Prepare Your Home for Sale
Prepare Your House for Sale
If you’re planning to make these improvements shortly before selling the house, only consider the repairs that are required by law or about safety issues. However, don't go for major renovations at this time because you won't recoup your outlay. Sturdy from the NAR shows that only 30% of the money spent on major repairs can be recouped when selling a house. If your kitchen is very outdated, or your carpet is old and truly needs replacing, you can always offer "credits" to potential buyers if and only if the situation is a make-or-break kind of deal, otherwise selling it AS-IS is always the best solution.
Inside and outside, start reducing the clutter. When it comes time to show your home, less will mean more. Potential buyers don’t want to see how your closets overflow with clothes, how every room feels cramped with furniture, or how the yard is difficult to maneuver with that rusty swing set in the way. So downsize your "stuff" now; it not only will make the preparation for showing your home easier, but it also will make packing for your move faster.
Find a Real Estate Professional
Find a Real Estate Professional
If you’ve been through the home-buying process, you already know how complicated the real estate business can be. Selling houses is ten times more complicated. While you can opt to sell your home yourself, it can be time-consuming and often not worth the money saved on commissions, besides, selling as FSBO only attracts the "Bargain Hunter and Bottom Feeder" buyers anyway. However, if you do hire a real estate professional as your selling agent, do your homework. A typical agent would tell you to be fair with the buyers and to be reasonable with your price. That is how you will sell your house for less, just like your neighbors did.
You'll need an aggressive real estate agent/realtor, who is NOT a marketer but one who knows how to sell houses even in a down market, after all, this is a sales job in the first place, NOT a marketing job. When interviewing candidates, ask them to show you, upfront, step by step how they can sell your house for the absolute top dollar, isn't that what they all say? and how they will get the buyer to pay for your house more than anyone else, if their answer is to counter offers with the highest and best strategy, move on to a different agent, this agent is just a typical agent who doesn't know how to sell houses. When it comes to preparing a “comparative marketing analysis” for your house, this is the area that sets us apart from the rest of the field. Our report will not only show you the true market price for your house but also allow us to strategize the listing price of your house so it could bring you the highest possible price.
Once you've chosen the person who will represent you in the sale of your house, you’ll more than likely have to sign a contract stating that you’ll work solely with the realtor for a designated number of months. This means no other real estate professional will be allowed to sell your home on your behalf during this time. So put some thought into the professional you choose, because you only have one chance, and if you decide to do business with me, I will show you how I do business differently than any other agents, by helping you to find the world's best buyer who is willing to grossly overpay for your house, more than anyone else, and they are happy they did, and you will end up getting more money than you can get any other way. Would that help your cause financially? Or are you allergic to money?
I look forward to speaking with you.
Get Your Paperwork Together
Get Your Paperwork Together
After you sign the Listing Agreement with me or another real estate professional, your agent will need a lot of documents from you to prepare your home for sale. Among the things your realtor will want to see are: Pay-off Notice: a letter to your mortgage lender stating your intention to pay your home loan (when you sell your home). Assessments or Easements: if there's a tax assessment or easement on your property, documents stating so will have to be included in the purchase contract. Property Taxes: proof of the property taxes you've paid.
Utilities: you'll need to provide a record of the past 6 months of utility bills. You’ll want to make it clear now which items in the home you want to take with you the heirloom chandelier in the dining room, the washer and dryer set you just bought last month – and which items can stay behind as part of the home sale. Your real estate professional will show you which items you should put away or replace before your house goes on the market.
Price Your Home for Sale
Price Your Home for Sale
Make no mistake, this is the most important step in selling houses. Several factors will affect the success of your home sale. These include the location of the house, interest rates, economic conditions, time of year, condition of the house, marketing the house, terms of the sale, and accessibility to the house. Some of these are not within your control, such as the location of your house, interest rates, and economic conditions. Other factors are those you'll discuss with your real estate agent to determine what would most benefit the sale of your house. Waiting for a good time to sell your house is always a mistake– the consensus is spring or fall are the most popular home-buying times – which also may help it sell faster is a myth for agents who don't know how to sell. Buyers are always out there buying even if it is a week before Christmas.
And pricing the home properly can make a huge difference in whether a house is purchased relatively quickly or languishes on the market for months. To price a home properly, you and I -- if you've chosen me to be your agent -- will study the local market, research comparable properties, and consider current market conditions. And then I will share with you my pricing strategy, a strategy that no one else has, which will guarantee you two things, one is that your house will sell, 100%, and you will end up with more money, NET after all expenses are paid, than you can get any other way.
