Putting your home on the market can be a stressful process, especially when you don’t know what to expect. Fortunately, with the help of an experienced agent and this easy to follow guide, you can smoothly complete the process. Following these steps will help you prepare so you can get organized and sell your home for the best price possible.
Step 1: Understand Why You’re Selling
What do you want to accomplish with the sale of your home? Do you want to make a certain amount of money that you can put toward a larger or nicer home? Do you need to sell it as soon as possible to facilitate a move to a new city or area? Once you understand your needs, you can better craft your offer. For example, if you need to sell quickly, you might want to price your home lower than if your goal is to make a certain profit margin. Make sure you convey these needs to your REALTOR® once you choose one so he or she can adjust your selling price accordingly.
Step 2: Determine Selling Price
Knowing how to price your home is one of the most important parts of the selling process. When you set a fair price in the beginning, you’ll get the most interest from other real estate agents and prospective buyers. Overpricing your home could lead to reduced interest, and underpricing leads to receiving less than what your home is worth. Working with a real estate agent is the best way to determine the right selling price for your home. An agent with experience can determine what other comparable homes are selling for, evaluate the current market, and may even suggest a home appraisal.
Step 3: Start Preparations
If you’ve kept your home in showroom condition since you’ve lived in it, you’re in the minority of homeowners. Once you price your home, it’s time to start getting it ready to be shown to potential buyers. This includes getting rid of clutter, depersonalizing the space so that buyers can envision themselves in the space, making any small repairs, and doing a deep clean to make sure your home is in pristine condition.
Step 4: Develop a Marketing Strategy
Together we will develop a marketing strategy that is perfect for advertising your home. This involves listing the home and then driving the right people to that listing through social media campaigns, agent-to-agent referrals, traditional media, or SEO advertising. I will create a marketing campaign that aims to get the most possible traffic to your listing in the first three weeks after becoming a client.
Step 5: Evaluate Offers
Receiving an offer is an exciting part of the process, but it doesn’t mean the journey is over. Together we will evaluate each offer and make sure the party making the offer is prequalified or pre-approved by a mortgage lender and that their offer is acceptable to you. If the offer is too low, you can make a counter-offer or offer other ways to bridge the gap. Once we deem the offer is acceptable, we will review the proposed contract to make sure it’s all in order. Once both parties have initialled every change and signed accordingly, you have an accepted offer.
Step 6: Condition Period
In today’s market, it’s likely the offer you accepted is conditional on financing or an inspection at minimum. Part of the negotiating process will include what conditions the buyer will have and how long they have to remove them. You’ll likely need to provide access to your home to a home inspector or bank appraiser during this condition period so that the buyer has everything they need to remove their conditions before the period is up. Not removing these conditions will result in the deal collapsing. If the buyer does remove conditions, move on to step 7.
Step 7: Get Ready to Close
At this point, your home will be marked as pending on the MLS. Between now and the closing date, you’ll want to start the process of moving out, cleaning, and any other requirements as per your contract. You’ll also want to make arrangements with your lawyer or legal representation.
Step 8: Close
Closing day marks the final step in selling your home. You’ll meet with your lawyer or legal representation a few days before the completion date to sign any necessary paperwork and finalize the sale. During the closing process, you’ll review and sign several documents, including any first time home buyer exemptions and moving of funds.
On the closing date itself, the lawyers will file all the paperwork with the land title office and ensure the funds are distributed. Once the title has registered, they will contact you with the good news.
On the possession date, the buyer will receive the keys to the home. Congratulations—you’ve successfully sold your home!
Congratulations!
Once you have sold your home, you’re free to take the next step on your journey. Whether this is relocating to a new city, moving into a larger home, or downsizing and enjoying your life as empty-nesters, knowing all your selling responsibilities have been taken care of will help you achieve peace of mind for your new path.