Selling your home to start the next chapter of your life is a big decision. And there are dozens of small decisions to make in the process:
- Should you repaint before listing your house on the market?
- What should your asking price be?
- Should you have an open house?
As listing agents, our job is to give you all the information you need to make smart decisions that will lead to a faster sale and a higher sales price.
Let’s take a closer look at the home selling process and what you should be able to expect from your listing agent.
Overview of the Home Selling Process
Here are the five steps to successfully selling your house.
Step 1: Prepping Your House for the Market
Even if your home is in excellent condition, most sellers decide to make a few quick improvements before listing their home. The goal is to make your house neutral enough to appeal to a wide range of buyers while simultaneously remaining memorable.
Some of the most common ways to prepare your home for the market include:
- Removing family pictures and personal memorabilia. Buyers will be able to picture themselves living in the home more easily if they’re not reminded at every turn that the home currently belongs to someone else.
- Removing all the clutter. Having too many items in a house can make the house feel smaller. By getting rid of the clutter, the house feels larger and more open.
- Organizing the closets and cabinets. We want to show buyers that there is more than enough storage space.
- Deep cleaning. A clean home feels more inviting.
- Making minor repairs. Little things like broken hinges and burnt-out lightbulbs make buyers question the condition of larger home systems like electrical and plumbing. Fixing these minor issues will assure buyers that the home has been well-maintained.
It might also make sense to complete bigger home maintenance tasks like repainting, landscaping, or replacing outdated fixtures as well. In most markets, these upgrades bring faster sales and higher prices that make the extra effort well worth it!
Step 2: Listing Your House for Sale
Once your house is ready to present to buyers, we can take the listing photos, set an asking price, and officially list your house for sale.
Setting the Asking Price
Setting an appropriate asking price is critical. If your price is too low, you risk leaving money on the table. If your price is too high, buyers won’t take your listing seriously.
Many sellers believe that should list at an above-average price to leave room for negotiations. But this strategy almost always backfires. First, pricing too high could mean your listing gets filtered out of online searches for buyers looking in a certain price range. And when buyers’ agents see an overpriced listing, they often dismiss the listing, thinking the sellers aren’t really motivated to sell. You might think you can just lower the price after a few weeks, but by then, the novelty of your new listing will have worn off, and (even worse), buyers and their agents may think there is something wrong with the house.
Listing Your House on the Market
Listing your house on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) notifies buyers that your house is officially for sale. In most markets, only licensed real estate agents can list homes on the MLS. This is one of the main reasons to hire a real estate agent: agents help you reach a wide range of potential buyers that you just can’t reach when you try to sell on your own.
Study after study confirms that hiring a real estate agent to sell your house is better than attempting to sell on your own. Yes, you’ll have to pay real estate fees of 5-6% of the sale price, but homes listed by agents nearly always sell for enough to more-than-cover the real estate fees. By hiring an agent, you’ll save yourself a ton of time and frustration, and you’ll likely walk away with more money in your market than if you had tried the for-sale-by-owner route.
Step 3: Promoting Your Listing
Finding a qualified buyer typically requires a lot more than simply listing your home on the MLS. Good listing agents actively market your listing to their own network of buyers, as well as to their colleagues, who can notify their buyers of your listing.
Agents also promote your listing through marketing channels like social media, house-hunting websites, mailers, brochures, flyers, email blasts, and local publications.
Step 4: Reviewing Offers and Accepting the Right One
As offers come in, you have the option to 1) accept, 2) reject, or 3) counter offer.
In a hot market, you might get multiple offers within the first week. In a cool market, it could take more than a month to get a single offer. Deciding to accept, reject, or counter is largely about market conditions. The plan is to get you the best price and the best terms that market conditions will allow.
Step 5: Working Through the Contract Period
Once you have an accepted offer, your house is officially under contract! The contract period typically lasts between 30 and 60 days, which is long enough for the buyers to complete their due diligence, which includes:
- Having the property inspected and appraised,
- Confirming that the property title is clear (meaning that you are legally allowed to sell the property and no one else has any claim to it), and
- Securing mortgage financing.
In most cases, sellers don’t need to do much during this time. We’ll just need to make the property available to the buyers and their representatives as needed. And you may need to make repairs if any issues are uncovered by the home inspection. Repairs can typically be negotiated, but some home loans (particularly government-backed loans like VA, FHA, and USDA) require that certain important repairs are completed before closing.
That’s it! With five simple steps, you can sell your home and move forward with the next chapter of your life.
Why You Need a Real Estate Agent on Your Side
Did you know that around 93% of sellers use a real estate agent to sell their homes?
Hiring an agent results in faster sales and higher sales prices. And it saves you untold time, energy, frustration, money, and liability.
Here are just a few of the ways a real estate agent can make your life easier when selling your home:
- You get professional guidance on the value of your home and the appropriate listing price.
- A real estate agent can walk through your property to advise on quick enhancements that can help you maximize your sale price.
- An agent is your key to getting your listing on the MLS and reaching a wide range of potential buyers.
- The best agents create custom marketing plans for each unique home. We’ll discuss some specific methods of marketing we use for our sellers in the next section.
- You can get logistical guidance on your next move. If you’re buying a new home, your agent can help with that process and help coordinate the transition.
- Your agent will professionally analyze and present all offers for your consideration. Agents can also advise on when to counter, and they can negotiate on your behalf.
- An agent can coordinate with the buyer’s agent and other industry professionals to keep your deal on track through the contract period.
Services We Provide to Our Sellers
We pride ourselves on offering exemplary service to our clients.
Here’s what we can offer you as a home seller:
- A complimentary Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) to show you the market value of your property, as well as strategic pricing recommendations based on market data.
- Personalized recommendations for helping your home show its best, including:
- How to highlight desirable features
- Ways to minimize the impact of any potential negatives
- Options for maximizing the sales price
- A Custom Marketing Plan, complete with:
- Listing photos
- Social media promotion
- Email marketing campaigns
- Signage
- “Just listed” eFlyers
- A slideshow property tour
- Online promotion
- Print advertising
- Area real estate agent notifications
- Online syndication
- An open house (to area brokers and/or the general public, depending on market conditions and your personal preferences)
- Expert analysis of all incoming offers. Every offer will be presented to you with our professional recommendations. We will negotiate aggressively on your behalf to get you the best possible terms.
- Full-service transaction coordination. We will work with escrow officers, title reps, the buyer’s agent, inspectors, and appraisers to keep your deal on track and ensure a smooth closing.
Do You Have Questions About the Selling Process?
We love helping sellers get the best price and best terms for their homes! And We’re always happy to answer your questions about the selling process. Please contact us any time we can be of service.
