Selling Tips

Here are a few tips to help you through the home selling process.

1. Determine your need to sell.  Why are you selling?

     Look at:

• Pros and Cons of selling.
• Does your home fit your current/future needs?
• Costs involved in selling/moving/purchasing a new home/renting.
  This may include repairs on home, commissions to real estate agent, transfer taxes,  staging expenses, moving expenses, home inspections, any capital gains taxes.
• Equity in your current home. 

2. Once you have decided to sell:

• What repairs/updating needs to be done to prepare your home for market?
• What can  you afford to do or want to undertake?

3. Make a plan to sell, including:

• Working with a professional real estate agent.
• Determine how quickly you want to sell.
• How much do you want to net from the sale of your home.
• Determine the Fair Market Value of your home. Your agent will assist you with this and should provide you with a Comparative Market Analysis.
• Timing of the sale, Spring and Fall are generally higher turnover.
• Advertising and Marketing your home. Using a CENTURY 21 agent your home will be listed on over 300 online sites and I will utilize multiple marketing avenues including yard signs, photos, tours, public open  houses and more. 

3. Prepare your home for listing.

• Declutter and depersonalize your home. Decide what you want to keep and donate or trash everything else.  Remember, you will have to move everything you keep to your new home.
• Make any necessary repairs, paint, clean up and stage your home.  Suggestion: Look at your home as if you were a buyer.  What would you like to see?  Also, the less clutter, the easier it will be to prepare your home for those last minute showings. 

4. Schedule Open Houses and determine your availability for Showings.  The more times you make your home available, the more potential buyers will see it.

5. Purchase Agreements to Closing

• Review all Purchase offers and be prepared to make counter offers and negotiate.  Often helping with closing costs, or additional repairs may just "seal the deal". 
• Do you want to make the sale contingent on you buying another home, or are you willing to rent for a while?
• Once the purchase and sale agreement is signed, a buyer may have a home inspection contingency.  Be prepared for that inspection.  
• Set up a Closing Date.
• Hire a Real Estate Attorney who will order a title search, request mortgage payoff information, prepare and record documents, hold and disburse funds and prepare closing statements.
• Closing Day:  Usually the final walk through inspection is on the day of the closing.  You will need to have all of your personal items and those not transferred with the sale removed  and the property clean.  Attend the closing, sign all documents and keep copies for your tax reporting.

YOU DID IT!  Congratulations!