Like it or not, there will always come a time when you have to sell your home. Whether you want to scale down your lifestyle or relocate to another city, going through the selling process is essential to ensuring a good return.
After all, the purpose of selling your home is not just because you don’t want to live there anymore. You also need to get a good price on the property, which you can use to reinvest in a new home.
Still, the selling process is just as complex as shopping around for a new home. It involves so many steps that it’s easy to lose track of what’s happening throughout the transaction. On the other hand, everything becomes easier once you already know what to do.
On that note, you should be able to understand the essential parts of selling your home. Once you already know these parts, it will be smooth sailing from there.
1. Get a Good Realtor
The first step to starting the selling process is simply getting a professional realtor to help you out. For this, make sure you find a licensed listing agent. This agent is responsible for setting up your home for the multiple listing service and facilitating the transaction with interested buyers.
It’s important that you get the right person who can represent your best interests, so make sure to find qualified individuals or firms that can guarantee the best quality of service for your needs. You should be able to get a ton of resumes from separate listing agents and look for the credentials that stand out. One practical option is to get your current realtor to help you out with selling your property. If you already have a strong working relationship with your current agent, then you may not want to settle for anything less.
2. Evaluate Your Home
If you have owned your home for a very long time, you may need to have it re-evaluated to see how much it has grown in value. One thing’s for sure, you have likely made several improvements since you purchased it. Along with a healthy seller’s market, you will definitely get a good price at the end of the day.
Accuracy is important when you’re thinking of pricing your home, so have your realtor run market comparisons. This will help you arrive at a selling price that’s within the range of current market rates, allowing you to find buyers faster.
3. Announce an Open House
Once interested buyers are flooding in, it’s time to prep your home for an open house visit. For this, you will need to make your home as presentable as possible. Improvements such as a new coat of paint and a refurbished master bedroom are just some of the best ways to impress home buyers.
4. Understand Your Role in the Due Diligence
Marketing and improving your home is but a fraction of the work you’ll be doing to close a sale. The difficult part is due diligence. For this, the buyer will request a home inspection to find any issues that should figure in the final selling price.
For your part, you will need to open up an escrow with your transaction coordinator and conduct conveyancing works. Here, you will need to disclose any liens the property has. Once that’s out of the way, you can finally set yourself up for a final price negotiation with a buyer.