Selling Your Home

What steps should I take to prepare my home for sale?

Our goal is to get you as much money as possible for your home, so before doing anything we’d love for you to have us over for some advice. People often worry about whether they need to make large or expensive updates to a home before they sell it. Generally we only ask you to do what is necessary to sell the home. You won’t get your money back dollar for dollar on most home improvements. In a sellers’ market you can get away with fewer improvements than you would in a cooler market with plenty of inventory. The decision to make changes or preparations differs greatly from one individual to the next. Once we see your home we will gladly suggest what, if anything at all, needs to be changed.

Do I need to be in the area to sell my home?

Absolutely not! Selling a house from out of state or even country is completely feasible with one of our Realtors as your “man on the ground”. We’ve done it many times and can coordinate absolutely everything without you making a trip here in person.

How do Realtor fees work?

In our market, it is customary for the seller to sign a listing agreement outlining a percentage that will be paid to the Realtor listing their home for sale. In the same agreement, the amount that the Realtor agrees to pay a cooperating Realtor (the Realtor helping the buyer) is also shown. The “co-op” percentage is then advertised in the MLS and is often half of the amount of original commission that the seller has agreed to pay. Beware of Realtors who are paying out a significantly less amount of commission than what they are receiving. This is a newer trend we are seeing and it hurts your sale. It is not customary for a buyer to pay commission in our market
so if they are asked to, it may take significantly longer for you to find a buyer.

How will you market my home?

This is the fun part and where we like to shine! Where other Realtors just drop the sign in the yard and list your home in MLS, we like to go above and beyond (and even more beyond!). We hire a professional photographer for EVERY home we sell and we pay them from our
established marketing budget. We strategize to market your home based on where we think your buyer demographic is. We believe that an online presence is imperative and push our home heavily through social media and other resources. That doesn’t mean we don’t still stand by some old school tactics as well. Depending on the home and neighborhood, open houses can still be
valuable as well as mail pieces. In our experience, most buyers pinpoint a home online first, though, so it’s important to show your home in its best light there to get them to schedule a showing.

FAQ

Your home is often your single largest asset, and selling it is a big step! We compiled a list of questions that sellers often ask us in order to help take the unknown out of this decision. These
questions will likely lead to others, but rest assured— we are here to answer them all!

How much does it cost to sell a house?

It depends (we hate that answer, too). There are several factors to consider but once we have a rough idea of what your asking price will be, we can put together a fairly accurate calculation of closing costs and what your actual proceeds would be at closing. We’re always happy to run these numbers for you even if you’re on the fence about selling at all!

How much can I sell my home for?

In this market, you can sell for just about what it’s worth. We are still in a sellers’ market, and because of low inventory we’re seeing homes in the area sell for roughly 97% of asking price. Many of our listings do sell for full asking price and some for even more.

To determine what your home is worth, we use local data derived from similar homes sold in the past six months. We like to involve you in this process so that you can see exactly how this is calculated and feel comfortable in your asking price. We will never give you inflated numbers just to get your business.

Should I be present when buyers view my house?

Preferably not. This isn’t a hard and fast rule because we want to cater to your needs and make
you comfortable, but it’s generally considered uncomfortable for a buyer to tour a home with the
seller present.

How long will it take for my home to sell?

In most areas, not long at all. A well priced home in decent condition can often be snatched up on day 1. The data that we pull will give us a good idea on what to expect based on other area sales, but we often shorten this time drastically through our beefed up marketing efforts.cap of around $250). To date, we haven’t had anyone who didn’t think we were a great fit, though!

How long does a listing agreement last?

A listing agreement is a contract between the broker and seller and those terms are typically negotiable. In general, we ask for a 6 month agreement but almost always sell the home well before it comes close to expiring. We do not charge a termination fee, so if you sign a contract with us and simply change your mind, we only ask that you reimburse our marketing costs (at a
cap of around $250). To date, we haven’t had anyone who didn’t think we were a great fit, though!