Trying to sell your home can be frustrating and confusing, but we can help!
We’ve outlined some steps that will help you with the process:
THE BEST TIME TO LIST YOUR HOME
You may be wondering when the best time is to list your home. Here are the benefits to each season:
FALL/WINTER
There is less competition during the fall/winter months because others wait until spring to list. Less competition + buyers = potential to make more money.
The buyers looking right now are serious buyers. Nobody likes to "just browse" in freezing weather.
Typically homes are beautifully decorated during the holiday season, capitalize on this by making your property warm and inviting.
The best buyers agents are still working and showing homes. A successful real estate professional does not take off during the holidays. They know their business is reliant on hard work year round.
Winter listers ultimately sold for prices 1.2% more than homes listed during any other season.
Start the new year off right by selling your old home and purchasing a new one!
SPRING/SUMMER
After a long winter, buyers often get the “moving bug” so there are more buyers looking for a new home.
Most homes sell and most people move during the spring/summer months.
.It’s easier to get your home ready to list in the spring & summer. Easier to open up the home & garage and move things out, clean things up, paint, etc.
Buyers with school aged children prefer not to move during the school year. Often they start looking for a new home in March/April for a closing in June/July.
You can boast your local parks, pools, gardens, tennis courts, festivals and other events that are popular during the warmer months.
Preparing Your Home to Sell
HERE ARE TIPS TO PREPARE YOUR HOUSE TO SELL
Declutter! This is the best piece of advice you will get when it comes to house staging. You will need to remove clutter from your house. Buyers want to see an open space where they can envision their own belongings. Some hints on decluttering include going room by room and removing items you don’t love or haven’t used in the past year. Get rid of what is essentially trash: junk mail, old newspapers and magazines, expired food and medicine, broken electronics and televisions, clothing you don’t wear or is beyond repair and old boxes/packaging. You might consider renting a storage unit while your house is on the market.
Keep your sinks clear and clean. This means no dishes, clean or dirty in or around the sink. This also means that your bathroom sinks should be clear of hair or toothpaste.
Clear and clean the counters. In the kitchen you should move appliances, jars and any other clutter into the cupboards, storage or waste bin. In the bathroom this means makeup, hair brushes, dirty soap dishes and anything else aside from perhaps a water glass. After you’ve cleared the counter tops clean them thoroughly including around the sink basins which often get a nasty dark grime around them. Also, bathroom decor plays an important role; you want to make the bathroom feel relaxing and welcoming.
Make appliances shine. Inside and out!. In the oven you will want to clean the interior walls and the grates. Outside of the oven you should clean the elements and trays. Remember to wipe fingerprints off appliances. In the fridge and freezer you should take the shelves out and clean them in addition to wiping down the fridge walls.
Keep it Clean all the time! House staging, unfortunately, means you will be cleaning regularly. On a daily basis you need to make sure your bathroom(s) are spotless. A buyer doesn’t want to see little hairs in the bathtub, grime on the shower walls or splashes under the toilet seat.
Toilet seat down. An open toilet just isn’t appealing. A buyer will likely look in the toilet anyhow but an open toilet isn’t what you want the buyer to see when they enter the room.
Kitchens and bathrooms sell houses. If you can see dirt, clean it up. If this means wiping/cleaning the insides and outsides of cupboards this is what you need to do.
Make your floors shine. Anywhere you have wood, tile or linoleum flooring you should clean almost daily. A steam mop which uses only water to clean is great for linoleum and hardwood floors. The power of steam is remarkable!
Clear the cobwebs. There are cobwebs in places you would never imagine. A quick once over with a long-handled broom is enough to clear them out.
Dusting. Everything from bookshelves to the top of the TV to knick-knacks and art.
Wallpaper = Lost Sales. If striping wallpaper and painting rooms in neutral colors is possible for you, do it! It will help your house sell quicker and will help it stage better.
Wash the windows. Dirty windows are easy to notice, especially if they’ve never been cleaned. One tip here is to use old newspapers to wipe down the windows because paper towel leaves streaks and newspapers do not. To clean screens, using the vacuum extension will work wonders! Dirty windows also reduce how much light gets into your house. You want to get the maximum amount of light into your house to create a bright, open space.
Power wash deck, patios, siding, etc.: Power washers are a wonderful tool. Power wash the deck, patio and wooden furniture and the wood will look like ne! Also power wash away dirt and weeds from in between the interlocking brick or concrete in a walkway as well as the driveway and sidewalk out front.
