On the 8th of July 2020, the Chancellor announced the first £500,000 of any property bought was exempt from stamp duty until 31st March 2021. This also included buy to let landlords Talking to many of you homeowners, I know lots of you are bringing forward your home moving plans to take advantage of this tax cut. Yet how do you ensure you sell and buy your property whilst the tax cut applies (a saving of up to £15,000 of stamp duty on your next home?).
The biggest issue whenever you are selling your property is the properties that you are in competition with. The number of properties for sale in Newbury can split down into type…
- Detached Newbury homes up 84%
- Semi-detached Newbury homes up 40%
- Terraced / town houses Newbury homes up 3%
- Apartments in Newbury up 29%
So, now you know what you are up against, what do you need to know?
The most important factor is the time issue. It currently takes on average 17 to 19 weeks between a sale price being agreed and the keys being handed over, meaning you need to have found a buyer before the end of November or early December to enable you to complete the sale by the 31st March 2021. That means you really need to have placed your property on the market by mid-October at the very latest to take advantage of the stamp duty Holiday. Don’t get me wrong though, you could put your property on the market after that date, yet the price you will be able to achieve for your property could be affected.
Talking of price, or more specifically the asking price. There is a window of opportunity for homeowners to take advantage of this stamp duty tax cut, yet don’t let local estate agents curry favour with you by tempting you with a high initial asking price to win the right to put their for sale board outside your home.
A Which report stated in 2017 that many estate agents routinely over inflated the asking prices of the properties they brought to market. The excellent report proved that those estate agents who on the face of it appear to be doing you some kindness by endeavouring to get more for your home with a suggested higher asking price, the property often ended up selling for much less than similar properties that were realistically priced properties from day one and also, they ultimately took longer to sell!
This Which report compared the original asking price with final selling prices for 370,000 properties. Which found that 70,300 (19%) of all 370,000 properties sold had to be reduced by at least 5% in order to get the property sold, whilst the other 81% (299,700) had no or very minimal reductions to get them sold.
Of the 299,700 sold properties that weren’t reduced, the average initial asking price was £261,000, yet they eventually sold for an average sale price of £260,000. For those 70,300 homes whose asking prices were reduced by over 5%, whilst the average listing price was £266,000, their eventual sale price was only £241,000, a loss of £20,000. Even worse, those properties with the heavy price reductions took an average of nine weeks and one day longer to sell.
What that means is by over inflating your initial asking price of your home, it will cost those homeowners an extra nine weeks to find a buyer and they will lose out on the final sale price by some considerable margin (meaning you will also probably lose out on the stamp duty holiday).
Assuming your asking is price is realistic, you aren’t out of the woods yet. Other things that will help you get the best price for your home in the best possible time are …
- Everyone searches on the portals for their next home. Photos are therefore very important (a picture speaks a thousand words). If the weather isn’t good on the day of the photoshoot, ask the agent to revisit when the sun is out as you only get one go at being ‘new to the market’, with all the excitement and interest that causes.
- Employ the services of a solicitor at the same time as instructing the estate agent. Bringing together the legal paperwork of the property you are selling. By doing so, you will save weeks between the sale agreed and completion.
- Kerb side appeal. Look at your property from across the road. Does the front door need painting? Could a tonne of gravel spruce up your driveway? Maybe adding some hanging baskets and planted pots will help to make a home stand out for the best reasons?
The final piece of advice I can give you is if you are planning to sell, make sure your estate agent can show you proof of similar properties and what they actually sold for to back up their suggested asking price. If the asking price isn’t realistic, the chances are you end up losing many thousands of pounds and wasting everyone’s time. If you would like to chat about selling your home, please do not hesitate to pick up the telephone.
