When you sell a property in the UK finding a buyer is just the start of the process. In order to actually transfer the ownership of the property we must embark on the legal procedure known as the conveyance. Conveyancing is the process of drawing up an agreement between the buyer and the seller (this is called the Contract) and then carrying out all the required formalities leading to the actual transfer of ownership which is achieved using either a "Conveyance" document or, more commonly nowadays, a "Land Registry Transfer" document.
The legal conveyancing process is a well established procedure which has remained largely unchanged in hundreds of years. The legal transfer of property, i.e., the conveyancing process has traditionally been in the domain of solicitors, but more recently licensed coveyancers have emerged who are not solicitors, but who have trained to carry out the process and specialise in just this one type of legal matter.
Because solicitors have been carrying out conveyancing for centuries many people think that it is impossible to buy or sell a house without consulting one. But this is not true. Whilst it is not allowed for someone who is not a solicitor or licensed conveyancer to charge to do conveyancing for other people, there is no law against and anyone carrying out a conveyance on their ownbehalf and indeed there is no practical reason for them not to. Becauae the process is just that; an established process which set steps to carry out and set things to do at each step, and there are standard forms which solicitors use for each step which are available to anyone wanting to do their own conveyancing, in all but the most complicated cases anyone can easily achieve this objective quite easily.
Of course, it is necessary to learn the steps of the procedure, but there are many very good books on the subject which can literally save you hundreds, if not thousands of pounds in the long run. Here are some good ones:
Do Your Own Conveyancing
House Buying, Selling and Conveyancing
A Practical Approach to Conveyancing
A practical Guide to Residential Conveyancing
As well as saving money by doing the conveyancing yourself, as you are in control of the situation, you also save yourself time and stress! No more worrying about whether anyone is actually doing something which should be done, and no more waiting for someone to come off the golf course! You control the pace, things can happen much more quickly and you will be fully aware of every aspect of the sale or purchase; quite often you can get "left in the dark" by a solicitor acting on your behalf who fails to contact you or keep you up to date with developments; indeed sometimes you find yourself chasing them to get things done. Remember that a solicitor or licensed conveyancer will likely b e dealing with many conveyances at the same time, whereas you will have just your own to concentrate on, meaning that overall you are likely to do the job more efficiently!
There will be cases when it is prudent to use a solicitor when the conveyance isn't straight forward, however, if you follow the advice of a good book on the subject you will know exactly when this is and isn't necessary.
Do Your Own Conveyancing
House Buying, Selling and Conveyancing
A Practical Approach to Conveyancing
A practical Guide to Residential Conveyancing
Doing your own conveyancing isn't difficult, however there will obviously always be some people who, for whatever reason, do not want to attempt it themselves. For those of you, if you are currently in the process of buying and/or selling a property and would like to find a good solicitor, please complete the form found here and you will be provided with three very competitive quotations.
Property For Sale in the UK
Find your dream home
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Online Property Resources
If you are looking to buy a property or sell your own house, there are many places on the Internet where you can find help and useful information.
Want to give it a go at selling your home yourself? Then these sites may be useful for you:
http://www.homedirectuk.co.uk
http://www.mypropertyforsale.co.uk
http://www.houseweb.co.uk
http://www.homesonsale.co.uk
http://www.movehomeonline.co.uk
These are all sites that specialise in properties which are "For Sale By Owner".
But if you want to visit sites where you can find properties offered by estate agents, then here are some to try:
http://www.findaproperty.com/
http://www.numberone4property.co.uk/
http://www.fish4.co.uk/iad/homes
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/
http://www.home.co.uk/
http://www.wheresmyproperty.com/
http://www.primelocation.com/
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Want to give it a go at selling your home yourself? Then these sites may be useful for you:
http://www.homedirectuk.co.uk
http://www.mypropertyforsale.co.uk
http://www.houseweb.co.uk
http://www.homesonsale.co.uk
http://www.movehomeonline.co.uk
These are all sites that specialise in properties which are "For Sale By Owner".
But if you want to visit sites where you can find properties offered by estate agents, then here are some to try:
http://www.findaproperty.com/
http://www.numberone4property.co.uk/
http://www.fish4.co.uk/iad/homes
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/
http://www.home.co.uk/
http://www.wheresmyproperty.com/
http://www.primelocation.com/
Make money from your Blog with MoneyfromBlogs.com
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Property for Sale in the UK
Are you looking for property for sale in the UK? Or perhaps you are looking to sell your own property?
Either way, you can do it the traditional way, or perhaps you might like to consider a new unconventional approach and save money in the process?
The Internet has become a big part of everyone's lives nowadays, and this medium has opened up all sorts of possibilities; one of the most important of these is the opportunity to sell your own property and save on the fees (usually many thousands of pounds!) usually charged by estate agents...
Why Sell Your Home Privately?
