Lynn Johnson, Associate Broker
Direct: (505) 923-4664
Cell: (505) 350 5966
Information for Sellers
10 Questions Every Seller Should Ask Their RealtorTop 10 Questions Every Seller Should Ask Their REALTOR®!
Needs Analysis
It is important to set out in writing the reasons that are motivating you to sell your current home. You might ask yourself, "Why am I selling my home and what do I expect to accomplish?" If you have a growing family and you need more space you may be under less pressure to get your house ready to sell than if you were, let's say, moving to a new city due to a career opportunity. Explore your short and long term goals and decide how selling your house fits into those goals. Doing this will help you to establish a time management path for selling your home.
Pricing Strategy
Your next objective should be to determine the best possible selling price for your house. You will need to take into account the state of the local market, the condition of your home, and sales of comparable homes in your neighborhood. It is often hard to maintain an non-biased view of your property, so you will want to gather the necessary information in the most objective way possible. If you want a truly objective opinion about the price of your home you could have an appraisal done. This will need to be paid for up front, in cash, and may cost between three and five hundred dollars.
Property Preparation
It's time to get your house into "showing and selling" condition. Most of us don't keep our homes in the condition it would need to be in to sell. Over the years those boxes in the corner of the garage just seem to multiply on their own. Things have broken that we just never get around to fixing and some things have just worn out. We just accept the fact that they will always be this way. It is this frame of mind that you have to break out of in order to get your house ready to show. How your house looks will have an immense impact on how quickly it sells and whether or not you get full market value for it.
Marketing Strategy
Now that your house is ready, it's time to put it up for sale and market it. Establishing a marketing strategy is a must. You will have to decide how you want to get the word out there that your house is for sale. There are many different ways to advertise your property. A yard sign, flyers, and direct marketing are just a few of the many options you have. The path you choose will depend on the money you have to invest, which program will bring the most potential buyers, and your comfort and experience level with each of your options. If you are in a buyer's market you will have to be extra careful when choosing a plan. You don't want your house to sit with no one showing interest. The first 3-6 weeks should be the busiest. If you don't get any traffic within that time frame, you may want to reconsider your approach.
Receiving An Offer
Once a buyer decides they would like to buy your house, an offer will be presented. Review the written document taking care to note what needs to be done by both parties to execute the transaction. The contract should protect the best interests of all parties involved and should be comprehensive in nature. Once you accept the contract, it may be too late to make any changes.
Negotiation To Sell
Most offers to purchase your house will require some level of negotiating to come to a win-win agreement. It is critical that you be well versed on the legalities of the real estate contract used in your area. In addition to legal issues, you will need to understand contract basics, including what each contract clause means to you and your buyer, what you will net from the sale of your home, and what areas in the contract lend themselves easiest to negotiation.
Sale
Once you have accepted an offer to sell your house you will need to make a list of all the things you must do, and a list of all the things the buyer must do, in order to proceed successfully to closing. The property may need to be formally appraised, surveyed, inspected or repaired. Depending on the specifics reached during the negotiations, you may pay for all, some, or none of these items. If each procedure returns acceptable results as defined by the contract, then the sale may continue. If there are problems with the property the terms set forth in the contract will dictate your next step. Depending on the contract, you or the buyer may decide to walk away, open a new round of negotiations, or close.
Closing
Congratulations on the successful sale of your home. Hopefully, everything went smoothly and you will be vacating your house in the time frame that you had anticipated. You should make a list of all the items you will need to do to turn the property over to the new owners. You will need to do such things as make sure that all of the local services (i.e. electricity, gas, lawn care, cable, etc.) have been canceled or, if the new owner is going to retain some of the services, the name for the account should be changed. The property and anything assigned to the buyer according to the contract, should be prepared appropriately for the new owners.
Pre-Close Preparation
A few days before the closing you will want to contact whichever entity that is closing the transaction and make sure that all of the necessary forms and documents have been prepared and are going to be available to sign on the appropriate date. It would be a shame to get this close to selling and have the deal fall through because of a document not being at the right place at the right time. You should also begin to make arrangements for your upcoming move if you have not done so.
Post-Closing
Congratulations on the successful sale of your home. Hopefully, everything went smoothly and you will be vacating your house in the time frame that you had anticipated. You should make a list of all the items you will need to do to turn the property over to the new owners. You will need to do such things as make sure that all of the local services (i.e. electricity, gas, lawn care, cable, etc.) have been canceled or, if the new owner is going to retain some of the services, the name for the account should be changed. The property and anything assigned to the buyer according to the contract, should be prepared appropriately for the new owners.
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Keller Williams Realty® 6240 Riverside Plaza Ln., Suite 100 Albuquerque, NM 87120 Office: (505) 897-1100 Fax: (505) 923-4677 |
©Copyright 2007, Lynn Johnson. All rights reserved. MLS Content provided by Southwest MLS.
Design/Development: Vincent Thomé, MindSpace Limited Co.
Design/Development: Vincent Thomé, MindSpace Limited Co.