Sarah Beeny's guide to selling a Property Online

By: Sarah Beeny, Tepilo.com

22 Jan 2010 Tell a Friend

The sales process isn't complicated - here are my Top Tips if you want to sell your property:

1. HIP - If you haven't already got one, legally you must have a HIP (Home Information Pack) before marketing your property or face a fine.  There are a number of different suppliers out there, some better than others, but you should expect to pay between £200 and £500 in most cases.

2. PHOTOS - You can take photos of your home yourself with a digital camera and upload them or you may decide to pay someone else to take photos, produce a virtual tour, or even film a video for you.

3. FLOOR PLANS - You may already have a floor plan  that you can use from when you bought the property, or from when you had a planning application submitted.  In which case you can upload this document to your home profile. 

If you don't have a floorplan, there are a range of options from sketching out each floor with measurements, and using a sketch and fax supplier (expect to pay around £20) to a professional floor plan company who will come and measure up and produce one for you (around £45 for properties up to 1,500 sq ft).

4. LEASE (FOR LEASEHOLD PROPERTIES) - Find out the details of the lease if you own a leasehold property.  To start with you will need to know how long the lease has left and how much the service charge and ground rent is.

5. BOARDS - Do you want a sales board outside your home to increase awareness? They are proven to help with marketing. You can design and print your board and have it put up outside your home. Expect to pay around £40 for this.

6. VIEWINGS - Do you want to do the viewing yourself or do you have a friend or relative who could do them for you? Alternatively you can pay to use a key holding company who will do the viewings for you.  Rates for this vary considerably.

7. PUT YOUR HOME ONLINE- Load your details onto your selected portal. Try to be creative here, you really need to make your property stand out. The more photos and information you can give a prospective buyer the better.

8. SOLICITORS - Contact your solicitor and let them know you would like to get paperwork in order in preparation for a buyer.  If you do not have a solicitor I would suggest you ask family/friends for a recommendation. This is one decision on which I think it is a bit unwise to be money-driven.

9. PAPERWORK - Your solicitor should send you a fixtures and fittings form and a preliminary enquiries form to fill in.  I would suggest you get these filled in and sent back as soon as you can.