Ready to Sell? What to Expect When Selling Your Home

Wondering what the steps are for selling your home? Hoping to get your home and yourself ready to sell in the months ahead? Here are some practical steps you can take to prepare yourself and your family for this big transition.

Step #1: Choose Your Listing Agent

Interview a few realtors and see who you get along with personally. Ask them how they plan to market your property, how and when they will communicate any updates on the home sale process and what fees they charge for their service, along with what's included in that service. Overall, choose a listing agent you feel comfortable working with and can trust.

Step #2: Find Your Home's Value (With the Help of Your Agent)

The realtor you choose should already have an idea of what your home is worth. However, to get a better picture of how to price your home in the current market, your realtor will visit your home in person and ask you questions about what kind of updates you've made to the property. They will also compare your home with other recent sales and similar homes in your area that are currently on the market. From this information, they should provide you with a comprehensive market analysis, even if you're not looking to sell at this time

Step #3: Prep Your Home

Now it's time to get your home ready for sale. Make any necessary repairs, declutter and store away any personal belongings. This is not to the time to do major renovations, especially if you plan to sell in the next few months. You may not get a return on the money you put into renovating the home as future buyers have different tastes and may want to make their own changes.

Instead, focus on simple aesthetic enhancements. Add a coat of paint to trim doors or walls. Mow the lawn and make sure the flower beds are landscaped in front. Clean the home and consider having it professionally staged. Focus on the overall appearance of the home for showings.

Step #4: Market Your Home (With the Help of Your Agent)

Identify and highlight the selling points of your home. Most likely, buyers will find those features important as well. If you have a survey or floor plan of the home, definitely share that with your agent so they can upload it along with pictures of the home as it will come in handy for prospective buyers.

Your realtor should get professional photography done and maybe even a 3D virtual tour, allowing interested buyers to really get a good feel of the home online before they visit. Your realtor will enter the property into the MLS which will send the property out to all real estate sites. Your realtor will also market the home through hosting open houses, sending out email blasts, mailers and posting about your home on social media as well.

Almost all buyers today find their home online so constant exposure on the internet is key. Sellers also should not hesitate to share their listing via social media with friends and family as well.

Step #5: Make Your Home Accessible for Showing

Although it may be inconvenient to have interested buyers see your home while you're still living in it, making your home available for showing is extremely important to find the right buyer. Ideally, you should be able to get an offer after a couple weekend open houses and just a few showings, but depending on the market and how you are priced, it may take longer.

Letting your agent put a lockbox on the front of your home allows other agents to show your home unaccompanied by the listing agent, which is what buyers prefer. It's important to be flexible. The more accommodating you are, the more potential buyers will see the property and the more likely you are to sell it. Make a plan with your realtor about the showing times that work best for you to get the home ready and be away from the home for a block of time, like during the day when you are at work and your kids are at school, weekend mornings and afternoons, etc.

Your realtor will also request some feedback on showings from the buyer's agent. If your home is not selling, this feedback can be very helpful, giving insight into what buyers are saying about your home and the kind of changes you may need to make. These changes can be anything from de-cluttering, better staging or adjusting the price. If feedback is negative, don't take it personally, just consider it constructive criticism. 

Step #6: Fill Out All Seller Disclosures

In preparation for buyer offers, fill out your property disclosures ahead of time. These disclosures should include any material facts or problems with the property that you as the seller are aware of. If your home is in an HOA, you need to fill out this disclosure as well.

Having these disclosures ready for serious buyers to look over and sign in conjunction with their offer will avoid a situation in which you go under contract, and the buyer later seeing the information in the disclosure may decide not to proceed with the purchase. Disclosing all the material facts about the property that the seller is aware of up front will ensure less hurdles to overcome in the escrow process. 

Step #7: Negotiate Offers (With the Help of Your Agent)

Once you receive an offer - or hopefully more than one - you can negotiate the terms and probably the sales price of the offer contract with the help of your realtor. Don't ignore any offers, even if you think they are too low. Instead, make a counteroffer and don't be afraid to counter at full price.

Step #8: Open Escrow

Once you have a valid, agreed upon purchase contract and both parties have signed, escrow is opened usually within 1-3 business days. Either the seller or buyer can choose the escrow company and it's something you negotiate about and settle in the purchase contract.

The buyer's deposit along with the signed purchase contract are sent to the escrow company who will immediately order the preliminary title report. The escrow officer then prepares a draft of the escrow instructions reflecting the terms of the purchase agreement - sales price, contingency terms, closing date, and who pays which fees - and both the buyer and seller sign these instructions, which is what the escrow officer will follow for the rest of the transaction.

Step #9: Prepare for the Home Inspection

Now it's time to prepare for the upcoming home inspection that the buyer will most likely order during the contingency period. Ask your agent to provide you with a home inspection checklist, which should give advanced notice on what the home inspector will be looking for to determine your home's physical condition. Prepare the attic for inspection, move stuff away from the walls in the garage and make sure there's a clear path for the inspector to get through.

After evaluating the home inspection report, buyers may request repairs, and your realtor can help negotiate this. It can be settled by giving some credit to the buyer, choosing to do the repairs by a certain time, or choosing not to do any repairs at all. Every contract is different.

Step #10: Prepare for the Appraisal

If your buyer is not paying all cash, an appraisal will be ordered shortly after the home inspection contingency has been cleared, usually by the buyer's home lender. Once you have a date scheduled for the appraiser, make sure the house is clean and orderly, and the house looks its best. Your realtor may come up with some comparable properties to share with the appraiser, but you won't have access to this appraisal report since it was ordered by the buyer's side. Hopefully your home appraises at the purchase price, but if it doesn't, there are options which your realtor can discuss with you.

Step #11: Close Escrow

Now you're finally to the best part! Once you have the inspection, appraisal contingencies and loan commitment cleared, you will receive the ALTA which is the closing statement. The ALTA will include the sales price as well as the itemized list of seller's credits and debits, including agent commissions, closing fees and other fees noted on the closing documents. Once the ALTA is reviewed and approved by both parties, escrow will schedule a day for closing when you will sign the necessary documents and when the net proceeds of the sale will be wired to your bank account.