After the OTP - What You Need to Know About Selling a House 

You've put in the elbow grease and finally reached the point in selling your house that you’ve been waiting for – a buyer makes an offer on your home. Now what? 

For many, selling a home seems like a simple process; Put your house on the market, someone takes a liking to it and buys it from you, right? Not entirely. 

Successfully selling your property is a procedure on its own and if you don’t quite understand the full process it can end up being a stressful time. 

To demystify and simplify the course of selling a home, let’s take a look at the selling process and break it down into 2 parts. 

The 2-part process of selling your house 

To simplify the notion of selling property, you need to think of it as a 2-part process. 

Part 1 

The 1st part of the selling process involves determining the correct selling price, getting your home ready for sale, advertising it and conducting open house days. Part 1 is all about getting the buyer interested enough in your property that it trickles over into part 2. 

A trusted agent will help create that initial spurt of interest in your home. If a buyer, then decides that they like what they see they will proceed to put in an offer.  

Once the buyer has made an offer on your home, the offer could or could not meet your expectations. If the offer does not meet your expectations, you will need to negotiate with the buyer or re-visit the selling process from part 1. If the buyer makes you an offer that does meet your expectations, then the 2nd part of the process begins.

Part 2 

Once the buyer and seller sign the document it becomes a legally binding agreement. Upon signing and completing the document it gets submitted to the conveyancing attorney who will take over handling the paperwork. 

In order to get the property transferred, the attorney will liaise with the necessary people and complete a number of tasks. 

It could take up to a few months to transfer a property from your name. Once the process has been completed the property will be registered in the buyer’s name and you will receive the proceeds of the sale. 

Although you can’t influence the process once it reaches the 2nd part, there are some things to keep in mind that will assist the process in running smoothly. 

4 things to keep in mind when selling a house 

There’s nothing quite as frustrating as experiencing the excitement of selling your home and then running into unexpected speedbumps along the way. To ensure you don’t run into any surprises you haven’t prepared for, here are 4 things to keep in mind when going through the selling process. 

1. Bond rejection 

2. Agent Commission 

3. Compliance certificates 

4. Repairs to property 

These are some of the things that could cause potential hiccups along the way. Let’s take a closer look at each and what they mean for you as a seller. 

Bond rejection 

It is not uncommon for a buyer to have trouble getting a bond from a bank. If a buyer’s application for a bond gets rejected by multiple banks the property sale could fall through, leaving you back at step 1. 

Agent commission 

When you’ve successfully sold your home, you will need to pay an estate agent’s commission cost if you have used the professional assistance of an agent. Speak to your agent beforehand to get an idea of the commission % that is charged by the agent.

Compliance certificates 

When you sell your property, it is mandatory to obtain the necessary compliance certificates in order to continue with the procedure. 

You will need an electrician to come and do an electrical assessment and ensure that your property is compliant with the rules and regulations of electricity. If your property does not comply, you will need to pay extra money for the fixes before the compliance certificate is issued. 

Other compliance certificates that you will need to obtain, where applicable include: Gas, electric fence. 

Repairs to property 

If the buyer picks up any damages to the property, they could state in the OTP (offer to purchase) that these damages need to be fixed by you before the property is sold. This could amount to extra fees on your behalf as you would need to get these repairs done should you accept the buyer’s offer. 

It is best to keep these things in mind when going through the selling process and to prepare for them in advance to avoid any delays or having the sale fall through. If you’re unsure of how to prepare in advance, get your real estate agent to help you. 

Selling your property is a process. It involves far more than meets the eye and if you haven’t prepared or aren’t educated on the method, it could deem very stressful. 

However, if you familiarize yourself with the above-mentioned information, selling a house can be far less stressful and far more successful.