Steps to Sell a House
Whether youʼre upgrading, relocating, or just ready for a change in your surroundings, selling your house is a big decision with many moving parts. Fortunately, with the help of a real estate agent who is knowledgeable about your market and the steps to selling a house quickly, you can streamline the process and minimize the stress of selling. To get you started, here’s SetScheduleʼs guide for sellers, including tips for selling your home quickly and smoothly.
Choose a Listing Agent
Your listing agent will be your partner and advocate throughout the home selling process, advising you on the best month to sell a house and the steps to sell a house, and what to do in order to get your home sold. Besides offering you many valuable tips for selling your house, SetSchedule can help match you with a qualified local real estate agent who has experience with properties just like yours.Since your listing agent will be responsible for marketing and showing your home, as well as protecting your interests throughout the transaction, choosing an agent you can rely on is essential to your home sale.
Determine the Value of Your Home
In addition to tips on selling your house, your listing agent will prepare a comparative market analysis, or CMA for your home. A CMA includes information and selling prices for the comparable homes in your area. By looking at the comparable homes with similar size, condition, and features that have sold in the recent past, you can get an accurate portrait of your houseʼs market value – this is what a reasonable buyer would be willing to pay for it. One of the many tips to sell your house is to compare the market value of your home to the outstanding balance if you have a mortgage loan to determine whether you can afford to sell right now.
Prepare Your Home for Sale
One of the best tips for selling a house is embracing minimalism as you stage your home: Get rid of the extra knickknacks and clutter as well as anything personal in the home. That means packing away the family photos and kids’ artwork in favor of some more generic décor that allows visitors to envision themselves in your home. Also be sure to clear out as much as you can – you may have relied on the ability to cram the clutter into your closets before regular guests visit, but prospective buyers will want to explore the property’s closet space. Clutter and mess will make your home feel cramped and raise concerns about how much storage space you have available, so try to eliminate the “stuff” as much as possible.
Be Patient While Your Agent Markets and Shows Your Home
Your listing agent will be hard at work advertising your property through a variety of channels, be it online, print advertising, radio/tv, or word of mouth. Don’t be afraid to ask what strategy they think will work best. You may want to host an open house to invite more traffic and increase exposure. Your agent will also set up appointments for prospective buyers to tour your house while staying in communication with those buyers’ agents to answer their questions. While the waiting is often the most difficult part, having an agent that you trust will make this step easier. Ask your listing agent for as many tips to sell your home as possible so that you can make the most of this waiting time.
Consider Your Offers
Hooray – the offers have started coming in! Time to start reviewing the purchase offers that have been submitted and negotiate the sale price. Be sure to review the offers carefully, including how much of the closing expenses the buyer is offering to pay and any contingencies that are included. One of the many tips for selling your house is that you shouldn’t ignore lowball offers– submit a counteroffer instead and see if you can negotiate a price that’s fair for all parties. Remember that the additional time your home spends on the market is an added expense to you. On the other hand, resist the urge to immediately sign off on the offer with the highest price. Carefully review the contingencies and consider whether the buyer has been pre-qualified for a loan – if the buyer got too excited and promised to write a check that exceeds their available financing, they’ll have to back out before closing. One of the best tips on selling your house fast is to look for the offer with the fewest contingencies, which means fewer chances for the buyer to back out of the contract.
Have Your Home Appraised and Inspected
Tips to sell your house from different agents will show a difference of opinions on whether an appraisal or inspection should be done first, but ultimately, a buyer will have both an appraiser and inspector look carefully at your home to ensure the pricing is fair and that everything is in working order. An appraisal will tell the buyer what the home is worth, while the inspection will tell them the condition of the home. The buyer will take the information from the two professionals together and make a final decision about what price they will pay for the home, and whether additional repairs are needed before moving forward.
Negotiate Repair Requests
The buyer may request certain repairs be made before they agree to buy the home. If you’re in a hurry to get out of your old property, one of the most recommended tips for selling your home is offering a lower sale price so that the buyers can afford to do the repairs themselves. If the buyer instead presents you with a laundry list of repairs they expect to be made before they buy the house, see if they’ll agree to a more reasonable list – typically, sellers aren’t expected to make cosmetic repairs, so offer to pay for any big fixes, like the broken water heater or any structural damage, but pass on the ones that are appearance-based.. Again, keep in mind that delaying the closing will cost you money, so weigh the benefits of moving forward quickly, even if it means lowering the price to save you the delay of repairs. Remember these tips on selling your home to save yourself time and money.
Closing
Closing day! It’s time to complete the required documentation to officially transfer ownership of the home to the buyer. Your real estate agent can help you assemble all the information that you’ll need to complete the documents. They’ll walk you through the process, making sure you’ve got the home up to the agreed upon specifications. Gather together the deed to your home, if the home is paid off; your driver’s license or other photo identification; the keys and security codes for the house as well as remotes for garage doors, if applicable. Also bring receipts for any agreed-upon repairs; and the warranties and instruction manuals for heating, cooling, and plumbing systems plus any appliances that stay with the house. Typically, you’ll negotiate a closing period so that you have time to move out of the home before the new owner officially moves in. On the day you move out, do a final walkthrough of your house, checking all drawers and closets to make sure you haven’t left any items behind.
Connect with a SetSchedule Real Estate Pro For Free Information
Selling your home can be grueling, but having a real estate agent to rely on can alleviate some of the stress. If you’re looking for great tips for selling a house, SetSchedule will connect you to a local agent who can partner with you through the home selling process.