10 Steps to Selling Your Home Quickly
for Top Dollar
Selling a home can be confusing and costly if you're not well informed.
To make the process seem simple, please review our 10 Steps to Selling a Home.
Before you Begin
Step 1: Determine Why You're Selling
Step 2: Read the Market
Step 3: Stage Your Home
Step 4: Price It Right
Step 5: Choose a Powerful Marketing Plan of Action
Step 6: Learn How to Show Your Home
Step 7: Negotiate Like a Pro
Step 8: Complete Inspections and Repairs
Step 9: Open Escrow and Start Packing
Step 10: Live Happily Ever After
Sellers, Before You Begin
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Get the Internet Breed of Realtor |
Real Estate has changed dramatically in the last decade. It used to be the primary value to a Realtor is that they knew what homes were for sale in their listing book. Now, you can find every home that is for sale online, and there is no longer a book.
Realtors from a bygone era were salesmen first, looking for relationships and "doing lunch," typically with a high school diploma and a minimal understanding of the legal requirements of a sale. The contract back then was one page long.
Now, successful Realtors have to be able to explain the legal requirements in detail, use the Internet to market properties, and provide a much broader range of problem solving. The contract goes on for 8 pages, then there are required addenda and disclosures. Do something wrong, and the litigation last for years and costs thousands. To meet this level of understanding, Laurie has a Masters Degree from Harvard and an MBA. Tim is a Juris Doctor, licensed as an attorney.
The Internet changed marketing forever. Now, 70% of buyers start looking on the Internet. That fancy add in the newspaper lets you see your home in print, but not much else. You have to have top quality Internet marketing. Ask any Realtor that you are considering if they are certified as an e-Pro, a CyberStar, and how many web pages they will use to market your home. It is nice to do the old fashioned marketing also, but the high tech marketing is what will get your home the exposure it needs.
It is great to have an experienced Realtor with decades in the business. But, would you go to a medical doctor who is still using the technology from two decades ago? Make sure your Realtor has kept up with the times.
Step 1 = Determine Why You’re Selling
The reason you are selling and what you need out of the transaction should be your starting point. In some situations, this one may be too obvious. If your job says you need to be in Dallas in two months, you may need to sell quickly. Perhaps your family needs have changed, and your current house is just too small or too big to manage.
Tell us why you are selling, how soon you need to sell, and what your motivation is. If you have a problem that needs to be solved, that is what we do. But, if we do not know about the problem, we cannot solve it. You would not go to a medical doctor and hide your symptoms, so do not hide the reason you are selling. All of your communication with our Team is kept confidential. Tell us everything so we know how to serve you best.
Next, sit back and visualize the end of the process, after you have moved. Imagine that everything went smoothly. Then, tell us what you were focusing on when you thought “it went well.” That information will tell us what is important to you about the sale. Some people need top dollar, no matter how inconvenient that is. Others want a quick sale. Still others want comfort for their family, and as few interruptions as possible to their family life. The selling experience can be tailored to reflect what you want, if you tell us what you visualized.
Step 2= Read the Market
Is it a seller’s market or a buyer’s market? How long is the average time on the market? Your selling strategy changes to adapt to the market.
If it is a seller’s market, you want to set up your sale to get quick offers, or better yet, multiple offers, for the highest price. The buyers will have a sense of urgency already, so they will need to make an offer quickly and respect your price. To justify a higher price, stage your home for special features that will get the buyer’s attention. Don’t put the home on the market until you are in top presentation form. Get your “ducks in a row” to be ready to react to offers.
If it is a buyer’s market, you want to get an offer, period. Make sure you have all the basics covered, so that your home will not be eliminated from a buyer’s list. With a limited number of opportunities, you do not want to miss any chance to sell.
There are three factors that govern what you have to sell: (1) the location, (2) the condition and any improvements, and (3) the price. You cannot change the location, but you can influence the improvements. You have total control over the price. So, go and look at your competition, similar houses on the market in your area. See what the buyers will see, and adjust your price to the market.
Step 3= Stage Your Home
There are two parts to a buyer’s decision to buy your home: economic and emotional. The economic part is “Is it a good investment?” The emotional question is “Does it feel like home?”
First impressions are critical. Before you put your home on the market, decorate to get a good emotional reaction. Make the front yard friendly and easily accessible. Plant flowers that give it color for a cheery feeling. Stand at your front door and imagine that the buyer’s Realtor if fumbling with the lock box, so that the buyers have to stare at everything around the door. Anything that would give the buyer the impression that your maintenance is not first rate should be fixed. When in doubt, paint the front door.
