House buying and selling can be a slow process! A common question asked by home movers is “how long does it take to sell a house?” Rather than the average time to sell though, it’s usually a measure of how long it takes to get a suitable ‘offer’ that sellers want the answer to.
Finding a suitable buyer and selling the house are two very different subjects. That said, finding a suitable buyer – and the dream of cash buyers making an offer – plays a very vital role in moving you forward to a sale.
Read our guide to find out more about selling your home quickly:
- How long does it take to sell a house in the UK?
- How long to accept an offer of exchange?
- Why isn’t my house selling?
- What makes a house sell faster?
- Ways to sell your house faster
How long does it take to sell a house in the UK?
The average time to sell a house in a hot market is 18 weeks, and in a cold market, it is 25 weeks.
Consequently, the average time to sell in a mixed market is approximately 21 weeks.
The average time to sell a house in the UK depends on the property market. If you have put your house up for sale during a hot market, the chances of getting good responses will increase.
Similarly, in a cold market, the chances of receiving a good response from potential buyers become slimmer. The results in a mixed market will be somewhere between the hot and cold markets.
The average time to sell is calculated by the length of time between the first day of marketing and when all the legal work is completed.
It’s important that vital information is made available before marketing commences and the estate agents sell your home.
For example, the energy performance certificate, any warranties, guarantees or certificates relating to the property should be made available.
How long to accept an offer of exchange?
Exchange of contracts happens after the offer has been accepted and before completion.
The average time from acceptance and exchange to buy any house is approximately 14 weeks.
After exchange, it’s a good idea to get removals quotes from removals companies so that you are prepared for the move.
Why isn’t my house selling?
Every UK property seller wishes to sell their home fast and through hassle-free means, with the quickest time from exchange to completion. However, this can be hindered by many factors.
Consider the following:
- Is your asking price correct?
- Is your property in a poor state of repair?
- Is it a hot market or cold market?
- Is your important paperwork in order ready for the conveyancing process and exchange of contracts?
- If you are buying another property and are in a property chain, have you got an agreement in principle for your new mortgage?
- Is your estate agent the best choice?
What’s more, if your strategy isn’t right, you will delay finding a suitable buyer and spend far more days on the market.
What makes a house sell faster?
If you’re dreaming of moving day, it can be extremely frustrating to see your house gathering dust taking months to sell. To help you out of this issue, we have gathered some top tricks and tips vital in streamlining your property sales.
Continue reading our guide to find out factors that affect the selling time of a property.
1. A fair asking price
You must price your home reasonably. According to estate agency experts, if a house is in good condition and still not selling, it’s an indication of overpricing.
In the hope of bagging a bigger sale, many sellers hinder their sale with unreasonable asking prices.
That is why we highly recommend getting a professional property valuation to understand the actual house worth before choosing a price and advertising on property portals, with a high street, or an online estate agent.
Another way to correctly estimate the property’s price is by researching the price of similarly sized properties on the market. This will give you accurate insights.
You can easily use Moovshack’s help to value your house.
2. The type of market
The type of housing market has many implications on how fast you can sell your property and move house. By putting the house up for sale in a hot market, you will have a lot of power over buyers and could negotiate a hefty profit.
Contrastingly, in a cold market, you may be stripped of that power and may have to agree to what the buyers are demanding.
You will have to put out ultra-competitive prices to sell quickly.
This could significantly impact your profit margins as you may need to sell the house below the ideal asking price to avoid sitting on the market forever.
This is a factor that you have little or no control over. However, what you can do is to wait for the right time to put your house on the market.
We suggest that you keep up to date with property news. Once you see that the conditions have begun to improve a little, you can seize the opportunity and place your property for sale.
3. The quality of your estate agent and your solicitor
The quality of your estate agent and the solicitor or conveyancer you have hired to get the property off the market has a huge impact on the selling time.
Your estate agents job is to sell homes, so they should be proactively trying to secure potential buyers suitable for your property, whether that is first time buyers, upsizers or downsizers.
Your solicitor should be easily contactable at any given time for the smallest queries. If it takes days to get a response from them, it’s frustrating and stressful.