When you first choose to sell your home privately (without the help of an estate agent), it's most likely primarily because you have decided that you want to save some money. However, it's not only about saving money; selling your own home actually puts you in control too. If you've ever used an estate agent to sell a property in the UK you will know that feeling of "not knowing what is going on" and having to phone them everyday to find out what is happening! If you take on the process yourself, and it's not that difficult, you will always know exactly what is happening AND you will save money.
Some people think that they can’t compete with the expertise of an estate agent, but all estate agents in the UK actually do when selling for you is to advertise your property for you and then act as a “go between” when negotiating the price. So, what are you actually spending your money on here? Someone to place adverts that cost very little and then to talk on your behalf. Think about it!
Where to Advertise?
Where do estate agents advertise? Well once upon a time they would advertise your property for sale in the UK in newspapers and magazines, but that is quite expensive nowadays when they are advertising lots of properties, and anyway they nearly all belong to some form of network which has an online marketing system where they place your advert on the Internet (at very little cost to them) so this is now their MAIN advertising method for selling property throughout the UK; they still do advertise in local papers occasionally, but trust me, not as much as they used to. So, do they charge less for their services than they used to in light of the fact that they have a smaller advertising budget? No, don’t be silly! Indeed, although commission % rates may have stayed the same, whilst the property prices were increasing and property was selling easier they were actually getting MORE for doing less!
How Do I Do It?
Selling a property yourself is not that difficult nowadays, you just need to use the same process as the estate agents do. Anyone with a computer can easily set up a “property description”, which you could send to anyone who responded to adverts which you could put in the local paper, but more importantly than this, why not take advantage of the Internet to list your property on there?
There are websites on the Internet where someone selling their own property in the UK can advertise it at very little cost and get an incredible coverage. For example, take a look at the HomeDirectUK website (http://www.homedirectuk.co.uk) you can advertise your property on there for a very small registration fee; you can register for one month, two months or three months (if you register for 3 months, for just £25 you get the rest of the YEAR for nothing; that’s up to 9 months free advertising!) and that's ALL you pay! No commission, etc., BUT, here’s the exciting bit… at the moment they have a SPECIAL OFFER; they are currently registering properties completely free of charge! This is a limited time special offer and I don’t know when it will end, so if you want to sell your property why not visit them today. You can enter a description of each room and feature of your property and upload photographs too.
Check them out here: HomeDirectUK
Research shows that selling a property privately can save as much as £5,000 on an average price property. However, you may not feel that you would be able to get the same amount of coverage that an estate agent can get, and you may decide therefore to go with one anyway; this is not such a bad idea. But I should point out that this still doesn’t stop you trying to sell your own property as well!
As long as you don’t agree to “Sole Selling Rights” when you sign up with an agent, you can still sell your property yourself, and as long as you don’t sell it to someone introduced by them you won’t owe them a penny! Don’t confuse “Sole Selling Rights” with “Sole Agency”; when you grant a “Sole Agency” to an estate agent you are giving them the rights as the only AGENT (i.e., person acting on your behalf, to find a buyer for your property in return for a fee), but you still have the right to sell your home yourself without having to pay them anything. Don’t EVER agree to “Sole Selling Rights”, because if you did and then found someone through your own advertising methods; even if it was just a neighbour or friend who decided to buy your property off you, you would still have to pay the commission, even though the estate agent had done nothing! So beware of “Sole Selling Rights”!
There are some good reasons to list your property with an agent, whilst also trying to sell the property yourself. An estate agent charges a lot because they work full-time trying to find buyers for properties; a good estate agent will be proactively marketing your property and may find a buyer more quickly that you can alone. They are also usually a part of a larger network which can reach more potential buyers using the more traditional methods of advertising. However, if you enlist the help of an estate agent I suggest that you contact them on a regular basis, perhaps weekly, to ask what efforts they have been making to sell your property and also what success they have had with enquiries. And, if you use them in ADDITION to your own efforts, then you have the best of both worlds!
Of course, when you find a buyer through your own efforts the buyer will probably realise that you are selling your home privately and will therefore probably offer a lower price, because they know you’re already saving money from not hiring an agent. So bear this in mind when you consider the asking price and what you are prepared to accept from a buyer through either of these two avenues. Well I wish you good luck with selling your property...
By the way, if you are looking for a property to buy, you could check out the listings at HomeDirectUK you might find your dream home there! Note that HomeDirectUK do not advertise for estate agents, so this means that all properties found on there are being sold by their owners, and because of this you may find you can more easily negotiate a better price, as I mentioned above. So, if you are interested in property for sale in the UK, or want to sell your own, look for a website like HomeDirectUK and get going!
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Either way, you can do it the traditional way, or perhaps you might like to consider a new unconventional approach and save money in the process?
The Internet has become a big part of everyone's lives nowadays, and this medium has opened up all sorts of possibilities; one of the most important of these is the opportunity to sell your own property and save on the fees (usually many thousands of pounds!) usually charged by estate agents...