Clean out the garage. Garages aren’t expected to be perfect but organizing shelves, getting rid of cobwebs and giving the garage a good sweep will make it appear to be a usable space.
Steam Clean and Vacuum the floor. Before listing a home, all carpet should be steam-cleaned. Consider deep cleaning vinyl, tile, and wood floors too!
Your Animals. Don’t let your dog do its business in the yard for several reasons: First, the grass will die. Second, not all people like pets. Third, a buyer will NOT be happy stepping in a pile of “business”. Also, clean out cat litter boxes before showings. You may also want to consider removing your pets from the premises for showings. Some buyers will smell an animal and be immediately turned off regardless of your house staging efforts.
Air out the house. Getting some fresh air into your house is a simple and free way to freshen up the space.
Move Out (Some) Furniture Too much furniture or big furniture makes rooms look small. Take it to storage or somewhere to open rooms up!
Home Temperature. Adjust the programmable thermostat. The point of a programmable thermostat is to control the temperature in your house based on your schedule. House staging isn’t just a visual exercise, there is a comfort aspect to it as well.
Make it Bright! Use brighter light bulbs. Bright says clean!
De-personalize. Removal of family pictures and personal items will make it easier for a buyer to envision themselves living in the space.
Give Color. Put out a fruit basket or other accessories to brighten a room. Adding a splash of color to any room can be visually appealing.
Play some music. You can leave some low volume music playing. Just be sure it is not offensive. Easy listening, jazz or classical is usually a good choice.
Smells sell or kill the deal: Animal and other unpleasant odors turn buyers away. Bake cookies prior to showing your house- people really enjoy the smell of freshly baked goods. Or put plug-in air fresheners or plug-in wax melters around.
Stage outside, garages, driveways and shops. You can do house staging outside of your house as well. Tools on a workbench, flowers on a patio table and decluttering lawn ornaments will make the home look much nicer. Make your outdoor space look used even if it is not.
Maintain your lawn. Keep the lawn cut and the weeds-whacked. Continue to trim bushes and water the plants. Curb appeal is king!
Landscaping. Plant flowers and lay down mulch in flower gardens to keep the weeds at bay. Yellow flowers are known to be particularly appealing to buyers.
GATHER THIS INFORMATION FOR THE LISTING
These documents will be needed to list your home
Seller’s Property Disclosure
Copies of paid receipts for recent repairs, cleaning, and updates
Copies of permits for recent addition/remodels
Lead-based Paint Disclosure
Home Warranty information (if applicable)
Utility Information: Past (12) months of gas/electric/water bills
Current loan information and payoff amounts
Name and phone number for Homeowner’s Association contact & copies of covenants and restrictions
Copy of survey or plat, if available
Keys for front door entry, codes for security panel and garage keypad
Previous title policy
School information
Neighborhood information
House plans (if available)
Recent appraisal (if available)
Appliance or systems warranties
Additional liens against property
Write a letter telling why you loved or purchased this home
NEGOTIATING TERMS WITH BUYERS
Once you have an offer, it’s time to negotiate the offer. Keep these things in mind when negotiating:
There are three outcomes when a purchase contract is drafted by the buyer and presented to the seller:
You can accept the buyer’s terms as initially presented and agree to the contract.
You can counteroffer by modifying some or all of the terms.
You can reject the terms and start over or walk away.
The counteroffer is the most common scenario in a contract. Many buyers and sellers like the back-and-forth of counter offer negotiations.However, some people have a low threshold against prolonged counter offering. Once you have gone back and forth a few times you start bogging down the process. Both buyer and seller should develop a strategy for negotiating, before the contract is formally presented.
#1: BE QUICK ON THE UPTAKE: It is critical to respond to counter offers as soon as possible and to avoid making a counteroffer with any term that is not truly a deal breaker. Don’t keep buyers hanging. If you know that there is another offer coming in, be honest about it with all buyers.
#2: CUT IN THE MIDDLE MAN: Use your agent to do the communication. Deals have been broken when the seller speaks directly to the buyer and there are misunderstandings, hard-feelings in negotiation, etc. Agents are experienced and can make things clear for you.
