Before we dive in, would you prefer to listen to this article?
In today’s blog, we have broken the home selling process down into 7 steps. There are many more steps that go into selling a home, but many of those steps are behind the scenes tasks that we do as Realtors and our clients aren’t bothered with.
The majority of the responsibility for a home seller behind hiring a quality real estate agent is making sure your home is presentable for photos and whenever there is a showing. Even having clutter laying around during a showing can effect it’s value. What someone is willing to pay for a home is often influenced by their initial impression of it!
Step 1: Meeting
- Listing Agreement
- This is a formality. It is a form provided by the NC Real Estate Commission that protects YOU! We walk you through this in as much detail as you would like and then we move onto the fun stuff!
- CMA
- CMA stands for “Comparative Market Analysis.” We perform a CMA to determine a close approximation of to the market value of your home based on other similar homes near yours that have sold recently. From this we establish a price range. The low end of the range being a home similar to yours that is in need of updating and the top of the range being a home similar to yours that has recently been updated.
- Staging and Repair Consultation
- Here we take a look at your home and advise you as to what your home needs to sell for top dollar. Our goal is for every $1 you spend on minor updates, you get an extra $5 when your home sells. You would be surprised how clean landscaping and a fresh coat of paint can help a home sell more quickly and for a higher price. Click here to read our blog about “Simple changes that can make your home pop!”
- Establish Price
- Once we determine the condition of your home relative to those found on our CMA, we will determine where your home sits on the range we provide you and then we set a price!
Step 2: Marketing Master Plan
This is where we plan how we are going to get your property maximum exposure. Because every property is unique, there is no one best way to do things. For this reason, we have many approaches to marketing from digital to physical, we adapt our marketing plan to your property. I recently graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with degree in Marketing. So, Highland is utilizing and innovating on the most relevant tactics that get homes the most exposure to potential buyers.
Step 3: HDR Photos and Interior/Exterior Drone Video
We provide HDR photography for all of our listings. HDR means “High Dynamic Range,” but for the sake of this blog, think of it extra high-quality pictures! For any listing over $200,000, we also provide a free video of the interior and exterior of your home with aerial drone videography! Click HERE to see a sample of our drone video!
Step 4: Sign, Lockbox and Pointers
This may seem like a no brainer, but it made the list anyway! We stick a ‘For Sale’ sign in your front yard, put a secure lockbox on your front or back door and we put pointers at every intersection or road that lads to your home!
Step 5: Showings
This is the part where you wait (Though, in the hot market we are in now there is no waiting if a home is priced fairly). While the home is listed and the property is avaliable for showings, your responsibility is to keep your home presentable and neat. This way at the drop of the hat, someone can see your home. We often require one day advance notice for showings to give you time to prepare, but it seems that with every listing there is someone who only has one day to view houses this week and they didn’t do any planning the day before. Their agent will give me a call and ask if there is anyway they can show it today. As inconvenient as that is, those people may be the ones who buy your home and if your home is a mess and you can’t get it together in time, even though they were lame for not scheduling, you could miss out on a potential buyer.
Step 6: Offers/Negotiation
Congratulations! You have an offer on your home. Unless there are multiple people attempting to purchase your home, which happens quite often these days, the offer will probably not be for your asking price. You have to decide if the offer will work for you or not. If it does, great! The home is under contract. If it doesn’t, no problem! We will send over a counter-offer. Then they can accept or send another counter offer. We are your consultants throughout this and we negotiate on your behalf. A big part of our job involves negotiation so we pride ourselves on being competent negotiators who focus on maintain a good relationship with the offerer while constantly trying to get our best for you.
Step 7: Closing
The final step! Probably 2-4 weeks have gone by since going under contract. In this time, the home buyer gets an inspection and appraisal to ensure that there are no problems with the house. Then, you arrive at an attorney’s office for closing! This is where the attorney transfers the deed to the buyers, you give them your keys and you receive your check! If you are downsizing, upsizing or moving somewhere new, closing day would also be the day where you would close on the property that you are buying. Stay tuned on a blog describing that process!
In Conclusion,
This is a condensed version of the home selling process. We made sure to hit the main strokes that cover the process that must take place to sell your home. The great thing is, we walk you through every step! You aren’t on your own on this. Our goal is to take the pressure off of your shoulders and put it on ours. If you are considering selling your home or if you have any questions at all, call me, Cyd, at (704) 819-2361.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed the article, please leave a reply below. Stay tuned for more articles like this one!
Sincerely,
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