We are occasionally contacted by sellers who wish to sell a home in Ireland while residing abroad. The first issue is if it is feasible to sell a property while out of the country, and we are delighted to confirm that it is. The measures to follow when selling a home while overseas are outlined below.
Choosing the Best Estate Agent
You want an estate agent to whom you can give over keys with confidence that they will manage the rest, i.e. be your boots on the ground to handle the complete transaction from beginning to end. This entails the agent visiting the property to do the first valuation and hosting viewings. If the property is a rental, you may not have been there in a while and would appreciate an update from the agent on the state of the property as well as advice on any remedial work that should be completed prior to advertising for sale.
Third parties such as BER assessors, valuers, and pre-purchase surveyors will also demand access to the property, which the agent must facilitate. It is critical to notify your estate agent that you will not be there in person at any time and will be depending primarily on the agent to manage the entire procedure. Communication might be difficult if you are in a different time zone, so ask your agency how they intend to keep you updated on viewings and offers. sellmyhomeireland.com,s online vendor dashboard delivers all of the critical performance metrics for your property’s sale at your fingertips 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
BER Assessor
A current BER Certificate is required in order to market your house for sale. Check out this website to see whether your home has an up-to-date BER: https://ndber.seai.ie/pass/ber/search.aspx If you do need a BER Assessor, you may explore prices and reviews, as well as hire your preferred assessor from anywhere in the globe.
Home Furnishings
Because you no longer live in the country, the furniture is likely of little real use to you, and as such, it is likely desirable for the furniture to be included as part of the sale, i.e. your agent will make it obvious to interested parties that the furniture is included in the sale. If the furniture is in good condition, it may aid the selling and add some value. Unfortunately, if the furniture is old and in poor shape, purchasers may deduct the cost of disposal from their bids. This may be allowed in order to avoid the practicalities of remotely disposing of the property’s contents.
Attorney
Some lawyers still need you to sign contracts in person at their office. Obviously, this will not work if you are abroad, so find a contemporary solicitor who will allow you to sign through video call (skype, whatsapp, zoom, etc.). Your solicitor sends you the contracts, which you sign remotely as your solicitor walks you through each page through video call.
How Long to Sell a House in Ireland?
A normal period to reach an agreement on a sale is 4-6 weeks; some properties move fast, while others might languish on the market for a long time, usually if they are expensive or in remote locations with little demand. However, a decently priced house in an urban region may be realistically expected to sell for full market value in 4-6 weeks. Unfortunately, getting to the agreed-upon transaction is typically the easiest part. Depending on the urgency and organisation of the legal counsel on both sides, the conveyancing (legal) portion of the procedure might appear endless. When you decide to sell, you must immediately choose a skilled, organised, and energetic solicitor. This will allow them to obtain the deeds from the bank (if the property is mortgaged), draw contracts, and have all relevant documents on hand when the property is sold.
This is actually fairly uncommon, as many solicitors only seek the deeds after the house is sold. If this occurs, you are looking at a tortuous transfer that might take several months, and the odds of the sale falling through drastically rise. Unfortunately, even if you have a good, sincere solicitor, there are no assurances that the purchaser’s side would reciprocate, and this is beyond your control. If you’re lucky and have a diligent solicitor on the opposite side of the transaction, the transfer should take another 4-6 weeks. Otherwise, it might continue on for months. While it may take less time, you can expect the conveyance to take around 10 weeks because obtaining two “on-the-ball” solicitors on both sides is unlikely. We recommend doing your research properly prior to choosing a solicitor.
Implications for Taxation
Because you have moved out of the property, it is likely that it no longer qualifies as your primary residence, which implies that capital gains tax will be levied on the gain. However, if you resided abroad as a requirement of your job and returned to the home before selling, the property can still be regarded your primary residence even while you were away. Even if the abroad period is not eligible for tax reduction, CGT will be imposed only on the pro-rata gain realised during the time when the property was not your primary home, not on the whole gain. This issue is covered in this article. However, unless you are quite financially savvy and prepared to do your homework, it is best to hire an Irish accountant to calculate your liabilities and file the proper return on your behalf. Contact three accountants, describe what you need done, and obtain a quote; make sure to agree on the pricing ahead of time. This is a critical process that should take an accountant no more than a few hours to complete, thus the fee should be in the hundreds rather than thousands of Euro to calculate the obligation and file the return. Inquire about projected hours and hourly rate.
FX Charges
If you’ve moved to a non-Euro nation, you’ll probably wish to convert the net proceeds of sale from Euro to the currency of your new home. When dealing with significant funds, always sure to look around for the best price on foreign currency rates. Online fx providers may save you a fortune.
So, if you’ve chosen to sell but live overseas, don’t let that deter you. Thanks to contemporary technology, the sale may be managed effectively and easily, with you kept informed of every step of the process until monies are sent to your account, wherever that may be!
