Three key steps to selling your home.
1. Paint, clean and repair. Make your home pretty as a picture so people can picture themselves living there. Put away the clutter and let the charm of your house shine through.
2. Get a professional inspection, preferably from a member of the American Society of Home Inspectors. If there are other reports available, collect those as well to boost buyers’ confidence and address potential issues before negotiations begin.
3. Choose a Realtor, interviewing at least three candidates to see who knows the area best and has the best plan to sell your home. As part of the interview, ask each for a written comparative market analysis that shows recent sale prices of comparable homes, the present listing price of comparable homes on the market, and a list of comparable homes whose listings have expired.
Ask the Realtors how long they’ve been in the area, if they have office assistants to help them with their workload, how many listings they have, if they have a vacation planned soon, what days do they take off, what are their fees, and if they can guarantee a sale in a 90-day listing period.
Common mistakes to avoid
Not understanding how long the process can take.
People often think a real estate transaction will take far less time than it actually does. There’s a myriad of things that can delay a deal, from financing problems to delay in home repairs, so always try to allow an extra two or three months to complete a deal.
Showing your hand.
Just as you wouldn’t show your hand in poker, neither should you in real estate negotiations. Don’t fall in love with a property, and if you do, never let the seller or their agent know.
Assuming the appraisal price of a home and its actual value are the same.
Different appraisers will give you different results, so it’s always good for sellers to have their Realtor do a comparative market analysis before putting their home on the market and for buyers to get one from their Realtors as well.
Not getting loan preapproval.
This should be one of the first steps for any serious buyer. Without a preapproval, your chances of getting a good home quickly can be severely diminished. Getting preapproved for a mortgage helps you determine how much you can safely borrow. And if there are problems with getting the preapproval, you’ll know sooner rather than later and can start working to correct them. As important as anything, a loan preapproval tells a seller you are a serious buyer.
Trying to time a purchase or sale.
You might just as well gamble your money away than try to time a purchase or sale when a so-called real estate bubble is going to burst. The bubble is still intact in most parts of the country and real estate bubbles don’t burst, anyway, but tend to slowly deflate and inflate as the market fluctuates. It’s important to realize that real estate is a long-term investment.
Losing touch with reality.
Follow your head and not your heart when it comes to buying a new home. You may have found your dream home, but be sure to consider what living there will mean in the long term. What kind of a commute will be needed? Are there good schools? What are the taxes? The amenities? Will we be happy here 10 years from now? 20 or more?
Hiring the wrong Realtor.
You might be doing a friend or family member a favor by hiring an agent they recommend. But you might be doing yourself a real disservice instead. And think twice and then some if the Realtor is a friend or family member. Don’t interview just one, but several Realtors, get references and follow up on them. Just because an agent works for a large company or is a top producer doesn’t necessarily make him or her the right agent to sell your home. Giving the highest listing price or charging the lowest commission doesn’t make the Realtor the right choice either. Remember the acronym SEED for finding an agent who is smart, experienced, empathetic, and dedicated, and chances are you’ll find a good fit.
Not understanding and knowing your contract.
Not making sure you fully understand a contract and have read it closely before signing can mean big problems. Make sure everything that should be included in the contract is there and that who pays for what is spelled out. If there are any verbal agreements, those need to be written down and included in the contract. Your Realtor should take an active role in developing and negotiating the contract as well.
Bad timing.
You can literally find yourself without a home if the timing of the sale of one home and the purchase of another is off, so be sure to carefully think through the timing and factors that might affect it. The sale of your present home is the most important component, so make sure that sale is taken care of first.
Foregoing a criminal search.
Without one, you might not know if an offender or criminal might be one of your new neighbors until it is too late. Agents aren’t always obligated to tell buyers, so be sure to ask your Realtor to supply this information. And do your own research as well, checking with local law enforcement to learn how to access criminal databases.
