Let’s make sure you are prepared for the process of selling your home!
- Interview Realtors – Your representation is an important factor of success! The agent and their office have a big influence on how quickly your home is sold and how much you profit by the end. Hiring someone with negotiating skills and an experienced team behind them is crucial. Some pay for extra services to make your home stand out and some don’t. Be sure to listen to what they all have to offer when choosing who you want to work with!
- Prepare your home for the market – Scheduling professional pictures, cleaning and getting rid of unnecessary clutter, yard work, and anything else that will make the home seem as perfect as possible! If you are able to move out and leave the property vacant, that will be ideal. That gives the agent the opportunity to pay for staging to make your property’s best features pop! Make sure to hide all valuables and lock up any personal items that you want to be kept private.
- Go live – This is the time for potential buyers to come look at the property in person to see if they would like to put in any offers for purchasing! Now that you are on the market, strangers will be coming in and out of your home, but they will almost always be accompanied by a licensed agent. Consider leaving out little booties to cover dirty shoes during times of bad weather to keep the floors clean. Your agent will keep you updated on any scheduled appointments and any potential offers coming in.
- Review offer(s) – Now that you have received an offer, or a few, it’s important to compare and contrast all of the terms provided. Purchase price, seller concessions, closing date, payment method, etc. You have the choice to accept, counter, or decline any offer you receive. You and any buyer have the chance to counter back and forth as much as you’d like until someone accepts or declines. Every offer has an expiration date, so be mindful of your time limit to accept or decline.
- Mutual acceptance – No that an offer is accepted, your buyer is in their due diligence stage. They will be conducting inspections and tests on your home to determine whether or not any issues that arise are worthy of accepting.
- Inspection negotiation – Once your buyer has completed their home inspection, or any other examinations, they will respond to their findings by asking for repairs, renegotiating money involved, or they will satisfy their contingency and you can move on to the next step. If they ask for additional repairs or alterations to the contract, you can: (1) Accept their requests and begin making arrangements, (2) Agree to some but not all repairs, (3) decline all repairs but propose others, or (4) decline all repairs. For responses 2-4, the buyer will respond by accepting your proposal or decline and back out of the deal.
- Appraisal – A licensed appraiser will be hired by the lender to come to your home and determine its value. If their value is equal to or above the amount of the current agreed upon purchase price, you are good to move forward with the deal. If their amount is lower than your current agreed upon purchase price, the buyer’s agent will notify you and there is another step of negotiation. You will have 4 options: (1) Lower the purchase price to the appraisal amount, (2) lower the price to below the purchase price but above the appraisal amount and ask the buyer to pay the difference, (3) keep the purchase price and ask the buyer the pay the entire difference, or (4) ask for a reconsideration of value.
- Final signing – The closing officer will contact you a few days before closing to schedule a day to sign the final paperwork. This is your last chance to double check all the numbers and paperwork to make sure everything is correct.
- Closing day – Once you receive you net proceeds from the sale and get the call the paperwork been recorded, the house is officially sold! Make sure to have everything removed from the property that was not already agreed upon.
