When selling a home the utmost care must be taken to ensure you do not leave money on the table. Your Realtor should start out by offering you a free Comparative Market Analysis on your home. This takes into account all “similar” homes sold in your vicinity over the last 6-12 months, and then comparing features in order to arrive at a fair market value.
We then cover any repairs that might have to be made and what value that may bring to your home. I then go over all the things I will be responsible for in selling your home. This involves getting your preferred showing schedule, a time pictures can be taken, and ideas your Realtor® have for extra exposure to the public.
Your steps as a seller involve the following:
1. providing accurate info. In any relationship business or personal trust and honesty are key. This step involves not only getting the material construction items in the listing but also notification of things like flooding, storm damage, electrical or plumbing problems if they exist. Also good things, like upgrades you might have made and landscaping you may have done. Alabama is a “buyer beware” state, but being honest about home issues that are tangible is always best. That saves on surprises before closing, and makes sure you get over the finish line.
2. Photo Shoot. Whether done by your Realtor® or by a professional photographer, getting prepared is essential to good photos. It is not too big a deal if the house is vacant, but if you still occupy the home then it certainly is crucial. We will go over things like staging of furniture, cleanliness of the home, de-cluttering, and general condition of the home. After the photos are taken, you should go over them together and see if you feel like anything needs to be re-taken.
3. Listing Description. Writing a good copy that the public sees is very important. People no longer just call up an agent and go see a house. They start looking on line, and they read the description and look at the pictures to even determine if they want to go see it. Having the right key words and catch phrases in the copy is paramount to getting readers excited to see your property. While on this topic, once they have decided to see your home, curb appeal is important. A fresh mowing of the yard and trimming of the hedges is important. I have seen buyers excited about a house and pull up to a garbage yard and not even go in, so keep the yard up while it is for sale to ensure the best chance for a good showing.
4. Showing times. Showing times are generally set up in advance by you. Maybe only showings while you are at work, or in the evenings, or weekends only. All of these options will be covered with what works best for you. Sometimes the buyer looking for your home only has certain times they can see the property. All of these are important. The family is typically gone while a showing is taking place. Pets should be put up in a safe area. (Garage, bedroom, backyard, or crate) so there is no interference from the animal during the showing.
5. Offers and Negotiating. When offers come in it is my job to inform you as soon as I receive them. You can set up a couple days a week to go over all those you may have received, but I have to inform you immediately. Each offer will be accompanied by a net sheet showing you what the buyer has asked you to do in the offer. This way you know the bottom line to you. This period is crucial to ensure you do not leave money on the table.
6. Inspections and appraisals. As you may remember from when you bought your home inspections and appraisals take a little time. Also it is an opportunity for the buyer to ensure they still want the house after seeing the reports. The appraisal is the buyers last safety net, so we must be reasonably sure the house is negotiated to a price we believe the house will truly receive from the appraiser to avoid last minute re-negotiations. This way it is smooth sailing after the inspection. Title search will also be done at this time so it is important to ensure we know about all liens on the house so there are no surprises just before closing.
5. Closing. You will receive a Closing Disclosure (CD) from the attorney which we will have 72 hours to review and sign. I will sit down with you to ensure that all items in the contract are accounted for in the CD. Attorneys and title companies are human and can make errors unintentionally. Once accepted on both sides a closing date will be set. If the closing is in the morning than have your insurance and utilities scheduled for cut off at 5PM that afternoon. This gives the new owners a chance to just have it transferred into their name rather then having to reconnect a disconnected service. Their Insurance will take over the day we close so you can set yours to expire at midnight on the day of closing.