#3: CONTINGENT OFFERS: Many buyers can not qualify to purchase a home unless they sell theirs first. Sometimes they will start looking even before their home is on the market. Before considering these type of offers, ask to see the buyer’s listing. Ask for comps in their area to make sure they are priced competitively. Ask to see the home to evaluate the condition. If you accept, know that if you have another offer the first buyers usually only have 72 hours to figure out a way to purchase your home (even without selling theirs) otherwise they lose it and you can sell to the next set of buyers. It should be noted though that you will have a lot less interest and fewer showings if you are listed under “contingent” instead of an “active” status.
#4: GIVE & TAKE: Remember you and the buyers both want to be winners. Don’t play hardball if you really want to sell your home unless you have an extremely unique property that is in high demand. Put yourself in their shoes and assume they are doing the same. Be flexible with terms like seller’s paid buyer’s closing costs, warranties, repairs, etc.
#5: CRUNCH THE NUMBERS: Before you finalize your decision about how much to accept, have your agent run your offer price and estimated seller paid concessions, taxes, commissions, title fees, etc. Also, if you're seriously debating between accepting two different prices and are having a hard time making the decision, look into the buyer’s financial offer closer; what type of loan are they getting? How much are they putting down? How quickly can their lender close? With a cash offer verify their proof of funds.
CONTRACT NEGOTIATION
It’s not just the PRICE that will be in negotiation. You will be negotiating other items as well...
Sales price
Earnest Deposit amount
Closing costs (buyers often ask the sellers to pay for part or all of their closing costs)
Warranty (buyers sometimes ask sellers to pay for the first years warranty)
Additional Items (sometimes buyers would like inclusions and exclusions to the contract)
Financing (for instance if buyers put in the offer that they are getting an FHA loan but you think your home will only go with conventional financing, you can request that).
Inspection timeline (default is 10 calendar days timeline to allow buyers to do their inspection, you can ask for less and they can ask for more).
Closing date (you can ask to close sooner or later)
Possession date (the possession date isn’t always on the closing day, sellers can ask to give possession a few days after closing to give more time to move)
OTHER: Once the inspection is complete more items may be negotiated. For instance, repairs needed that were found in the inspection report or the buyers may ask for a price reduction in lieu of the repairs.
PREPARING FOR THE INSPECTION
Remember your house isn’t sold until the closing is funded. Sometimes deals fall through during the inspection period. Buyers may be scared away by the findings during the inspection on your home so be as prepared as you can.
This checklist can help your house inspection go as well as showings:
❏ Make sure all interior and exterior light fixtures work. If a fixture bulb is out, the inspector has to note that the fixture does not operate correctly.
❏ Provide adequate access to the furnace, water heater, and electrical panel. The inspector needs to be able to remove the electrical panel cover.
❏ Install a new furnace filter. It will be looked at during the inspection and be considered as part of the overall condition of the furnace or heat pump.
❏ Ensure that all windows operate smoothly. If some are stuck or painted shut, the impression will be that many windows are inoperable.
❏ Replace all damaged window screens.
❏ Tighten all door knobs and tighten or repair all handrails. Also check to be sure that all interior door knobs latch securely.
❏ Clear the way to the attic access panel or pull down, especially in a closet. The inspector will need room for his ladder in order to inspect the attic and interior roof condition.
❏ Be sure that there is a minimum of one smoke detector per floor.
❏ Provide keys, or unlock, all sheds and outbuildings.
❏ Ensure your automatic garage doors operate correctly.
These items are meant to be easy fixes that can reduce the inspection list and affect the overall maintenance appearance of your home. The buyers will be in your home for about 2 hours during the inspection, so treat it like a showing and have the house spic and span. They have a lot of time to look through cabinets, closets and other areas you may have forgotten about.
Buyers will often ask you to repair or replace damaged/defective items found during the inspection. You can offer to give them a credit at closing instead of doing the list of repairs.
HELP US HELP YOU
We market your home all over the city and internet BUT you can help get the news out about your new listing by:
Tell all your friends, family, neighbors and co-workers that you are selling! They may know someone that is looking to move to your area.
Use your social media; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Linkedin, etc to share your listing link!
We can give you a stack of extra promotional flyers for your home that you can keep with you to hand out at the grocery store, gas station, etc. Wherever you might meet interested folks!
Good Luck Selling Your Home!
Your Lotus Key Homes Real Estate Team!
Loni: 816-699-7646 Tammy: 816-520-7391
Jacquetta: 816-739-8644 Janet: 816-982-3788
Bobbie: 816-739-1157 Kevin: 816-813-1602
