Part 3 – from receiving an offer to completion.

This is the final part of our blog series looking at how a property is sold and all of the stages that are involved in the procedure for the seller and the buyer. This third blog covers everything that comes once a buyer has been found for your property. If you haven’t yet read the first and second blogs, we’d recommend that you read them in order before starting on this blog.

We hope it will answer some more of the questions you may have about the sales process, but if you’d like to speak to us about your property sale please get in touch.

• Receiving an offer

For a seller, receiving an offer on their home is the culmination of lots of planning and preparation. It’s an exciting time for everyone, but can also be somewhat nerve-wracking. It’s at this point that we do everything we can to ensure that the process is as reassuring as possible for everyone involved. 

When we receive an offer, we will ask the potential buyer to confirm their position – for example if they are a cash buyer, need a mortgage or if they already have a mortgage agreement in principle. We will already have asked them this at the initial viewing stage, but things can change so when they make a firm offer we reconfirm their situation. This ensures that the seller has all of the details needed to make an informed decision on the proposed offer.

• Buyers with a property to sell

If the buyer has a property to sell and has a sale agreed through an estate agent, then we always contact the other estate agents to clarify the precise details of the situation. As part of this we will ask for information on how many people are in the property chain and whether the chain is complete – i.e. there is no property waiting to find a buyer – with the aim of understanding any risk involved with the buyer’s position. We do this process with each agent involved to ensure we have all of the correct information for the seller.

• Buyers with a mortgage agreement

Some buyers will already have a mortgage agreement in place – normally this is subject to survey or a home buyer’s report, but this is a good position to be in, making it a faster process to complete the sale. Often though, the buyer will still need to arrange their mortgage. We work with specialist mortgage advisers to help buyers find the right mortgage for them, so if your buyer still needs to arrange their mortgage then we can help.

• Buyers with cash in the bank

This is the easiest scenario for both the buyer and seller – the buyer has cash in the bank, meaning they can proceed quickly with the sale, without the need to wait for a mortgage approval or find a buyer for their property. This type of buyer can be very attractive for the seller, but as a result, they may look for more negotiation over the price. In this situation, we need to check the proof of cash funds, so we ask the buyer to provide copies of bank statements (hiding account numbers and sort codes) to ensure there are enough funds to cover the purchase and the land transaction tax. 

• Communicating the offer

We are legally obliged to put forward an offer to the seller as soon as possible after we receive it (both verbally and in writing). To ensure we achieve this, we work hard to quickly get information on the potential buyer’s position – usually, this takes about 10/15 minutes – and will then advise our seller of the offer being made and the position of the buyer. 

Occasionally, sourcing chain information can take a little longer, so in this case we will advise the seller of the offer, but specify that it is subject to clarifying the chain details. Our focus is on being open and honest with our sellers and giving them accurate information as quickly as possible to support them in the decisions around their sale.

• Accepting or negotiating

Once we have communicated the offer to the seller it’s important to take some time to think about it and your position. Most of the time there is some room for negotiation, and this is where our experience and understanding of the requirements of both the seller and the buyer can help to reach an agreement on the price that everyone is comfortable with. 

• Due diligence on the buyer

Once the price has been agreed upon by both parties, we send the buyer the Offer Acceptance form. This has to be completed in full to confirm who is buying the property, proof of ID and where the money is coming from, to ensure everything complies with the UK’s anti-money laundering laws. 

In addition, we have to carry out a wide range of other background checks to confirm things like proof of address, funds, any mortgage agreement, and, if there’s cash from a property sale, then we need chain details and information on the solicitors to ensure that everything is correct. We also have to carry out Politically Exposed Person (PEP) checks and sanctions checks, all to ensure that the legal requirements are complete and the seller is protected.

• Sold subject to contract

Once all of these checks have been completed and the buyer has completed the Offer Acceptance form, we can then say the property is sold subject to contract. When an offer has been formally accepted we then cease viewings so that we’re not wasting money and time for any of the people involved, or leaving the buyer open to the risk of gazumping. 

• Sales progression

The next stage is sales progression, and for this we work with a specialist company called Prime Progression who ensures that all of the paperwork from all of the parties keeps moving to complete the sale on time. This involves chasing the estate agents and solicitors throughout the chain to ensure everything happens as it should – for example, have the searches been paid for, the mortgage secured, the surveyor visited and so on. Without weekly checks and updates such as this, communication is more likely to break down and the sale process can experience significant delays. 

There is also a range of additional solicitor checks, mostly around anti-money laundering, and the fixtures and fittings and property information forms need to be completed to ensure that both the buyer and seller know what is – and what isn’t – included in the sale of the property. 

By working with Prime Progression to push the sale through we have an average completion time of 10-12 weeks – compared to the industry average of 19 weeks, underlining the benefits it brings.

• Completion

The first step to completing the sale and handing over the keys is the exchange of contracts, and this is followed by completion – usually around a week later. We then arrange to meet the new owners at the property and hand the keys over, together with a home move gift box to help make the experience extra special. We also send our sellers a keepsake memento of their home, as a thank you for selling through Cardigan Bay Properties.

This is the culmination of what we know is a highly emotional and involved few months – sometimes years if the search for a new home has been difficult. We are here to facilitate and help make the process of buying and selling a home easier and as stress-free as possible for everyone involved. 

That’s the final part of our Sales Process blog series – if you have a question about any aspect of our service please get in touch! We’re always happy to help.