The
Home-Selling Process
The
time frame involved with selling your house will vary depending on
a variety of factors. In many neighborhoods, the marketing time for
properties has increased over the past year or two, but most houses
can still be sold in a reasonable period of time if they are priced
right. After calculating a time frame for marketing the property,
you should allow an additional two months to get the house from sales
contract to settlement. Some buyers may be able to buy more quickly,
but you have to prepare for the average buyer’s schedule.
Pricing
the property correctly is the most important step you can take in
selling your property. We will provide you with a Comparative Market
Analysis to give you an idea of what similar properties in the neighborhood
have sold for. We will also use this to show you what your competition
in your neighborhood is doing by looking at active listings, and will
show you which listings didn’t sell, so you know what listing
prices are too high. Being overpriced is the most common reason why
a house will not sell during the listing term. While some agents will
tell you anything you want to hear, just to get your business, and
then try to talk you into lowering the price after you are locked
in, we promise a fair and honest evaluation right from the very beginning.
Once
your house is on the market, you should be prepared to show the house
at all times. While most real estate agents do try to plan their appointments
ahead of time, many buyers will decide they want to see a particular
house on the spur of the moment, for any number of reasons. Being
able to make the house available for a showing quickly will get more
buyers through your house, which will mean more competition, resulting
in higher bids.
When
offers come in on your property, we will help you evaluate them, so
you can decide which offers provide you with the greatest overall
advantages. We will provide you with a seller’s net to show you
how much you will actually get in your pocket after everything is
paid off. You should take into consideration not only the sale price,
but also what additional items a buyer is asking you to pay and any
work they might be requiring you to do on the house.
Within
a week after the sales contract is ratified, the buyer will probably
want to have a home inspection on the property. In some circumstances,
there may be additional inspections as well. There will also be an
appraisal done of the house, which is normally required by the buyer’s
lender.
