Selling or letting your home can either go very smoothly and very quickly or it can turn into a nightmare of viewings, no offers and huge amounts of frustration. This is, of course, largely dependent on the state of the housing or lettings market at the time you want to sell or rent, but there are certain things that you, as the home owner, can do to make things go a lot more smoothly.

The Look of the Property

The first thing you should do is take a look at your home. You will have lived there for a quite a while and grown used to the building, including all its faults. Potential buyers, however, will spot these a mile off and it could put them off. Make sure all your interior and exterior paintwork is up to scratch, make sure no wallpaper is peeling, get your garden in order, make sure your bathroom and kitchen are clean, your windows clean, your floors and carpets clean.

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The Finance Act of 2003 introduced the Stamp Duty Land Tax as a substitute for the Stamp Duty. It’s a tax payable on real estate deals by the buyer of land relying on the cost of the exchange and subject to any reduction reported.

A land transaction means a transaction where the legal title to a property changes hands, say for example a purchase, shift of equity or gift (remortgages where there isn’t any transfer are liable for duty) and the sum of duty payable is determined by the actual consideration (purchase price) paid, the total amount due being a proportion of the consideration, between 0% – 5%.

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Once in a while, there comes a time when you need to seek another house, probably because of a growing family, career move or simply the demands of living that dictate you must transfer to another place. So of course you want to sell your property to have a good start somewhere else by possessing a purse to dig in as needed. The bigger the nest egg is, the more comfortable you would feel when in a foreign environment, so to speak.

Sell my house now is something a lot of home owners today are saying. The first and foremost advantage is you’d most probably save in selling the real estate yourself. You will not pay any agent or broker commission, which, at times can be hefty indeed. Even a modest five percent commission on a hundred thousand rand sale can buy a lot of peace of mind when you are still trying to settle in your place, and you need all the support, most importantly the financial kind. Thus selling the house yourself would give you the best income from the sale, at least most of the times.

Then, you will gain practical experience in selling property, which may come in handy a few times, like the next time you move. There are many steps to take when selling real estate, and most of these you will have to learn. The additional knowledge won’t hurt, and it could even provide you with enough stimuli to make selling real estate a second income-producing endeavor for you, because real estate brokering can be lucrative, too.

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Anyone wanting to sell real estate on his own might be in a quandary as to how to do it. One great problem he will face is how to value the property to set the correct market price, which involves many factors, among them sentiment. If you are wondering, how can I sell my house quickly and for the best value, then follow these hints and tips.

Home repair. The value of a home necessarily depreciates over time and usage. Those who sell property professionally know this and thus often recommend repairing the house –at least in the obvious places— to raise its selling value. Lived-in properties often bear marks: crayon lines, juice or coffee stains, scratches or nail holes in the wall and shiny newel posts where numerous hands have been placed over the years.These may be quaint and homey manifestations of the lives lived there, but many buyers want a functional house they can make their own marks on.

But the greatest reason is that a prospective buyer who sees a broken-down part of the house may immediately assume it may also have faults in hidden parts.That will automatically downgrade the real estate’s value in the mind of the buyer, arguing that expenses will be incurred to make repairs. And of course the reverse is also true: a well-kept house raises its intrinsic market value to both the seller and would-be buyer.

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