This is a factor that you have full control over. You should use it to your advantage.
We recommend researching the best UK estate agents and solicitors, and don’t go for the cheapest!
Sometimes your estate agent can be very efficient, but the conveyancing solicitor recommended by the estate agent isn’t very proficient.
This is why we suggest you evaluate both the estate agent and the solicitor in-depth before hiring them. Find out more about instructing a solicitor here.
Moovshack makes this step easy for you by providing you with a competent and local estate agent!
4. The location of the property
In the UK, fast selling properties are location specific. However, even though this factor is extremely important, it is completely out of your control.
All it takes is common sense from here on – the more appealing your property’s location is, the heftier the profits will be made from its sale. Additionally, such UK properties are also guaranteed to sell faster, too.
This is why the time to sell property may sway from one city to another. For instance, if your property is located in Central London, you will be flooded with offers and could complete the sale within 12 weeks.
If your property is located in a smaller town, for example in the West Midlands or the North West, you may need to make more effort to find a house buyer.
That said, even if your property is located in a small city but is surrounded by outstanding schools and parks, your property’s value increases. Furthermore, security factors, such as the crime rate, also influences how the property will be sold in that neighbourhood.
Ways to sell your house faster
Most of the primary factors which determine how fast a house sells are usually out of your control, whatever types of property.
There are secondary factors that you can fully control to make a quick sale. Keep reading to find how you can sell your house faster!
Invest in staging the house
Staging is an excellent way to lure potential buyers into making an offer. With the help of home staging, you can give your property a makeover by setting up trendy furniture and making it look attractive.
This will allow people visiting the house to paint a mental picture of them living in the property.
Staging can make a huge difference in pulling in offers. According to some statistics, well-staged homes sell for a 1% to 5% greater value and in a shorter period than an ordinary vacant house.
If you wonder why this seemingly unnecessary technique is so useful for selling houses, the answer is simple.
- A house that smells of freshly baked bread appeals more to people who visit open houses by captivating their sense of smell. Similarly, a well-furnished house is captivating to the sense of sight.
- An un-staged house may seem dark and cluttered to an average buyer and have them scurry away from making an offer on it.
Attention to small details when preparing your home can go a long way into securing offers closer to the house price.
- For a house that may appear dull, having a paint job done can make all the difference in brightening the property up. Plus, freshly painted walls give off a neat and fresh vibe to the place.
- All you need to do is observe the house and fix the broken things that seem too apparent, such as cracks in the flooring or broken vanity in the bathroom.
- In efforts to make the house’s interior look appealing, many house sellers completely neglect the messy garages and unkempt lawns. Remember that the exterior of the house is what first impressions are based on.
- You can also go the extra mile and hire a professional to stage your house tastefully. This will save you the hassle of renting furniture and making sure nothing gets broken.
Apply a good strategy
Are you unable to bag the sale even after vigorous attempts to get a buyer?
This is an indication that there could be an issue in your strategy that needs to be addressed. You can switch things up a little by using new techniques.
For instance, by visiting Moovshack, you can reach out to an army of potential buyers in your neighbourhood!
You can use the valuable data you collect as feedback from the people who visit the open house.
But be ready to ask yourself important questions like: “How can I sell my house quicker?” or “What could be improved to make you buy the house?”
The most frequent answers to these questions will let you know where the problem lies.
Once you have identified the issues, you can proceed to work on how to fix it.
With a staging expert’s help, you can customize the staging around common issues brought up by people during viewings.
If people have raised the concern that they cannot imagine where to put the TV or the sofa set in the master bedroom, you can update your staging strategy to cater to those two issues specifically.
This is guaranteed to speed up the process of selling your house.
That said, staging isn’t a quick fix to every issue. Some problems cannot be overcome just by rearranging furniture.
Let’s suppose that you live in a busy neighbourhood with an unappealing view. To fix this issue, you may need to lower the price to make the sale seem attractive to potential buyers.
To learn more top tips and tricks on how to sell your home fast, contact Moovshack or see our related guides.