Get the clutter out of the rooms and closets, as you want to create an illusion that the rooms are larger than they are. If your decorating is extreme or if the colors are dark, neutralize the colors. The outrageously bright, geometric pattern wallpaper in the small powder room has to go. The green shag carpet that you have loved since the ‘70s will look better in the dumpster. When you neutralize, use “Realtor Beige” colors. To see “Realtor Beige” in real life, go to the model homes at a new home development. It goes with everything.
Make every room as open and bright as possible, as it makes the house look not only bigger, but “cheery.” If there is furniture that restricts a passage way, put it in the garage or storage. If you don’t, buyers will think your house is too small. Walk through the house like you are a buyer, and get Aunt Matilda’s trunk out of the way.
Staging a house is like a woman putting on make up. It is a series of little touches, artistically done, that result in a magnificent impression. While we are on the subject of women, it’s the women who make the emotional decision of which house to buy. So, appeal to the lady of the family. For more detail, ask for our free reports “How to Prepare and Show Your Home” and “When Selling a Home.” As a part of our service, our Team provides a staging expert to go though your home and make recommendations. She can make you thousands!
Step 4= Price it Right
Would you look at a home that costs way more than it is worth? Neither would your buyer. To get the buyer to decide that your home is among the ones to look at, price it well. Pricing is the most important part of marketing. You could have the home perfectly staged, but if no one looks at it, what is the use? Realtors use a pricing pyramid to show that the higher the price, the fewer people will look at your home.
When you first come on the market, your home is like the latest fashion. Buyers are excited to see it. Because of this time sensitive excitement, you will get your best showings during the first 4 to 5 weeks. If you are priced too high, no one (or only the rookies with poor clients) will see it. If you keep the price too high, the home will become “stale.” Realtors will start to talk about what is wrong with the house. In order to make it fresh, you have to change something. You cannot change the location of the home. You already have it staged right, so you have to change the price. In other words, you have to do what every retailer does with merchandise that does not move: put it on the sale table at a discount.
Price your home at a “worry price,” a price that will make the buyer worry that someone else will make an offer on it. This strategy will create a sense of urgency, which will cause you to get better quality offers quickly.
The most frequent statement by the seller of a home that did not sell is “Well, I figured if the buyers were interested, they could just make an offer.” So, if you want to be one of the homes that goes through one Realtor’s entire efforts, only to have the listing expire, so you can say this phrase to me when we come to re-list the house, feel free to go for a “fantasyland” price. The buyers will not see it, and the few that do will think you are not serious about selling, so they will not make an offer.
Step 5 = Choose a Powerful Marketing System
To sell your home, it takes more than putting a sign in your yard, submitting your home to the Multiple Listing Service, and hoping someone else sells it. Ask for a detailed plan that specifies what the marketing steps will be. If the plan seems vague or ineffective, your instincts are probably right. Selling a home is not done with “smoke and mirrors.” Selling a home involves a series of steps to create timely excitement and competition for your home. To see our marketing system, we will send it to you with no obligation. Just send an e-mail to laurie@southbayhometeam.com asking for it.
Step 6 = Learn How to Show Your Home
Just before a buyer arrives, open the blinds and turn on every light in the house to make it as bright as possible, even if it is noon on a sunny day. Since the first impression is critical, you want them to walk into a bright, happy house.
If you have any household odors, get rid of them. A smelly cat box will cost you a fortune. Spicy cooking odors stifle the buyer’s reaction. Use a cleaner, or if there is no time, light a scented candle or put a drop of vanilla on a hot surface (a light bulb will do).
If you have a music system, put on soft music. When in doubt, leave the music off, as the wrong music is worse than no music.
Leave the house when it is being shown. Buyers feel more comfortable if you are not there because they want to see your house, not make a social call. Buyers can take their time and see more of your home’s special features if you’re not waiting for them to leave. You may be tempted to tell the buyer about your home, but most people will take your statements as a “hard sell,” and it’s usually counter-productive. Also, if you are not there, the buyer can discuss your house openly. After all, you want the buyer to feel at home and to mentally arrange their furniture in your home.
