Tips for a successful sale

The real-estate market, especially on the Costa del Sol, is finally recovering from recession, which is great news for sellers.

If you own a property you’re thinking of selling, here are a few things you may want to consider to help your chances of securing a quick and successful sale:

Pricing

The most important thing to think about when selling a property is price. For most buyers, price is the primary consideration when purchasing, so if your property is priced higher than other similar homes, it will likely take longer to sell, if it sells at all.

Some vendors set their price based on what they paid for their property, or on what they think it should be worth, but the hard truth is that anything is only worth what someone else will pay for it. If you over-price, sooner or later you’re going to have to reduce to match the market, so it makes sense to determine a competitive price to begin with.

We recommend you do some research – via the Internet and local estate agents – into what similar homes are selling for, and have recently sold for, in your area. Look at what else is available at a similar price and put yourself in the buyer’s position: which property, at a given price point, offers the greatest value for the lowest price? If your property is not the one you’d buy, you probably need to lower your price.

Condition

Once you’ve set the right price, you then need to ensure your property is in the best possible condition to sell and that any problems are resolved. Just like when you meet new people, first impressions count. If you ensure everything works and the place looks great, potential buyers will notice the difference.

Most buyers are looking for homes that are ready to move into and don’t want to deal with issues that could have been fixed by the previous owner. While you may be able to live with flaking paint, broken light fittings and an overgrown garden, buyers will either look elsewhere or demand you discount the price.

Before showing your property, it’s well worth investing the time and money required to fix anything that needs fixing so that the new owner won’t have to. We recommend you ask a trusted friend to visit your property as if they were a buyer and tell you, in all honesty, what they would do to make it look better.

Paperwork

When a buyer makes an offer, you’ll want to have all the paperwork in place and all the taxes, fees, and bills paid to help the sale go through smoothly and quickly. We recommend you are as well prepared as possible when selling to ensure that any delays in the process are the responsibility of the buyer, not the seller.

Obtain a copy of your public title deed (escritura), a certificate from your local Town Council stating that the property is legal and debt-free, and collect copies of your latest municipal property tax/rates (IBI), refuse collection (basura), community fees, if applicable, and utility bills, to demonstrate you are up-to-date with all your obligations. You also need an energy efficiency certificate (CEE), stating the property’s energy rating.

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Succesful Costa del Sol property sale
Alex

"Looking to sell a property in Costa del Sol?"