Your Complete Guide to Selling with Whitfields Property Experts

Understanding the Corsham & Melksham Market

Before you list your home, it’s essential to understand the local market dynamics. Living and working in our local market for over 35 years, means we are best placed to price your home at that sweet spot to gain the most money without undervaluing simply for a quick sale or over valuing, giving you false hope. Our strategies are tried and tested and we will always sell for the best possible price whilst giving you expert advice every step of the way.

Why This Matters: Knowing local trends means we can guide you to price realistically. I’ve always said “you get your best price in the first 6 weeks” and no matter what type of market we are in, this holds true. How buyers perceive your homes pricing is key and understanding how buyers are currently acting is very important. We provide local valuation data and our insight to set a marketing price that aligns with current demand.

Valuation and choosing your agent

A sensible valuation is the foundation of a successful sale. At Whitfields we don’t just give you a price! We provide an evidence based, honest valuation along with a marketing strategy to help achieve the best result for your needs. Positioning your property price based on guides on how many are searching in your properties price band, our local knowledge and advice.

Why Choose Whitfields?

• We are local and yet also have the reach of a much larger agency across the Uk and the globe.
• Transparency and integrity. We don’t aim to be the agent who lists the most houses, but we do sell the most! Keeping our focus on those who have entrusted us to sell their property and not being swayed by area managers targets. We will always advise you the best course of action for you.
• Contact. Contact, contact! We use a variety of different ways to keep you updated, with viewing feedback within 48 hours and a dedicated sales progressor once you are under offer.

Tip: Pick an estate agent who you like and trust. After all, you will be working with them for around 6 months on average. Don’t just focus on fees as a cheap agent, may cut corners which leave you out of pocket by more.

Preparing Your Property for the Market

First impressions matter to maximise buyers interest.

Declutter and depersonalise rooms. We can advise you on what needs your attention and what is fine to leave in order to keep that homely feel. Kerb appeal is crucial, as often buyers will drive past first. Tidy your garden, power wash the driveway and paths and attend to anything that might look tired.  It’s amazing what a few pots with some coloured flowers in can do as well.

Why It Matters: Homes that look cared for typically sell faster and for a better price. Getting rid of any red flags is key.

Tip: Empty homes are often best left with some furniture, or if needs be, we can arrange for photos to be “virtually staged” or even for professional stagers towork with you.

Marketing Your Home

In todays world, simply listing on Rightmove isn’t enough any more. We will execute a marketing plan:

• Professional photos by a professional photographer…makes all the difference. No photos of us reflected in the mirror on our watch!
• We use all 3 of the major property portals. (Rightmove, Zoopla AND On the market)
• Social media pre launch videos, on the market promotions and our popular walk through videos are used to draw in more potential buyers.
• All our buyers are properly registered and qualified to try to minimise time wasters.

Why This Matters: Selling a house is not simple if you want to maximise your sale price. Attracting strong offers, even having a choice of buyers backed up by our reservation agreements, give you the best possible chance of moving.

Tip: We can block viewings together as much as possible to minimise the number of times you are tidying up, especially if you have a family and dogs to work around.

Receiving and Negotiating Offers

When offers come in, Whitfields guides you through:

• To secure your sale with our reservation agreements giving you compensation if your buyer withdraws.
• Evaluating seriousness (cash buyer vs mortgage, chain size).
• Negotiating price and terms – we’ll help you strike the balance between securing a good sale and minimising delays.
• Advising on “best / final” offers, and strategic counters.

Why This Matters: A strong negotiation strategy can increase your sale price, reduce fall-through risk, and get you committed buyers.

Tip: We know what buyers in our areas are likely to stretch to and have the sold properties evidence and confidence to push them to offer the best you should expect for your home.

Conveyancing is where the hard work starts!

Once you accept an offer, most sellers think they are home and dry, but this is when we need to step up even more.

• We send you recommendations of good solicitors both locally and nationwide. We also tell you who to AVOID as the wrong choices can add extra stress and huge delays.
• We have a dedicated sales progressor, who has years of experience dealing with solicitors, other estate agents and demanding buyers. The confidence to respond and ask questions of solicitors is critical. Finding a balance of chasing them without pushing too hard, leaving them ignoring us is a skill.
• We confidently handle any pressure a buyer or another agent in the chain may send our way. We act for you and will always keep your interests at heart. You move when you are ready and we will help and advise to get everyone aligned!

Why This Matters: Too many agents leave the progression side to the solicitors or other agents. We are watching out and anticipating any issues as best we can rather than wasting many weeks if there is a problem with the chain or finances.

Tip: Start working with your solicitor before you have a buyer. This can save a couple of weeks and allows you to complete paperwork or find missing information early, saving you weeks in what is already a stressful time.

Survey Negotiation & Supporting Buyers

Often buyers will commission a survey which can uncover some issues (damp, structure, roof etc) .

• We can help you navigate re negotiation with confidence. We ask all buyers to share the survey if they have issues to discuss and we help arrange quotes for any work required.
• Only then, do we consider if a re negotiation is a good idea.
• Our reservation agreements can help prevent a renegotiation over minor issues.

Why This Matters: Handling survey issues confidently protects the deal and minimises the need to drop your price.

Tip: We have a range of good surveyors to recommend alongside tradespeople who can quickly provide quotes or reports on any remedial work.

Exchanging Contracts & Deposits

Contract exchange is a major milestone. At this point:

• Your buyers will be legally committed and will pay a deposit.
• A moving date will be agreed to allow you to get your plans in place.
• Any buyer withdrawing now will be heavily penalised and it is very rare after this point.

Why This Matters: Exchange is (nearly 100%) job done! It is the next level of security and you can start packing in earnest and confidence that you will be moving.

Tip: Make sure any funds you need to draw from ISA’s , shares or funds are in place. Shop around for house insurance, as you will need this in place to exchange on your next home.

Completion Day

On completion day:

• Your solicitor will advise when we can release the keys.
• We collect and hold a set of your keys before this day, so you don’t have to wait around to hand them to your buyer.
• We arrange the handover with your buyers at our office freeing you up to get off to your new home and start unpacking.

Why This Matters: We try to minimise any stress on this busy day for you by taking a key beforehand, so you can simply lock up and leave, and move onto your next chapter!

Tip: Arrange well in advance for your phone and internet supplier to connect you, Read you meters and send them onto your supplier quickly. Lastly, keep some essentials boxed up, such as the kettle, tea and snacks!

A guide for people looking to sell a home in England and Wales

After-sale contact and support

Whitfields don’t disappear once the sale is done. We have connections to help with;

• Local services such a removals, house clearance, decorators and even bin cleaning services!
• Time to review your Will ! Buying another home affects your will and you often need to rewrite one or even set one up for the first time. We work with a  trusted advisor who can assess your needs and provide a cost effective will writing service. ( I may have a link at a later stage for you to add)
• We ask for a review and feedback. Recommendations and reviews are key for our business and we want to make sure we continually assess what works best and if there are any changes to be made in how we get you moving.

Why This Matters: It is important that we continue to give advice and become your trusted estate agent, and recommendations are key to building our local network but also the confidence for you to recommend us to your family and friends.

Tip: Always ASK us if you have any questions or need local recommendations. We have your best interests at heart and maintaining trust with you comes through great advice.