Selling House early next yr.. what should I be doing now?

Hi Folks

Hoping to trade up to a new house early next year (prob Feb or so) what advice would you give for us? What should we be doing right now to improve our chances of selling? Our house is worth about 170K but we hope to get 180 or more for it.

What steps should we be putting in place? Also when should we try and apply for a new mortgage? We would be looking at getting a house for about 230 or 240k.

Thanks a lot

On a practical point you should think about sorting out any minor maintenance jobs, tidying up and giving the place a lick of paint (nothing major) just to spruce it up in preparation for showing.

For what it's worth the market might be considered a bit slow that early in the year but I'm sure that your estate agent will advise.

No harm in shopping around for mortgage approval in principle now and getting a feel for what's available and how much you will be able to borrow. Shop around for the best deals in mortgage protection life assurance and home insurance too in preparation for the move (these are generally more expensive when bought from the lender).

Hope this helps.

Stocking up on valium!! Just kidding. Just moved and under-estimated how stressful it would be. Good tip: Raise deeds of your house before or just as it's going on market. Can hold up the whole sale. Also, no harm to mortgage shop now. Gauge the market and see what houses in your area are going for. Also, add a min of another 10K onto the asking price of any house in Dublin! Good luck

Hi guys

thanks for the advice. We are in the process of decluttering at the moment (phew what a job!) and some of the rooms have been given a lick of paint so we need to get cracking on the rest. Thanks again.

On the buying side of your transaction you should obviously start looking for suitable areas/houses that meet your needs and price range. You may want to draw up a wish list and use this to check the suitability of different houses. Chances are you won't get all of your wishes but aim for as many as possible.

you should go to different estate agents, and get an initial estimation on selling charges, commission plus advertising charges (and then VAT is on top of that).

You could also consider not using an agent and selling your house yourself.