Selling your home can be stressful, so it is important to choose an agent you can trust. We at Field & Sons aim to eliminate the stress and make the experience as trouble free and as pleasant as possible.

Here are a few guidelines which we hope will assist you:

VALUATION
We will give you a free, no obligation, factual and accurate appraisal of the current market value of your property. Our experienced property valuers will provide you with a valuation, based not only on an in depth knowledge of the area, but also utilising our extensive database of properties recently sold.

INSTRUCTING YOUR ESTATE AGENT **

Once a value has been established, we will agree our agency fee with you and ask you to sign our terms and conditions of business, along with a detailed property information document. We will also have to ask you to provide us with proof of identity (Please see further details in our Money Laundering Section ). At this point we would need to discuss who will be carrying out your conveyancing........we can assist you........

    HOME INFORMATION PACKS  (HIPs)      

IMPORTANT CHANGES THAT WILL AFFECT THE  PROCESS OF

SELLING AND BUYING A PROPERTY

All residential properties with one or more bedrooms may be put on the market,  provided a HIP has been ordered. We will look after this for you, by using one of the industries premier HIP providers.

Most of the leasehold information, now classed as Required (compulsory) will become Authorised (voluntary). The exception is the Lease itself, which must be included in the HIP.

To discuss how a Home Information Pack can be used to speed up your sale, please call us on 020 7234 9633

What a HIP will Contain
A HIP will be a pack of information, much of which at present is assembled by solicitors during the conveyancing process but only after an offer has been accepted.

The HIP will contain certain "required" information including the terms of sale, evidence of title, leasehold information, an Energy Performance Certificate and local authority searches. A range of other information may be included which is classed as "authorised"                                                                           

Home Condition Reports are an optional component of Home Information Packs.

All required and authorised information is regarded as of relevance to buyers and an aid to a simpler more effective selling process.

It is important to remember that sellers, potential buyers, the estate agent, surveyors, conveyancers and lenders will, in effect, share all this information and use it for their own purposes.

The Home Condition Report (HCR)
The HCR is an optional part of the HIP. This is a new type of surveying product prepared by a specifically qualified and licensed Home Inspector who must have professional negligence insurance. Although the seller commissions it, it is impartial and the Inspector owes a duty of care to the seller, the buyer and the lender: all of whom may rely on it.

HCRs are designed to be wholly objective and clearly report on the observed condition of each element of the property, rating the condition of these elements either category 1, 2 or 3 according to its "seriousness". The reason for each rating is justified and the most serious summarised at the conclusion of the report. HCRs are likely to be made mandatory at a later date.

Energy Performance Certificates
Within the HIP a section is devoted to the energy efficiency of the property and a certificate provided in much the same way as white goods are now rated in the shops. This becomes increasingly important as our responsibilities to limit CO2 emissions in accordance with international treaties are observed and to take action to save energy, quite apart from controlling household costs.

From 6 April 2008, all new homes require a Home Information Pack before marketing can begin.

The exemption which applied to new homes built under Regulation 17C of the Building Regulations 2006, no longer applies.

Where the new home is being sold ‘off plan’, or where construction is not complete, a Predicted Energy Assessment (PEA) must be included in the Home Information Pack.

Where to Purchase a HIP
Field & Sons will obtain the Home Information Pack for you and they will be  made available in paper form (bound document), electronically (e.g. PDF over the web) or on data storage media (CD, memory stick etc) to meet the needs of sellers and buyers.

The Cost
As this system is totally new to everyone concerned, costings are still being looked into, although it is estimated that a HIP will cost approximately £280 to £500, depending on the size  and complexity of the property. There is unlikely to be a 'one size fits all' cost and methods of payment can be discussed.

Getting Value for Money
A HIP is designed to facilitate a sale, making selling simpler and buying better. The content must be reliable and whilst there will be no escaping the "nasties" such as reported serious energy inefficiency or defects in title unless these are remedied before bringing the property onto the market, it will be important to ensure that the HIP is value for money.

Seller
The HIP will enable sellers "to get their house in order" in every respect and fully prepared for sale not just in a cosmetic sense but seeking to ensure that the sale will proceed smoothly once an offer is accepted. If one thinks about it in simple and perhaps more familiar terms it might be likened to the service history of a car, which is preparatory to ensuring a good sale and equally a reliable buy.

Buyer
The well-established principle of "let the buyer beware" will remain in place, although HIPs will allow a buyer to make better comparative judgments’ when viewing properties and to make a more informed offer whilst not excluding the opportunity to take proper advice on the good sense of buying. The buyer will be better prepared and will be enabled to secure in advance, for example, a 'mortgage offer in principle'.

Your Conveyancer ( solicitor )
At present the conveyancer for both seller and buyer plays a major part in the assembly of much of the information which will appear in the HIP.  Conveyancers will in future determine whether they believe that the content of a HIP presented to them may be relied upon, depending upon for example when it was prepared, what it includes and what action might need to be taken as a result of the information exposed. It is likely that the conveyancer will play a vital part in advising the seller or buyer on the good sense of concluding a transaction at a particular price and at an appropriate time. We at Field & Sons can help you choose a conveyancing firm.

