When you’re selling your home, you hope to get the largest return on your investment in the shortest amount of time. Since your home is most likely your largest asset, you don’t want to trust the sale to the whims of chance. Understanding the basics of the home selling process will put you on the road to a successful transaction.
👤 Find the Right Real Estate Agent
Before you do anything, you need to find a skilled real estate agent. Your agent is the go-to person throughout the entire sales process, so you’ll want to find someone who meets your needs and understands your expectations. To find the right real estate agent:
- Ask friends and family members for recommendations
- Contact and interview several real estate agents
- Check each agent’s credentials
- Research the agent’s listings over the past year
- Ask the agent for references, and check them thoroughly
- Look for an agent with experience selling your type of property
🏡 Staging Your Home for Buyers
Buyers want to picture themselves living in your home. This becomes difficult if the space is filled with your belongings and personal collections. Keep in mind that staging your home doesn’t have to cost a fortune, but it is an important part of the sales process.
- Move most of your belongings to a storage unit so the house isn’t cluttered
- Clean the house from top to bottom
- Remove personal collections, photos, and controversial items
- Arrange the furniture in your home so that there is plenty of open space
- Paint the walls a neutral tone and use pops of color in accent pieces
💵 Set the Right Asking Price
Your real estate agent can help you set the right asking price for your home by doing a Comparative Market Analysis for homes like yours. The analysis typically includes that original asking price for the home, how long the house was on the market, and the actual sale amount. This gives you a good starting point.
Most Comparative Market Analysis review homes in your area over the past 90 days. However, to see how the market is trending, you should look at comparative data over the past year. This way, you’ll know for sure if the housing marketing is on an upward or downward trend. If you’re currently in a hot real estate market — there are a lot of buyers competing for scarce inventory — you should price in line with other similar properties to attract several offers. If prices are currently in a downward trend, consider pricing your home three to five percent lower than competing properties to get ahead of the curve. This way, there’s a good chance your house will sell before the market dries up too much.
📝 Accepting an Offer
You need to look at each offer objectively, even those that are lower than what you expected. Remember, you have the option to respond with a counteroffer, instead of simply accepting or denying the offer in front of you. When you read through each offer, think about what’s most important to the individual buyer — price or terms. Then, if needed, send a counter offer that is more to your liking.
Once you’ve received an offer you’re willing to accept, there are a few things you should consider:
- Is the acceptance of the offer contingent on the sale of the buyer’s home? If so, you may need to ask for a lump sum payment up front in addition to the earnest money.
- If the contract is contingent on the buyer’s ability to obtain financing, does it include a time frame for this? Also, it should include a number of discount points and an interest rate that’s considered “acceptable” for the buyer.
- Does the contract allow the buyer to complete inspections before the purchase is finalized? It should, but it should also give a deadline for the inspections to be completed so the process doesn’t slow the sale.
🔎 What Happens After You Accept an Offer
After you accept an offer on your home, it’s time for the buyer to get a few things in order. The buyer needs to obtain financing, have inspections completed, and find homeowners insurance. While all this is happening, your real estate agent is preparing for your closing, which is typically set between 45 and 60 days after the offer is accepted.
📅 What to Expect on Closing Day
At the closing, your real estate agent, the buyer, the buyer’s real estate agent, the title company representative, a representative from the mortgage company, and a real estate lawyer are all typically present. You can expect to sign papers transferring ownership of your home over to the buyer. For the most part, the buyer does the signing though. At the closing, your main job is to listen and read. It’s a lot of paperwork, so make sure you pay close attention to the settlement documents and any other paperwork that details specific numbers. You need to make sure all the numbers add up properly.
Your real estate agent is the best source of information about the local community and real estate topics. Give Felipe Crook a call today at 213-268-6832 to learn more about local areas, discuss selling a house, or tour available homes for sale.