This one is for you, sellers! Do you know what to expect when selling your home ? If not then hopefully this article will shine some light on the home selling process.
Let’s assume that you just went through a listing presentation and you just signed a listing agreement with an awesome agent, ready to sell your home, and as the agent is leaving your driveway you are probably wondering: “Now what ? What’s next ?”
Well, first thing on the list is: Clean-up your house. Clean-up your house and get it showing ready for future buyers. Take care of all those little details that you maybe put off fixing such as leaking faucets, light bulbs/switch replacements, squeaky doors, jammed garbage disposals, clogged drains, stuck windows and so on.
All these should be taken care of before your real estate agent comes back with the professional photographer to take photos/videos of your house because you only get ONE chance to make a great first impression, so you want to make sure that your house is in 100% showing condition.
Second on the list: You should expect a for sale sign to magically appear in your yard (where allowed by the community rules). Yard sign companies are really good at getting in and out in no time. The next morning when you wake up, there might be a For Sale sign in your yard already if your agent requested a rush on that sign. Whatever the circumstances are, you should expect a For Sale sign because according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), people still drive around neighborhoods they like and they still call For Sale signs. As a matter of fact, that is the number 3 in top ways buyers purchase a house even with the internet real estate search engines out there, people still call For Sale signs.
So in short, expect a for sale sign in your yard, plus all the other marketing strategies your agent has prepared for you to kick in. Expect to see your house on the internet (Zillow, Trulia, Facebook, YouTube); expect to get a post card and your neighbors to get a postcard of your house; expect to get a call, or your neighbors to get a call informing them about your house going for sale.
Third on the list: You should expect lot of phone calls and showings in the first 21 days. The reason why you should expect lots of phone calls and showings in the first 3 weeks is because the hot buyers in your neighborhood looking for properties just like yours are already looking! So when your property hits the market, they want to be the first ones to see it and that usually happens in the first 21 days (3 weeks).
Fourth thing on the list: Expect those buyers to try and negotiate in their favor. It’s human nature. Whenever you go and try to buy something you expect to get the lowest price possible. We all do! The same concept applies to selling. When you’re selling something you want to get the highest price possible, don’t you ? That’s how it is with both real estate buyers and sellers all over the country not just here in Florida. So, expect the buyers to negotiate the asking price, possibly closing costs, maybe even inspection periods and repairs. So expect that and also keep in mind that your agent should know how to negotiate that in your favor.
Fifth on our list: Expect a deal to be reached. Let’s be honest here for a second: You put your home on the market because you don’t have any plans that involve the current community/neighborhood that you’re in, right ? So you want to sell and move somewhere else, taking you and your family to that next chapter of your life. Well, the buyers want to purchase your house and start the next chapter of their life as well so if you’re both serious about reaching your life goals, this deal is just a small portion of it. Of course, there’s a lot of money involved but expect a deal to be reached with a buyer.
Sixth: Expect to take longer than you think to move out of the house. You might think you only need a couple of days to move out, that you’ll be fast or you don’t have a lot of stuff. We always have more stuff than we think and will most likely take longer to move than anticipated. My advice is that you should start moving out as soon as the buyer removes the contingencies on the contract or the buyer has a clear to close from the lender if financing is involved. Start getting rid of stuff you don’t need, start packing stuff as soon as possible because it will take you longer than expected to move out.
Seventh and last on our list: Expect the deal to close! A good real estate agent will be able to guide you through the entire selling process and make sure that everything is taken care of and ready to close. P.S. When you get that wire transfer or check at closing, don’t spend it all at once 🙂 Oh, and don’t forget to go here to change your address and forward your mail from the old address to the new one.
There you have it! 7 tips on home selling. I hope this information will help home sellers understand the selling process a little better.
If you have any more questions I will be more than happy to help…
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