So, you’re ready to sell your home and move on to somewhere new. The selling process is a complex and stressful one which you’ll need one of our real estate agents’ help with in order to ensure that you’re able to sell your home quickly and for maximum profit. In order to set yourself up for success, you’ll need to conduct extensive research and preparation, have a marketing strategy planned out, and the experience of a professional real estate agent to help you navigate the process to make it as smooth and painless as possible.
We at Inman Torres and Company value communication and want to help you know what you can expect from the selling process. You can request a consultation with one of our agents to determine if we’re right for you and learn exactly what steps you’ll need to take to get your house sold quickly and for a great offer. Here’s what you need to know about the selling process.
Find The Right Real Estate Agent
Although you can try to sell your home yourself, most real estate sales are done with the guidance of an agent, due to the fact that they’ll save you time and money, help you develop the best marketing strategy and the steps you need to take to prepare your home for listing, and negotiate offers to ensure you get the highest offer possible. In many cases, buyers will think that if you don’t have a real estate agent, they can make smaller offers. Hiring a real estate agent is the best move you can make for optimal results and a selling process with far less headaches.
You won’t want to go with whatever real estate agent pops up first in your Google searches, though. It’s important to vet multiple agents to determine their experience and conduct interviews to make sure that they are someone you can see yourself working with over the course of the next few months and that they’ll communicate well. Prior to signing any contracts, it’s always a good idea to have a lawyer look it over, especially since you’ll need their assistance during the closing process anyway.
Prepare Your Home To Sell
Deciding to sell a home isn’t as simple as making a listing and calling it good. Prior to listing your home, you’ll want to prepare your home in order to present it in the best possible light. This includes depersonalizing it to make it as neutral a space as possible, decluttering it, conducting a deep clean, having repairs done, and perhaps even hiring a staging company to refresh your home and make it as easy as possible for potential buyers to envision themselves living there.
Price Your Home Appropriately
A common mistake people make in the selling process is pricing their home too low or too high. Price it too high, and many buyers won’t even look at it. Price it too low, and buyers will assume there’s something wrong with it that you’re trying to hide. Figuring out the best asking price for your home is one of the hardest parts in the selling process. Inman Torres and Company real estate agents will prepare a comparative market analysis (CMA), which analyzes homes with features such as square footage and location that are similar to yours and what prices they are both listed for and sold for. This will help your agent assess the competition and determine the best price to list your home at.
List It
Before you can list your home, you’ll need to sign a listing agreement with your realtor. They’ll be able to help you complete all the necessary paperwork for putting your home on the market. You’ll want to make copies of anything you sign, such as warranties, service agreements, and deeds. Completing property disclosures and making listing documents readily available will ensure that potential buyers have the information they need in order to reach an educated decision about your property.
Market It
An aggressive marketing strategy is essential for your listing to reach as many potential buyers as possible and increase your chances of selling your house quickly for a large profit. Investing in professional photos, advertising in multiple ways from online to signs in your yard, and being flexible in regards to showings will attract more buyers to your home. Your real estate agent will be able to craft the best marketing strategy for you.
Set Up Showings And Follow Up
Many agents will advise homeowners to leave the property during showings, due to the fact that you have an emotional attachment to the place and likely won’t be best suited to selling buyers on how they could make it their own. Your agent will help you determine the best way to set up showings, be it by appointment or by lockbox access, which is best for if you do not currently live in the house. Make sure that you keep your home in optimal condition for any last-minute showings, and that you provide a way for those who do come through to give feedback so you can adjust your marketing strategy, pricing, and campaign accordingly.
Review Offers And Negotiate
If your home is properly prepared and priced appropriately, you’ll likely receive multiple offers. You may be tempted to ignore cash offers or offers that seem too low, but your real estate agent will be able to negotiate with counteroffers, and sometimes cash offers close faster than waiting for loans to get approved. Many buyers will ask for lower that your listing price to test how you will respond and how much room they have for negotiation. Your real estate agent knows how to work with all offers in order to obtain the highest possible one for you, to make you and the buyer happy.
You should also ask for a “kick-out clause” aka a right of refusal, if your buyer makes an offer that hinges on them being able to sell their own home first. Doing so will help you avoid difficult situations.
Begin The Title And Escrow Process
Once you and your buyer have reached an agreement, this starts the title and escrow process, which is where title reports are ordered, appraisals are scheduled, the property is inspected, and you wait for the closing and move-out dates. This process proves that you both own and are able to legally sell your property, and guarantees the deal with a purchase agreement and good faith money from the buyer.
Complete The Home Inspection
After you’ve come to an agreement with the buyer, they will hire a home inspector to look through your home for any necessary repairs and potential damages. Home inspections often include checking your HVAC system, the status of the roof, the condition of your floors, and other areas and components of your home.
Complete The Home Appraisal
One of the final steps of the selling process is your buyer’s mortgage company appraising your home to determine that it’s being sold at a fair price for the current market. If the price is found higher than your home’s value, you’ll need to renegotiate. If the home’s value is at or above the selling price, you are good to move on to the final step – closing.
Close Escrow
This is the final part of the selling process, when you and your buyer sign all the remaining paperwork and transfer ownership of the property. You’ll have to remove any of your remaining belongings removed from the property on the closing date, and the buyer will need to pay the remaining mortgage.
You can depend on the real estate agents at Inman Torres and Company to guide you through every step of the selling process. We’re happy to answer any questions and give recommendations.