Be Informed
As a seller and buyer armed with a HIP, you will have more information at your fingertips than ever before. As a homeowner, you will be both empowered and challenged when you have this information in your own hands, which is currently exclusively handled by professionals in their own offices. Professionals will be equally challenged by this greater transparency and will undoubtedly be offering new services to meet our expectations. There will be choices and decisions to be made all round!

MARKETING

Sales particulars will be prepared as soon as the HIP has been ordered and  you will need to check these for accuracy. Presentation being all important,  we will ensure that your property is shown to its best possible advantage with the aid of full colour photographs and & floor plans ( where appropriate).

FOR SALE BOARD - This is a very simple and effective marketing tool, working for you 24 hours a day. Often considered unsightly…but they do work.

WEBSITES – full details of your property will be on the internet within an hour or two of going on the market. Besides exposure on our own site, http://www.fieldandsons.co.uk/  we will also put your property details on all the major property websites, such as:-

                  http://www.thelondonpropertyguide.net

We update our web sites many times every day.

EMAIL – Prospective buyers who are registered with us, will have details of your property e mailed to them within an hour or two of it going onto the market and we will telephone them to try and arrange a viewing.

VIEWINGS   and what you can do to assist

First Impressions Count

Before & between any viewings, there are things that you need to consider ……
A coat of fresh paint can work wonders. Carry out any minor repairs, such as plaster cracks & so on.
If you can’t manage this yourself, speak to us…we have an in house building & maintenance team.

Keep your home well aired, clean the windows, replace broken light bulbs, fix dripping taps etc. Clear away children’s toys. Beds should always be made and that pile of ironing should be put away. A clean and tidy kitchen & bathroom is a must. Tidy the garden or balcony, buy in some flowers and now you’re ready.

Before any viewings, open your curtains, in the evenings, turn all your lights on, switch off the television and maybe have some gentle back ground music playing. If it’s a chilly evening, make sure the heating is on.

Always greet potential buyers warmly, make them welcome and let them look around at their leisure. Don’t rush them, or have too many people showing them around, allow them time to absorb the surroundings and Give them the opportunity to ask questions.
Be polite, point out a few specific features, but don’t over-do it and always answer questions truthfully.

Please do not agree to any conditions directly with any potential buyers, but ask them politely, to discuss such matters with your agent.

OFFERS – our negotiators will always strive to obtain the best possible price for your property and ALL offers we receive will always be promptly notified to you.

Before recommending acceptance of an offer, we will always check the financial status , and details of any related sale, with brokers and other agents involved.

SALE AGREED – At this stage, both sets of solicitors are informed and then the legal process begins.

SALES PROGRESSING – This is when the hard work begins for our negotiators; liaising with both solicitors, surveyors, mortgage brokers and mortgage valuers, during the whole conveyancing process.

THE LEGAL WORK

Drafting contract and supporting paperwork

Once the transaction is agreed, your solicitor will send out a draft contract to the purchaser's solicitor who in turn carries out preliminary enquiries and orders a Land Registry search. They will also organise all the supporting paperwork (where applicable) i.e.: title deeds, copy of Lease, fixtures and fittings list, seller's questionnaire, planning consent, guarantees, copy of building regulations and share of freehold certificate.

We will urge the buyer to submit the mortgage application to his/her lender, who will, once the individual has been qualified, contact us to arrange for a mortgage valuation to be carried out on their behalf. This demonstrates commitment and is an important step.

The buyer may also require a survey to be done at this stage.

Service charge accounts & building insurance (in general this is not applicable to freehold properties).

We recommend that you forward copies of your service charge accounts over the last three years, estimates for the forthcoming year, and building insurance certificates, to your solicitor the moment you instruct us to market your property. Alternatively, in the case of apartment blocks, you can ask your solicitor to collect these documents from the Managing Agent.

Service charge accounts & building insurance (in general this is not applicable to freehold properties).

We recommend that you forward copies of your service charge accounts over the last three years, estimates for the forthcoming year, and building insurance certificates, to your solicitor the moment you instruct us to market your property. Alternatively, in the case of apartment blocks, you can ask your solicitor to collect these documents from the Managing Agent.

Exchange of contracts

Most buyers require mortgages. Once the mortgage offer has been confirmed, the purchaser is ready to exchange contracts with the seller. The contract is signed by buyer and seller and the deposit, (usually 10% of the purchase price), is either telegraphically transferred or paid in the form of a bankers draft by the buyer's solicitor. Both and seller are now legally locked in.

Completion

This is generally set a few days to a few weeks after exchange of contracts, depending on the personal requirements of the buyer and seller. The residual monies (usually 90%) are transferred from the buyer's solicitor to your solicitor's account. As the seller, you must be in a position to hand over the keys to the buyer, on the day.