Market Your Home
Market Your Home
Products that sell well usually have a good marketing strategy. The same can be said for your home. My philosophy in marketing is simple, every marketing strategy works, it either works for you or it works against you. For example, if you give the buyers too much information before they fall in love with the house, they will use that information to weed you out, my job is to weed you in. What you don't want to do is what a typical agent would do. For example, in addition to the "traditional" ways to market a house, posting your listing on Craigslist. Twitter, YouTube, or having flyers at the For Sale Sign, what is the purpose of the sign? to have them call me so please let them call me. 99% of any house sold is due to the marketing directly to realtors, so why focus on the 1%? Please keep in mind that real Buyers with Real Money have Realtors. Marketing to other Realtors is the main focus.
Decide what information should be included in the description of your home that will make it a must-see and one hopes -- a must-buy. The goal is to provide just enough information to attract buyers to come and visit your house, and once they can "touch and feel", we will know if this is the world's best buyer who loves your house the most and is willing to pay more than anyone else, that is how you can sell for the highest possible price. You and I will discuss what the features and benefits of your property are, which ones to disclose, and which ones to hold for the "elements of surprise".
Prepare Your Home for Showing
Prepare Your Home for the Showing
Once we've decided on the market price and how we will market your home the next step is to get your house ready for visitors. Give your home a thorough cleaning. Clean the drapes, the carpets, and the furniture. If you haven't already done so, toss the clutter. Remove the small items and bric-a-brac. Try as much as possible to have your home look as if "no one lives there." Many agents tend to recommend stagging, my take on staging is, that staging was invented by interior decorators who needed a job and we are not in the business of providing work to other professionals.
Outside: Keep your lawn trimmed, the rose bushes pruned and the weeds tamed. Put away the garden hose and the tools. Make sure the bulbs in your home’s exterior lighting fixtures are all in working order. Be vigilant about removing flyers, handouts, and newspapers left on your front doorstep or driveway. Inside: Brighten the rooms by opening the drapes, turning on the lights, cleaning the windows
Clear the clutter on the kitchen counter, bathroom sink, coffee table, and couches. Make all the beds. Clean all your bathroom and kitchen fixtures. Do a quick vacuuming of the entire house, being sure to catch any cobwebs in the corners along the ceiling. Finally, take out the garbage. If you have pets, find a safe place to keep them during a house showing: in the garage, or an enclosed area. Aim to be away from home during a showing or open house, but if you happen to be home when the potential buyers arrive, greet them at the door then politely excuse yourself. Make yourself scarce or go take a walk, the biggest mistake sellers make is to follow the buyers and keep yapping about how great their house is. Believe me, they know. A buyer needs to picture himself or herself living in the house when you’re not there. This is your home’s time to shine.
Respond to an Offer
Respond to an Offer
Depending on market conditions, you may receive one or more offers for your property from interested buyers. When you do business with us, 99.9% of the time, you will get multiple offers for your house, regardless of the market condition. Each offer will include the proposed offer price, proposed closing date, proposed move-in date, financing, and contingencies that may include an appraisal or sale of the buyer’s current home. I will help you sort through the variables to determine whether you should accept, counter-offer, or reject the offer. The most likely scenario is we will counter the offer.
If multiple offers exist, each offer will be presented to you in the order registered. You don’t need to decide anything until we decide to counter the offers. As your representative, I will qualify the buyer and negotiate on your behalf, eventually, we will end up with one buyer, the world's best buyer who loves your house the most and is willing to pay more than anyone else, and then we will prepare one counter and put the rest of the buyers as back-up. Clean and simple, no conflicts are lurking on the horizon.
Complete the Settlement
Complete the Settlement
Once you have accepted an offer to buy your house, expect to make your house available to a housing inspector, a termite inspector, an appraiser, and other inspectors. After seeing the results of the inspections, the buyer may request that additional work be completed before purchase, such as repairing a damaged roof or fixing a leaky faucet. You and I will discuss whether to comply with the buyer’s request or risk losing this offer. During this flurry of activity, try to keep your home in show condition. The deal has not closed and still may fall through, which may mean showing your home to more potential buyers. In the meantime, the buyer is working with a lender to secure a loan for the purchase. When the buyer has written loan approval, a closing date can be set.
There will be a final walk-through before all signatures are collected and the deal considered done. The buyer will go room by room to check that everything is in working condition and, if you agree to do so, any additional work requested after the inspection is completed. Now you can prepare for your move, notify your utility companies of the date to transfer your account to a new address, and start packing. Congratulations, you’ve sold your house!