Building Trust, One Business at a Time!
Selling your home shouldn’t be a stressful ordeal. Making the smart move of choosing a REALTOR® is your first step to ensuring that your investment in your home pays off. My services and experience allow you to focus on your move while I manage your home sale from our initial consultation to the closing deal, and beyond. I pride myself on repeat business and hope you’ll come to understand why.
In short, they’ll provide you with comprehensive, high-quality service. So when you decide to sell your home be sure to take advantage of the knowledge, experience, and professionalism of a REALTOR®.
Preparing your home so it’s more attractive to buyers
When presenting your home to prospective buyers, first impressions are crucial. Buyers begin judging your home the moment they see it and, unless they’re looking for a deal on a fixer-upper, they prefer homes that are well maintained, clean, and clutter-free. That’s why home improvements, particularly if they address the anticipated needs of buyers, can boost your home’s saleability and sale price.
Depending on your home’s condition, there are three kinds of improvements that will impress buyers and help you sell for top market value: renovations, upgrades and repairs, reorganization and maintenance. Along these lines, what follows are a few proven, cost-effective ideas that will help your home look its best so you get top market value.
Bear in mind, that an experienced REALTOR® knows what today’s discerning buyers are looking for and can provide more ideas that will maximize your home’s appeal. Sometimes a small investment in time and money can give you a big edge over your competition and generate a faster sale at a higher price.
Renovations – Which Ones Are Market-Smart?
Generally, few homeowners renovate their homes in order to sell them because they know they won’t recoup the full cost of the renovations in the sales price. However, in some cases minor renovations can really improve the overall impression of a property’s character and quality and, as such, will more than pay for themselves.
Here are a few “market-smart makeovers” you might consider:
When considering renovations in anticipation of selling, there are two important rules: don’t over-renovate, and be careful not to make renovations that please you personally, but which might turn off otherwise interested buyers. Both scenarios will cost you. An experienced REALTOR® will be able to counsel you on which renovations are likely to be good investments in terms of your overall plan.
It all starts with understating the current real estate market. I understand the current comps, market + land values, and adjustments that need to be made to price your home to get sold. At the same time, it’s my responsibility to give your property maximum exposure and sell for the highest possible price.
One recent study found that closing times are getting longer—on average it now takes 50 days. And while that may seem like an eternity to eager buyers or sellers, there’s good reason this doesn’t happen lickety-split. For one, buyers who require mortgages must finish the loan process and property appraisal.
First things first: You’ve got to get those repairs done. We get it—the last thing you want to do now is work on a house you are about to sell. But if you agree to make repairs or improvements, don’t put them off until the last minute.
Before your closing date—often 24 hours before—the buyers and the buyers’ agent will do one more walk-through of the house (for which you should not be present). They will go through every room of the house, inside and outside—a process that typically takes about a half hour. Some buyers will go into detail, testing every light switch. But in most cases, the buyer is just looking to make sure agreed-upon repairs were made and no new issues have crept up before closing.
“Buyers are basically looking for anything unexpected in the home,” Jarvis says. “Say, for example, there was a rug covering a problem area.” (Not that you would do that, you awesome seller, you.) If the buyers do find an issue, you may have a chance to fix the problem ahead of time.
If the problem is big enough, you may have to delay your closing date to give time for the repair. But that only happens occasionally. Often, the buyers will take a trade. Many times, the buyers ask for money instead.
Many closings go smoothly. By this point, the buyers are excited to get into their new house, agreed-on repairs have been made, and the sellers are ready to get out. If things are going smoothly, the closing for you might boil down to a blur of paperwork.
Unless problems creep up—or the buyer wants to negotiate further—you only have two jobs: waiting and reading documents. Some are worth pursuing more than others. For example, make sure you pay close attention to the settlement statement. There are other documents you’ll need to sign like a warranty deed and more.
And then comes the best part: You’ll get a check for the remainder, usually the same day or a couple of days after. Now, all that’s left is the fun part: Officially moving out and moving on!
