Cathedral Lettings

Seller Information

When you put your property in the hands of Cathedral Estates, you know that you are working in partnership with people who have proven knowledge and expertise in the Durham property market. In just five years, our sister company Cathedral Lettings has come to dominate the Durham residential lettings market and we are confident that Cathedral Estates will do the same. We combine old-fashioned values of customer care and attention to detail with cutting edge use of technology and a passion for selling.

When you put your property with us, you can be confident that we will be doing everything we can to show that house or apartment to the widest possible audience and to ensure that the whole process is made as efficient and stress-free as possible for both buyer and seller. Once your property is ready to market, we will give you a username and log-in which will give you direct access through our website to our marketing management system. This will give you information about who has viewed and is booked to view your property as well as what they thought of it.

Marketing and Presenting your Property

• Initial Paperwork

  Before we can start marketing your property, there are a number of items of paperwork that have to be in place. These are as follows:

  • The Agreement between you and us.
  • Energy Performance Certificate this is a legal requirement which all sellers must have in place within 28 days of putting their property on the market. It shows any potential buyers the energy efficiency of the property and the carbon output.
  • I.D. or Proof of Ownership we may ask you for some ID or proof of ownership, just to make sure we are dealing with the right person and to avoid any delays once we have an offer for the property.
  • Marketing Details we will prepare these to a very high standard including photos and floorplans, but you will have to sign to confirm that theyre accurate.

• Getting the Word Out

  We will take care of marketing your property but you can still help us enormously by having a For Sale board at the property. Even in this age of internet marketing, we still reckon that about a quarter of all enquiries come from these boards. If the board falls over or suffers any other mishap, just tell us and well get it replaced in short order. On our side, well be doing the following to ensure that the maximum number of people know your property is on the market.

  • We will promote it to all the people who are registered on our database as looking for your type of property.
  • We will list your property on www.cathedralestates.com which is backed by significant investment to ensure good positions on Google and other search engines.
  • We will also list the property on Rightmove, Globrix and other key property portals.

• Making the Most of Viewings

  We will be doing everything we can to get people to come and have a look at your property with us. We will nearly always accompany the viewings, because we believe that as specialists we can maximise the chances of a successful outcome. These are some of the things that you can do to help us:

  • Always keep the property as clean as possible, so that you are ready for viewings at fairly short notice. When you know you have a viewing, give the house that extra sparkle. While youre trying to sell the house, it may be worth using a cleaning company to make a weekly visit.
  • Maximise your kerb appeal by making the front of your house (the first thing the potential buyers see) as attractive as possible. First impressions count, so paint the front door and fence, cut the grass and generally tidy up.
  • If youve got one or two rooms that you know are looking a bit tired or that have tangerine/black/purple walls, give them a lick of paint.
  • As much as possible, de-clutter your house. If necessary, put some things in storage. Even better, sell them or give them away (have you tried www.freecycle.org ?)
  • At the same time, de-personalise your house. Reduce the number of personal photos, political and religious items and even football favours. I can think of several people who would never knowingly buy a house from a mackem/magpie.
  • Ensure that you are not making rooms look and feel small by putting inappropriately large items of furniture in them. Furniture size should match room size.
  • Keep your pets under control and (preferably) out of sight. Lovely as he may be, very few prospective prospective purchasers will want to become intimately acquainted (or even acquainted at all) with your large Labrador!
  • Turn the heating on, nobody likes a cold flat or house. Making them cosy and snug will help them to imagine a cosy, snug life in the property.
  • Think about what youre cooking before the viewing, even the night before. Things like curry, onions and bacon are really best avoided.
  • Dont smoke in the property and dont let anyone smoke in the property, ever.
  • Use air fresheners, especially if you think your pets might smell a bit.
  • Put out some flowers and pull the curtains, make the place as bight and fresh as you can.
  • Deal with domestic noise pollution! Ideally, turn the TV off and listen to some soothing music. Persuade your teenagers to forego the pleasures of thrash metal for the duration of the viewing, or at least listen to it on their headphones.
  • Last but by no means least: if possible, go out! The honest truth is that Im afraid we would rather do the viewings without you. We find that this works much better for everybody, especially because it massively increases our chances of getting good feedback from the potential buyer. So, give us a key to keep at our office and go some where nice for an hour or two while we do the hard work!

• Keeping in Touch

  In between viewings, we will regularly review our progress in marketing your property and be in frequent contact with you to discuss that progress. If you wish, we can give you a username and password which will give you access to our marketing management system where you will be able to monitor levels of interest in your property and view feedback from people who have viewed it. You would always be welcome to visit us in our office to discuss progress or to ask us to visit you.

The Sales Process

If someone makes an offer to buy your property, then the first thing we will do is to obtain all the relevant information from them including what finance they have in place, whether they have a property to sell and what sort of timescale they are hoping for. We will then discuss their offer with you and depending on whether you accept it or not, we will conduct the necessary negotiations to try and achieve a sale at a price which meets your objectives.

Once a price and timescale have been agreed, then we will write to each party and their solicitors to confirm the agreed details. If you do not already have a solicitor then we can recommend local firms who we know will deliver an excellent service at a fair price. After that, the key points in the sale process are:

• Valuation or survey of the property by the lender or the buyer themselves.
• Mortgage Offer: where the buyer is borrowing money to finance the purchase. This is where the lender formally confirms the precise amount they will lend against the purchase of the specific property.
• Preliminary Enquiries from Buyer: This is part of the first stage of the conveyancing process before contracts are prepared. The buyers solicitor will send enquiries to your solicitor who will ask you to help complete them.
• Exchange of Contracts: between the two parties. At this point, the buyer pays a substantial deposit and makes a legal commitment to purchase the property.
• Completion: The transaction is brought to a close, all monies are paid across and keys handed over. Congratulations, you have sold your home!