Managing a house sale from overseas - any pitfalls?

SP123_3

OH and I are moving overseas shortly. We're planning to put the house up for sale when we go (still to start sussing out the local agents).

Is there anything we should be thinking about in order to keep things running smoothly during the marketing and eventual sale? It's a few years since we moved, and it's first first time we'll have been out the country whilst trying to sell! There will also be a big time difference to consider.

Britwife

First and foremost, research the estate agent you choose and choose wisely.

You want to know how they plan on marketing your house and how they plan on communicating with you.

We sold our house in the states while living here and had great agents. We were always in contact with them and felt very comfortable leaving the sale in their hands.

Make sure you tell them exactly what you want and set up phone meetings weekly. Keep on them to market your house and make sure they don't just sit on it. Don't be afraid to ask questions, this is your house and they are working for you.

Do you have a good contact here that can possibly help on the UK side? We allowed our agent to talk details with my mom if there were urgent issues and they couldn't get in touch with us due to the time difference.

Best wishes

hometrader

Could do with setting up a solicitor before you go; give them Power of Attorney so they can sign on your behalf for contracts etc. Will make things a lot easier.

gld73

I sold my house in September 2009 as I'm living/working abroad (renting it out proved to be much more expensive and much more of a hassle than I'd thought). I couldn't afford to have it sitting empty, so under-priced it - so the good price (for the buyer!), and the fact it was chain-free and newly decorated, meant I didn't have it dragging on and on.

The main suggestion I would give is that you should give someone Power of Attorney - I used my sister, but anyone you trust and who is willing to do it can have it (including a solicitor, as posted above). The nature of my work means I'm difficult to contact as I'm in undeveloped rural areas a lot of the time, and signing contracts would have been very difficult and added delays into the process. Having someone in the same country and the same time zone who can deal with the paperwork etc on your behalf is extremely useful. There are also things like reading the meters and paying the final bills which need to be done.

The solicitor I used for conveyancing also had a facility where you could log on to the website with a unique access code, and it would give you the latest status on the legal/paperwork process after you've accepted an offer, through to completion. This can be quite handy if your circumstances abroad mean you can't always keep in touch by phone etc in UK office hours, but want to keep tabs on progress.