WHY HAVE US SELL YOUR HOME?

1 - Meet with a Real Estate Professional: There's no commitment required on your part for the initial meeting. It will be educational and help you identify your next steps. 

2 - Establish a Price: Your agent will provide a market analysis, which will help you set an asking price.

3 - Strategic Price: As difficult as it may be, it's important to review the market analysis and consider your home price objectively. 

4 - Prepare Your Home: View your home through the eyes of the buyer and ask yourself what you'd expect. Your agent will offer some useful suggestions. 

5 - List It For Sale: When everything is in place your agent will put your home on the open market. It's critical you make it as easy as possible for potential buyers to view your home. 

6 - Showings: Potential buyers may ask to see your home on short notice. It's best if you can accommodate these requests, you never want to miss a potential sale. 

7 - Offers and Negotiation: If everything goes well, a buyer and (most often the agent who represents them) will present your agent with an offer. 

8 - Choosing an Offer: Your agent will present the benefits and risks of each offer. You will have the opportunity to either accept or counter any offer based on its merits. 

​9 - Under Contract: At this point, you and the buyer have agreed to all of the terms of the offer and both parties have signed the agreements.

10 - Final Details: While under contract, the buyer will work with their mortgage provider to finalize the loan and perform other due diligence. 

11 - Inspection: The buyer will usually perform a physical inspection of the home. They may even ask you to make certain repairs. Your agent will explain all of your options regarding the inspection. 

12 - Closing: This is the transfer of funds and ownership. Depending on when the buyer moves into the home you will need to be all packed up and ready to move.

Selling a home in the U.S. is not only fraught with anxiety, but often culminates in unmet expectations.

In fact, close to one third of sellers said they felt unsatisfied with the selling process. Of first-time sellers, nearly 30 percent were unprepared for how long it took to sell their homes and said they wished they would have started the process sooner, according to the analysis.

Furthermore, 76 percent of sellers across the U.S. ended up making at least one concession, with lowering the price the most-cited compromise. And 36 percent said they either struggled to sell their homes within their desired price range – or time frame.

Much of the stress sellers feel stems from that nail-biting wait to get the right offer. Fueling this collective anxiety is, of course, more access to information.

And of course, it meant packing up. And selling the house. And doing all the things sellers do to ensure the house will sell quickly. It takes cleaning, painting, power washing landscaping, and deciding the price to put it on the market.

Timing is a big driver of anxiety. More than one third of sellers had difficulty timing the sale of their home with buying a new home.

“Don’t show my home unless I’m available.”

Real estate agents are busy. Therefore, if you want to maximize your home’s exposure, you’re gonna have to be flexible (i.e., as “hands off” as possible). I get it, though. You cringe at the thought of muddy shoes dragging across your beige carpet (or whatever else your concern may be). You naturally want to be present to keep an eye on things, but try to control that urge. Buyers get uncomfortable with sellers standing over them while they view a home — and that’s if you’re lucky enough to draw the buyer inside in the first place, considering all the hoops created by stipulating that other people’s schedules must align with yours.​

“But Zillow said…”

Stop listening to Zillow. Relying on Zillow to determine your home’s value is, at best, a crapshoot. Zillow itself even encourages buyers, sellers and homeowners to conduct other research such as “getting a comparative market analysis (CMA) from a real estate agent” and “getting an appraisal from a professional appraiser.” Sure, Zillow’s Zestimates® are quick, easy, and free… often it is not accurate The point? Just let a local real estate professional (who will actually see your home’s unique features in person) determine its fair market value.

“Oh, you sell real estate? You must make good money.”

Not really. According to NAR (National Association of REALTORS®), the median gross income of REALTORS® was $47,700 in 2013, and that’s before expenses like MLS fees, marketing, insurance and everything else. Also, keep in mind that commissions are split between the brokerages representing the buyer and seller. In other words, of that X% you paid your agent to sell your home, he or she saw only a tiny fraction of that.

“I’m planning to sell my home by owner. I just want to know how to do it.”

We all know that time is money, but so is knowledge. And especially Experience. It’s not always free, and it certainly can’t be passed from one brain to another through osmosis — especially not how to sell a home. So if you ask this question to an agent, don’t be offended if you don’t get the answer you were seeking. It’s not that agents want you to fail… it’s just that advising you how to sell a home isn’t easy. If you want to benefit from experience, be willing to pay for it (especially when it comes to real estate).