10 Tips to Sell Your Property Abroad and Repatriate

Yesterday we provided an article for all those in the UK who are unhappy with the recession, bored with the poor weather, fed up with job insecurity and who want to go in search of a new and better life abroad.  We discussed tips and tricks for selling a British home in order to escape UK and expatriate.

But what about if you’re already living abroad and you’ve decided that it’s time to return home to the UK?  Perhaps you’ve had enough of the sun, the sea and the sand – you want to move back to your homeland.  You miss family and friends, your old way of life, or you’ve just found work in the UK and have decided to repatriate.

If you’re stuck abroad because you have a house that won’t sell and free you up for a return, here are 10 tips to help you sell your property abroad and repatriate to Britain.

1)  Start Packing!

If you’re selling your property abroad to move back to the UK there is no better time to start packing up than right away.  If your home abroad is not inhabited, i.e., you use it for holidays or for letting, you have no reason to leave anything in the property whilst it’s on the market anyway.  Alternatively, if you’re still residing in it it’s time to cut back on the clutter that you have around you for everyday life.  Someone looking at your home abroad with a view to making it their own new home from home does not want to be surrounded by reminders of you and your family!  De-clutter, de-personalise and present a blank canvas to would-be buyers.

2)  Present and Sell the Dream Lifestyle

If you’re selling the typical overseas property – by that we mean an attractive apartment or villa type home in a sunny location with sea views perhaps, surrounded by exotic plants and with a pool on site – you have a unique advantage.  Your property is already sold in many people’s minds because it represents the dream that they want to buy in to.  Make sure you present your property as being the embodiment of the dream lifestyle abroad.  Make the most of the dream lifestyle selling points, whether that’s the balcony you can sit on and watch the sun set from, the infinity pool you can swim in at sunrise, the sea views to die for or the stunning garden full of rampant plants that only grow in miniature in a hothouse in the UK.

Sell the dream lifestyle to viewers of your home, tell them all about how wonderful it is to live in your home abroad – they are in the market for a property, but what they want more than anything is the escape abroad to a lifestyle that they can only dream of.

3)  Be Prepared to Throw in the (Beach) Towel as Well as the Curtains

If you’re prepared to leave behind anything and everything from your sun loungers to your ceiling fans, make sure you tell your would-be buyers of the fact.  The more you can do to ‘furnish’ their dream home and the realisation of their dream the better.  So, if you have lovely outdoor furniture that is really showing off your home and garden to its full potential, say you’d be willing to throw it in if they make a prompt offer.  Think about it – you’re not going to need this stuff when you move back to the UK, and yes, you could make a few extra quid selling it on eBay, but if it makes the difference between a quick sale and a six month wait for an offer, wouldn’t you be better off taking the money and legging it to your new life in the UK?

4)  Make Lifestyle Additions to Your Home

If your property is not currently the embodiment of everyone’s fantasy home abroad, start making some lifestyle additions to the property to sell it and the dream of it!  In other words, add in the smart wicker sofa set for your courtyard space or your outside patio area, put a plasma screen in the sitting room, get a nice wine rack for the kitchen and fill it up with locally produced vino.  You’ll be able to take all these extras with you when you go anyway, (unless they are haggled into the bargain – probably with the exception of the TV), and yet they speak volumes about your home.  They speak of opulence, of a lifestyle the buyer is buying into if they purchase your home, they speak of living the dream, of everything that they want out of life.  Fuel their fire to get them to buy!

5)  Frame Your Features

If your home has an additional wow factor compared to others on the market in the same location, make sure you make the most of it.  Perhaps just the fact that your property is finished and that you hold the title deeds to it is enough in some locations where off plan property and developers reluctant to releases title deeds are a well-documented problem.  Or perhaps your home has the unadulterated views of the sea or the spacious gardens that you just can’t get elsewhere for love or money.  Talk to interested parties about what they are getting for their money on top of just the bricks and mortar.  You really need to sell your home and the lifestyle it offers your buyers.

6)  Freshen Up and Lighten Up

We probably all have an image in our minds of that perfect Mediterranean property with its white walls, the sun reflecting off them, of clean spaces and open airy homes.  Well, think about the location your home is set in, if you’re selling a home in a hot location your buyers are going to be dreaming of something similar.  They will want to see fresh, light, bright paintwork, they won’t want heavy curtains and dark walls.  You need to repaint dull walls inside and out, take down heavy curtains even if they do shield your home from the heat of the day.  Present your home as a light, bright fresh canvas for your buyers – it’s what they’re expecting to see so don’t disappoint them.

7)  Upgrade Your Kitchen for Less

Kitchens and bathrooms sell a property – even a property abroad.  But you needn’t spend ten grand on a whole new kitchen when you can just replace the work surface for granite, or the door fronts for something new and clean.  If your kitchen is dated and ugly then make a small investment and upgrade it.  If the kitchen is in good nick, even if it’s not a top of the range perfect affair, it will really help sell your home.  In many countries granite/marble worktops are far more cheaply available that they are in the UK – so look into the cost.  At the same time, you can buy hand crafted kitchen doors in some nations for peanuts, and in other countries there’s always Ikea!

8)  Make the Most of the Bathroom

Bathroom space is a prized commodity – at home and abroad.  However, not all properties abroad are blessed with multiple bathrooms, and an en suite is a very foreign (!) concept in many countries overseas.  So, you have to make the most of the bathroom space you have, unless you have the budget available to add more bathroom space.  If you can add more bathroom space then make sure it has a shower, and if you cannot add more then clean and freshen up what you have, and make sure you make it as appealing as possible.  Refresh grouting if it looks old and mouldy, add new taps or a new showerhead if needs be.  A nice white or wooden toilet seat is a must, and colourful but tasteful accessories such as a shower curtain or window blind will perk up an otherwise bland bathroom space.

9)  Mass Market Your Home Abroad

Whilst local agents will be useful in getting the property seen by local people and visitors already ‘in country,’ what about garnering interest from would-be buyers back home?  You need to get in on the marketing of your property and don’t just leave it in the hands of the estate agent.  There are listings sites online where you can advertise your property abroad, you could also set up your own website selling the features and benefits of your home, the surrounding area, even the country it’s located in.  You can then use a Google adwords campaign to market your website.  Just make sure your site is fast to load and navigate, so host it in the UK or US – somewhere where there are fast servers and good international accessibility.  Don’t rely on a local hosting company abroad!  What’s more, make sure it is very easy for people to contact you via your website if they want more information or they want to arrange a visit.

10)  Make it As Easy As Possible for Someone to Buy Your Home

Buying a property abroad, as you will no doubt be aware having already done so, is not always an easy undertaking financially speaking.  This truth is even more pertinent nowadays what with the credit crunch and mortgages being very hard to come by.  If you can be as knowledgeable and as helpful as possible, not to mention flexible, you will be able to help would-be buyers get their hands on your home.  Find out about local mortgage laws and who might be offering finance to international buyers.  Get details of what criteria applicants will have to fulfil as well as contact details of helpful people at the local bank.  Research who in the UK might be willing to lend to your buyer to buy your home.  Alternatively, find out about which lenders are up for remortgages in Britain at the moment.  Many people in the market for the dream home and lifestyle abroad are indeed living in a fantasy world where they think it will be easy to finance their new home and their new life.  When reality dawns that getting the money together to buy abroad may not be easy, they might be put off.  If you can give them ideas about how to finance the home, how the process works, any tips, tricks and useful people you have met along the way, they will not only be very grateful, they may well be on the right path to making a real and tangible offer for your home.