all the personal items for the time of taking pictures of the flat, which will also make the property look bigger and more spacious. Most of the buyers look for bright apartments, so open the windows, get rid of the heavy furniture or even some walls that unnecessarily divide the space.
4. Make sure to market you property well
Pay attention to the appropriate description of your flat, make it detailed and include all the important parameters and information regarding the equipment and surroundings. Take high quality photos and attach the plan of the property to your offer. Inspire your potential buyers and tell them how they could potentially arrange the rooms. If you need help, ask a property agent.
You can learn more about making profits from your properties and investment strategies from my book ‘Let’s make money on property investments’.
Good luck!