SELLING YOUR HOME
STARTING OFF RIGHT: BEFORE YOU SELL
CHOOSE A LISTING AGENT
Your listing agent will represent you and will be responsible for looking out for your best interests. Interview potential agents before hiring one. Together you’ll negotiate the terms of your listing agreement, including the length of time the home will be listed.
FIND OUT YOUR HOME’S WORTH
Price your home in line with sold homes identified in a comparative market analysis report. Consider whether your market is hot, cold or neutral, and price according to the market temperature. And most importantly: don’t overprice your home.
GETTING READY TO SELL: STAGING YOUR HOME
Make sure your home is staged appropriately! Staging your home is the key to helping potenital buyers envision themselves making your space their future home. Prepare your home by cleaning and decluttering. Hire a professional to stage your home, or ask your real estate agent for tips on staging.
Here are some additional tips to keep in mind:
- Make repairs before selling. (No one wants to buy a home that's falling apart.)
- Protect your privacy while your home is on the market.
- If you've got pets, we suggest making alternate plans for your pets during the selling process– or at the very least, for showings.
SELLING AND SHOWING: QUICK TIPS
MARKETING YOUR HOME
Together with your agent, identify the unique selling points of your home. They should be able to help you come up with a list of “keywords” that will help sell your home.
Review your your agent’s marketing campaign to see if it aligns with your expectations. If not, do some research on advertising yourself! Look up the top marketing tips for selling your home. New ideas are always surfacing and it’s important to stay with what’s current!
Confirm that your listing is posted online. Your agent should help you saturate the internet with photographs and descriptions of your home. You can even tweak the wording of your listing to increase traffic and showings. Use language in your postings that reflect what you would look for if you were in the market for a home like yours.
Tech Tip: Hire a virtual tour company to take quality photographs and put a virtual tour of your home online.
SHOWING YOUR HOME
- Lockbox vs. appointments? You’ll get more showings if you let agents use a lockbox.
- Your home will show better if you sell in spring than sell in winter.
- Selling during the holidays will likely result in a lower sales price, regardless of what agents tell you.
- You’ve got only one chance — and sometimes only a few seconds — to make a good first impression.
- Prepare for an open house and use the approach sparingly.
- Ask for buyer feedback so you can adjust your price, condition, or marketing campaigns accordingly.
A GUIDE TO: OFFERS & NEGOTIATING
The market at the time you're selling will be a huge factor in what kind of offers you receive on your home. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Even if you receive what you feel is a lowball offer, negotiate by issuing a counter offer. Don’t ignore any offers. (And don't take them personally.) If you are priced competitively, don’t be afraid to make a full-price counter offer.
- If the market is in your favor and your home is priced right, prepare yourself for multiple offers.
Should you accept an offer if it is contingent on buying a home?
Consider making a counter offer contingent on buying a home only if market conditions warrant it. If not, your agent can ask to arrange a "kickout clause," or first right of refusal if the buyer’s offer is contingent on selling a home.
FINAL STEPS: CLOSING PREP
So the buyers have put in an offer you like, and you’re ready to sell. There are still some tasks yet to be completed before the sale is finalized.
Here’s a quick overview on the tasks you should expect as the seller. The more cooperative you are with the completion of these items, the sooner the sale will close.
APPRAISAL APPOINTMENT
- Clean the house the day before the appraiser arrives.
- If you receive a low appraisal, ask your agent about alternatives.
- You are not entitled to receive a copy of the appraisal.
- If the buyer decides to cancel the contract based on an appraisal, ask your agent or lawyer about your rights.
HOME INSPECTION
- Ask your agent to provide you with a home inspection checklist so you will know which items an inspector will want to see .
- Prepare even forgotten spaces, like the attic and basement, for inspection.
- Also prepare for a final walk-through inspection, which generally takes place the day before, or the morning of closing.
SELLER-REQUIRED INSPECTIONS
- If your contract calls for a roof certification, hire a reputable company to conduct the inspection.
- States that allow for termite or pest inspections make these reports public records.
- The fees for all inspection reports, even if seller-mandated, are negotiable.
- If your home was built before 1950, a sewer inspection might call for a new sewer line.
Choosing a community to raise your family is probably one of the most difficult decisions you can make. But with a good amount of research, you can do your best to choose an area that you and your family will love for years to come! Now that you’ve got an understanding of the buying process– take a look at things from the buyers’s side.