Once The Offer Has Been Accepted
Once you have agreed a price with your buyer and you have exchanged solicitor’s details through the estate agent, as a condition of the sale, it is common practice for the buyer to request that the property is not shown to any other buyers – it is known as a lock-out agreement.
You also need to be aware of gazundering, which is where the buyer tries to lower the price at a crucially late stage in proceedings. You will be required to provide a fixtures and fittings list, this covers what is included in the sale e.g curtains, carpets etc. This also gives you an opportunity to try and sell items which you no longer require or negotiate them into the sale price. The contract will then be signed and the conveyancing work finalised.
You will then be contacted by your solicitor and informed that you have exchanged, at this point, the deposit monies will have been cleared in the solicitors account. Completion will happen on an agreed date between you and the buyers.