Step 7 = Negotiate like a Pro & Make a Deal
When you get an offer, we’ll find out as much as possible about the buyer’s motivation. For example, if they need to move quickly, a quick closing will get you more money. We’ll find out what they want, so you can consider giving it to them in return for getting what you want.
Respond quickly, while the buyers are still “hot.” If you make them wait, their excitement wears off, and they may forget what they loved about your home.
If the offer is low, just realize that it is the buyer’s negotiating strategy, not a personal insult. Negotiations are like a waltz, and different people have different styles of waltz. It may be low, but at least someone said they liked your home well enough to want to buy it. Once buyers focus on your house by making an offer, they will usually stay focused until you work the offer up to reasonable terms.
The “Statute of Frauds” applies to a real estate sale. That’s lawyer talk for “if it is not written in the contract, it does not count.” Make sure you go over all of the provisions to know what you are selling so you will know whether the refrigerator, the draperies, the satellite dish, or the antique mirror are sold with the home. Go through the standard provisions of the contract to understand just what you have to do to complete the sale and what conditions might allow the buyer to terminate the sale. When the deal turns out to be just what you expected, you will be much happier.
Step 8 = Complete Inspections & Repairs
This round is the second part of negotiations. The buyer hires a professional inspector, who inspects much more than the items called for in the contract because the standards of practice of his profession require it. Rookie buyers agents then ask for everything in the inspection. Experienced buyers agents ask for the items that need to be in working order to be repaired. Keep in mind that the inspector has to find something to justify his existence, and the buyers agent has to ask for something to show the client that something of value comes from the service.
You do not have to repair anything, under the terms of the contract. You can say no. But, if you do not repair every item that is proper to have repaired, the buyer may terminate the contract. So, most sellers do the repairs or offer the buyer a reasonable amount to let the buyer do the repairs.
The repairs will be inspected by the buyer at a walk through just before the closing. So, save your receipts for the repairs to show what was done, and give the buyer a comfort level that if something happens to the repairs, the bills are available to go back to the person doing the repairs.
Step 9 = Open Escrow and Start Packing
Once the contract is agreed upon and signed by all parties, we will open escrow. Escrow holds your title to the property and other papers, as well as the buyers money and other papers. When everything is complete, the escrow officer gives your title to the buyer and the buyer's money to you, along with lots of other papers.
During escrow you will be asked to provide information and sign documents to complete your contract of sale. At this time you’ll start shopping for your new home, so you’ll want to read our buyer reports too. Coordinating the two escrows is like a well-conducted symphony. You need our Team’s full time closing manager to take care of the long list of items that have to be done on time.
You should be packed and out of the home by the time specified in the contract, so that the buyer can have possession on the day established in the contract. It is possible for the time of possession of the home to be different from the date of the closing, but you must have properly prepared documents to protect you.
Do not turn off the utilities before the closing, primarily because the buyer will be going through the property just before closing to see that it is still in good condition and that the repairs have been made. Because it costs you to have the utilities turned off and it costs the buyer to have them turned on, be gracious and don’t cancel them.
Leave the house clean. The impression of the house will be much better, and the buyers will feel they are being treated with respect. We cannot tell you how many times the closing has been difficult because the buyer felt insulted with the dirty condition of the property. The contract says “broom clean” which does not require the carpets to be shampooed, unless the contract says otherwise. All of your stuff has to be out of the house and the garbage removed. It is alright to leave some trash for the next pick up, but most trash haulers will only take the normal amount. One thing not to do: don’t try to paint the nail holes left from taking down the pictures. It looks like chicken pox. Ask us for our filler to fill the holes, and leave it at that. These nice gestures will pay off.
The escrow officer will notify us when all components of the escrow are satisfied. At that time escrow closes, and documentation, title, keys, and funds are distributed.
Step 10 = Live Happily Ever After
One of the happy things that happens after the close of escrow is that the bank that had the mortgage on the home you sold will send you the money from the escrow account. These are the funds the bank was holding to pay the property taxes and homeowners insurance. Be sure the address on all escrow documents is correct because they will usually send the money there.
Occasionally, problems happen after the close of escrow. If so, we will still be there to solve them.
You get our advice for the rest of our lives, so use the advantage of having free consultation with our Team. How often do you get free advice from a Team consisting of a veteran Realtor who is also a Lawyer, from a Harvard-educated business manager, and from a woman who's moved more times herself than she cares to admit? Do not be shy about calling us for advice. We feel honored by clients who still enjoy our counsel.