Putting your home on the market can be a stressful process, especially when you don’t know what to expect. Fortunately, with the help of an experienced agent and this easy to follow guide, you can smoothly complete the process. Following these steps will help you prepare so you can get organized and sell your home for the best price possible.​​​​​​​
What do you want to accomplish with the sale of your home? Do you want to make a certain amount of money that you can put toward a larger or nicer home? Do you need to sell it as soon as possible to facilitate a move to a new city or area? The answers to these questions informs your pricing strategy. For example, if you need to sell quickly, you might want to price your home lower than if your goal is to make a certain profit margin. It is important for your agent to know your ultimate goals and important for you, the Seller, to understand the different pricing strategies available to you to meet those goals.
Knowing how to price your home is one of the most important parts of the selling process. When you set a fair price in the beginning, you’ll get the most interest from other real estate agents and prospective buyers. Starting with a very attractive price could result in more prospects and ultimately more offers and a competitive situation. Overpricing your home could lead to reduced interest. Working together we would evaluate what similar homes nearby sold for, the current market conditions, make adjustments for the differences in those homes and yours and adjust for your goals. The importance of this step cannot be overemphasized.
Once you price your home, it’s time to start getting it ready to be shown to potential buyers. This includes getting rid of clutter, depersonalizing the space so that buyers can envision themselves in the space, making any small repairs, and doing a deep clean to make sure your home is in pristine condition.
It is a great idea to meet with your agent to do an initial evaluation of the property. It is an opportunity to discuss how to elevate every aspect of your home to make it market ready, discuss high impact cosmetic improvements, explore other design elements and even address structural repairs and improvements that might prevent the home from selling in a traditional sale.
I will develop a marketing strategy that is perfect for advertising your home. This involves listing the home and then driving the right people to that listing through social media campaigns, agent-to-agent referrals, traditional media, or SEO advertising. My team creates a marketing campaign that aims to get the most possible traffic to your listing in the first three weeks after becoming a client. At the time of listing I will share with you a Launch Plan that gives you a clear picture of which marketing activities we propose to happen and when those marketing activities are executed.
Receiving an offer is an exciting part of the process, but it doesn’t mean the journey is over. We will evaluate each offer and make sure the party making the offer is pre-qualified or pre-approved by a mortgage lender and that their offer is acceptable to you in both price and terms. If the offer is too low, you can make a counter-offer or offer other ways to bridge the gap, such as making repairs, adjusting the move-in date, or leaving some appliances or fixtures for the new buyer.
Once we deem the offer is acceptable in both price and terms, we will review the proposed contract to make sure it’s all in order and includes all the necessary components such as deposit amount, down payment, financing, inspection rights and repair allowances, contingencies, settlement date, required fees and who will pay them, and finally all addenda and disclosures that are due at this time (there will be more to come). When both parties have agreed to the terms, the final contract/purchase agreement will be signed by all parties to the contract and we can open escrow.
You have accepted an offer and are now very close to the end of your selling journey. When we open escrow there will be flurry of activity until all the inspections are done and contingencies agreed upon in the contract/purchase agreement are released and appraisal is done. At this time there may be a need for repairs or negotiation of repairs.
There will be a number of dates and obligations to pay attention to. To keep everything running smoothly and deadlines met on time I will provide a timeline map so that everything is easy to understand and easy to track. I will also stay in close contact so that you are well informed along the way.
You’ve reached the last step in the seller’s process. When you close on a home you are selling, you are legally transferring ownership of the property to the new buyer. You will meet with the escrow company closing the transaction to sign the final paperwork and go over any issues that have not yet been taken care of. During this time, you can also make plans to handle final details such as canceling or transferring utilities, cable, and lawn or trash services, ensuring the new owner has instructions for all appliances and passwords for systems that will remain in the home.
The transaction is complete but because I see my role in this as relational as opposed to transactional you can count on me to be available to you long after the transaction is closed. I am always here for you to answer any questions about this house or any you may consider in the future for yourself or for your family. That is part of what it means to be your “forever agent”.
Now celebrate. You deserve it!
Once you have sold your home, you’re free to take the next step on your journey. Whether this is relocating to a new city, moving into a larger home, or downsizing and enjoying your life as empty-nesters, knowing all your selling responsibilities have been taken care of will help you achieve peace of mind for your new path.
Prior to entering real estate, she worked as an award winning graphic designer and is happy to bring her creativity and deep knowledge of marketing to her real estate business. It is that out-of-the-box thinking that gets buyer’s offers accepted in a competitive situation, and it is marketing that attracts more buyers, brings more offers and potentially drives up the price of a home! Contact Kathy today to discuss all your real estate needs!
