Sales

There is a dance we do when it comes to buying and selling a property! In most cases, you’ll want to sell your property first and then buy another property second because this means having a greater deposit to work with and enough funds to cover all your moving costs.

If you sell at the right time, then you can potentially sell your house fast and for the asking price or, if you can start a bidding war between multiple interested parties, in some cases, greater than the asking price.

Are you a Cardiff homeowner with an 'empty nest' wondering if it's time to move? Perhaps your home is challenging to maintain or simply too large for you. These thoughts may have crossed your mind, but how do you know when you are ready to downsize?

The term downsizing means selling your home to buy a smaller one. But while the definition is easy to understand, the decision isn’t an easy one to make. Choosing to sell your home is a huge, often emotional, decision. And downsizing can feel like an even more significant decision.

People sell their homes and move to smaller properties for many different reasons. But it’s most often because the space just isn’t right for them anymore. 

When people sell their homes with us at Fortis , they often ask whether there are any common improvements they should make before they welcome viewers.

Our advice is that if you are looking to sell your home in Cardiff, then it is definitely important to prep it beforehand. Small improvements can go a long way and, depending on the market, you might profit from renovating different spaces in your home.

Knowing which rooms and which areas of your home to focus on first is going to help you stretch your budget and get the most value added to your home.

There have been multiple surveys of prospective buyers, asking them what would put them off buying a property, and one thing crops up time and time again – clutter.

There are very few instances where you’ll need a five- or even six-figure sum to proceed with your plans but buying a property is one of them. It’s not the amount you can usually find down the back of the sofa so what are the options if you need to lay your hands on a substantial amount of cash quickly?

Before you lament about the amount of rain we’ve had this summer, remember the old adage ‘it’s good for the garden’. In fact, the wet conditions may help budgets as well as flower beds, if new research is anything to go by.

As we write this blog, the temperatures are rising to the mid 20°C, the air is filled with the scent of barbeques and sales of sunscreen are soaring. We are, however, about to break the early summer spell by mentioning the C word. Christmas.

If you have a passing interest in property, you will know that some people ‘stage’ their homes during the marketing phase in order to increase the appeal. Common tactics involve dressing sofas with stylish cushions, removing bulky items of furniture to create more space and using vases of flowers to add colour. There is, however, a more unique trend that’s found its way into the national press.

Everybody needs good neighbours but what if the people next door are a nuisance? When it comes to selling a property, the requirement for full disclosure means admitting if you’ve ever complained about the people living either side of you, or if you’re currently involved in a neighbourly spat.

We often talk about ‘adding value’ to a property but what does this actually mean? In residential terms, it means making changes or alterations to a home that increases how much it may sell for. A crucial aspect, however, is ensuring the amount of value added exceeds the cost of any work completed.

As soon as the sun peeks out from behind the clouds and the mercury rises, many of us rush to improve our outside spaces. We do, however, have to be mindful of what we grow and build in our gardens, as it can have a detrimental effect on the property’s overall value and general appeal.

When we think of first-time buyers, we often think of young couples and fresh-faced professionals picking up the keys to their first home but recent research shows the reality can be very different.