Why Sell Your Home Privately?
When you first choose to sell your home privately (without the help of an estate agent), it's most likely primarily because you have decided that you want to save some money. However, it's not only about saving money; selling your own home actually puts you in control too. If you've ever used an estate agent to sell a property in the UK you will know that feeling of "not knowing what is going on" and having to phone them everyday to find out what is happening! If you take on the process yourself, and it's not that difficult, you will always know exactly what is happening AND you will save money.
Some people think that they can’t compete with the expertise of an estate agent, but all estate agents in the UK actually do when selling for you is to advertise your property for you and then act as a “go between” when negotiating the price. So, what are you actually spending your money on here? Someone to place adverts that cost very little and then to talk on your behalf. Think about it!
Where to Advertise?
Where do estate agents advertise? Well once upon a time they would advertise your property for sale in the UK in newspapers and magazines, but that is quite expensive nowadays when they are advertising lots of properties, and anyway they nearly all belong to some form of network which has an online marketing system where they place your advert on the Internet (at very little cost to them) so this is now their MAIN advertising method for selling property throughout the UK; they still do advertise in local papers occasionally, but trust me, not as much as they used to. So, do they charge less for their services than they used to in light of the fact that they have a smaller advertising budget? No, don’t be silly! Indeed, although commission % rates may have stayed the same, whilst the property prices were increasing and property was selling easier they were actually getting MORE for doing less!
How Do I Do It?
Selling a property yourself is not that difficult nowadays, you just need to use the same process as the estate agents do. Anyone with a computer can easily set up a “property description”, which you could send to anyone who responded to adverts which you could put in the local paper, but more importantly than this, why not take advantage of the Internet to list your property on there?
There are websites on the Internet where someone selling their own property in the UK can advertise it at very little cost and get an incredible coverage. For example, take a look at the HomeDirectUK website (http://www.homedirectuk.co.uk) you can advertise your property on there for a very small registration fee; you can register for one month, two months or three months (if you register for 3 months, for just £25 you get the rest of the YEAR for nothing; that’s up to 9 months free advertising!) and that's ALL you pay! No commission, etc., BUT, here’s the exciting bit… at the moment they have a SPECIAL OFFER; they are currently registering properties completely free of charge! This is a limited time special offer and I don’t know when it will end, so if you want to sell your property why not visit them today. You can enter a description of each room and feature of your property and upload photographs too.
Check them out here: HomeDirectUK
Research shows that selling a property privately can save as much as £5,000 on an average price property. However, you may not feel that you would be able to get the same amount of coverage that an estate agent can get, and you may decide therefore to go with one anyway; this is not such a bad idea. But I should point out that this still doesn’t stop you trying to sell your own property as well!
As long as you don’t agree to “Sole Selling Rights” when you sign up with an agent, you can still sell your property yourself, and as long as you don’t sell it to someone introduced by them you won’t owe them a penny! Don’t confuse “Sole Selling Rights” with “Sole Agency”; when you grant a “Sole Agency” to an estate agent you are giving them the rights as the only AGENT (i.e., person acting on your behalf, to find a buyer for your property in return for a fee), but you still have the right to sell your home yourself without having to pay them anything. Don’t EVER agree to “Sole Selling Rights”, because if you did and then found someone through your own advertising methods; even if it was just a neighbour or friend who decided to buy your property off you, you would still have to pay the commission, even though the estate agent had done nothing! So beware of “Sole Selling Rights”!
There are some good reasons to list your property with an agent, whilst also trying to sell the property yourself. An estate agent charges a lot because they work full-time trying to find buyers for properties; a good estate agent will be proactively marketing your property and may find a buyer more quickly that you can alone. They are also usually a part of a larger network which can reach more potential buyers using the more traditional methods of advertising. However, if you enlist the help of an estate agent I suggest that you contact them on a regular basis, perhaps weekly, to ask what efforts they have been making to sell your property and also what success they have had with enquiries. And, if you use them in ADDITION to your own efforts, then you have the best of both worlds!
Of course, when you find a buyer through your own efforts the buyer will probably realise that you are selling your home privately and will therefore probably offer a lower price, because they know you’re already saving money from not hiring an agent. So bear this in mind when you consider the asking price and what you are prepared to accept from a buyer through either of these two avenues. Well I wish you good luck with selling your property...
By the way, if you are looking for a property to buy, you could check out the listings at HomeDirectUK you might find your dream home there! Note that HomeDirectUK do not advertise for estate agents, so this means that all properties found on there are being sold by their owners, and because of this you may find you can more easily negotiate a better price, as I mentioned above. So, if you are interested in property for sale in the UK, or want to sell your own, look for a website like HomeDirectUK and get going!
Make money from your Blog with MoneyfromBlogs.com
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