Selling guide · 2026
Selling a home is mostly waiting — for viewings, for offers, for solicitors. This guide walks through what you can actually control, and how to move fast through the bits you can't.
Or read the full step list ↓Before you list
You don't need to redecorate. You need to tidy, fix the obvious, and take good photos. Done well, these three add thousands to the eventual sale price for under £300.
Tidy and depersonalise
Declutter, deep-clean, and put away the family photos. Buyers want to picture themselves living there.
Fix the obvious
Broken handles, dripping taps, cracked tiles. Small visible faults knock disproportionately off your offers.
Get good photos
Daylight, wide angle, neutral. A £150 pro photographer pays itself back tenfold in enquiry rate.
The seven steps
Every UK sale moves through the same seven stages. Click a step to read what happens, how long it takes, and what it costs.
Step 1 of 7
Three things, in this order:
Step 2 of 7
You need to know what your home's actually worth. Three free ways to do this:
Pick an asking price that's realistic. Overpricing kills momentum.
Step 3 of 7
You have three real options.
Traditional high-street agent — handles everything but charges 1–3% commission. On a £300,000 home that's £3,000–£9,000.
Online estate agent — cheaper (£99–£1,500 upfront, paid whether you sell or not). You do more of the work.
Flat-fee platform like Woosh — £999 paid only when you actually sell. No commission, no upfront cost. You list and manage offers; we handle everything else.
There's no "right" answer — it depends on how hands-on you want to be and how much you want to keep.
Step 4 of 7
A good listing needs:
With Woosh, you list once and it appears on Woosh plus all major property portals.
Step 5 of 7
Either you host or your agent does. Tips for hosting:
Step 6 of 7
Offers come through your agent or directly through the Woosh dashboard. For each offer, check:
You can accept, reject, or counter. Don't feel rushed.
Step 7 of 7
This is the slow bit. Your buyer's solicitor will request the contract pack, run searches, and raise enquiries with your solicitor.
Your job is mostly to answer enquiries fast. Every day you delay is a day the chain might collapse. Track down things like FENSA certificates for windows quickly.
Contracts exchange, the deposit transfers, and a few weeks later completion happens. The money lands in your account, you hand over the keys, you're done.
How Woosh works for sellers
No commission. No upfront fees. No tie-ins. You list, manage viewings and offers from one dashboard, and tap into vetted professionals when you need them — pay only if and when your home actually sells.
Pay £999 once, only when your sale completes. On a £300,000 home that's £2,000–£8,000 less than a 1.5% commission-based agent.
Your listing appears on Woosh and all the major UK property portals from one upload — no double-handling, one source of truth.
Photographer, EPC assessor, conveyancer, mortgage broker — all vetted, all available from one dashboard, all on your timeline.
Common questions
For a £300,000 home you’re looking at roughly £2,000–£12,000 total. The big variable is how you sell: a traditional commission-based agent on 1–3% costs £3,000–£9,000, an online agent is £99–£1,500 paid upfront, and a flat-fee platform like Woosh is £999 paid only on successful sale. On top sit conveyancing (£900–£1,800), a fresh EPC if needed (£60–£120), and removals (£400–£1,500).
Time on market varies massively — anywhere from 2 to 12+ weeks before you have an offer. Once an offer is accepted, conveyancing typically takes 8–16 weeks. The biggest slowdowns are slow local-authority searches and slow responses to enquiries (which you can control by responding the same day).
Yes — a valid Energy Performance Certificate is a legal requirement before you can advertise. EPCs last 10 years; if yours is still in date you can use it. A new one costs £60–£120 and most assessors turn it around in a few days.
Not automatically. Check four things on every offer: price, the buyer’s position (cash / chain-free / in a chain), whether they have a Mortgage in Principle, and how fast they need to move. A 5% lower offer from a chain-free cash buyer who can complete in six weeks is often better than full asking from someone with three properties below them.
It depends on your contract. Most sole-agency contracts have a tie-in period (typically 8–12 weeks) where you can’t switch without paying both agents on sale. Read the contract before you sign — and avoid anything longer than 12 weeks. With Woosh there’s no tie-in: list and unlist when you want.
Start with a free valuation. Or see what selling on Woosh actually costs.
