Selling a home with reology
Whether this is the first time you are selling property, or have done it before, it’s always in your best interest to allow a professional to assist you. When you choose to list your property with Reology, our goal is to achieve the highest possible selling price within the time frame you have provided to us. To accomplish this, we will advertise your listing as widely as possible throughout the brokerage community using many different advertising techniques. Your property will be placed into the Multiple Listing Service, which allows your property to be seen by many realtors and home buyers. Most importantly, when you allow us to assist you, we make sure that your needs come before all else.
The Home Selling Process
Now you’re ready to sell your property. While you’re looking forward to seeing the word “SOLD” posted from the curb, there’s a lot to consider along the way. One of your first decisions is to select a real estate company and real estate agent who’ll join you in the process.
Step one:
Manage Your Showings
Step one:
Manage Your Showings
Step one:
Manage Your Showings
Once you’ve chosen one of our professional agents and have prepped your home for sale and set a price, you are officially ready for the public to see your beautiful home.
A showing of your home is typically done by your listing agent at a scheduled appointment with a prospective buyer or at an unschedule appointment, such as an open house.
Your agent will be able to give you tips on how to best prepare your home before your first showing so that it will be more competitive in the housing market. Your agent will ask you to prepare your home before the advertisement photos are done and before a showing. Keep the following tips in mind before your home is shown to a potential buyer:
- Clean in and around your home.
- Make home repairs as needed to insure best quality.
- Display your furniture to showcase your home’s best features.
- Declutter surfaces.
- Reorganize your closets and storage space.
- Eliminate any bad odors.
- Insure all light fixtures are working correctly.
- Groom your landscape.
- Pressure wash your decks, drive-ways and sidewalks.
Here are a few tips to help your home sell quicker:
- It’s important to not be around your home during a showing, buyers prefer to look at homes when they can move around freely and the owners aren’t there.
- Do your best to make your home as available as possible. We understand it may be difficult for your home to be available during certain times of the week, buyers who can’t see a property when they’re eager may cross it off their list.
- Listen to any feedback from both buyers and agents that may be able to make your home look more appealing.
Step Two:
Review Your Offers
Step Two:
Review Your Offers
Step Two:
Review Your Offers
Congratulations! You just received a message from your agent that you have an offer on your home. Now you and your agent will need to evaluate the offer and decide how to respond.
- The amount of the offer.
- An explanation of how the buyers will pay, such as cash or a pre-approval for financing.
- The terms, such as a request for closing cost help or contingencies such as the sale of the buyers home, a final mortgage approval, a satisfactory home inspection and an appraisal.
- An estimated date for closing.
- A deposit.
- A time limit for the offer.
Once you receive an offer to buy your home, you and your agent should review it together and consider whether you want to accept it, decline it, or make a counter-offer. Whether you have one offer or several, you and your agent will look at:
- The amount offered.
- Whether the buyer has included or waived any contingencies.
- Where the funds are coming from, such as: cash, a reputable local lender, a well-known online lender, or an unknown out-of-town lender.
- The proposed closing date and date of possession of the home to see if it aligns with your needs
- Any special requests for items to convey or for other special inspections.
If you receive multiple offers, your agent can advise you on one of these options:
- Accept the best offer. If one offer stands out above the rest, you can accept that one right away. Be careful not to be swayed by a high offer if the financing seems uncertain or if the buyer hasn’t explained a plan for a possible low appraisal.
- Counter all the offers to get a better price and terms. You can ask all potential buyers to give you their best offer by a certain deadline.
- Counter one offer that’s close to what you want. If you like one offer but think the buyers could do a little better, you can send them a counteroffer to see if they’ll accept it.
step Three:
Prepare for Inspection
step Three:
Prepare for Inspection
step Three:
Prepare for Inspection
A home inspection is a thorough review of your home’s structure and systems by a professional home inspector. Buyers can use the inspection report to decide to rescind their offer if a major issue is found by the inspector or to request repairs if the contract is contingent on a satisfactory report.
The inspector will check:
- Structural conditions such as the foundation, beams, floors and roof of your home.
- Mechanical systems such as heat and air conditioning.
- Appliances to make sure they’re working, although they may not check appliances that are not built-in.
- Plumbing for leaks, rust and water pressure.
- Electrical systems such as grounded outlets and any code violations.
- Safety issues such as stairs, handrails, or mold.
The inspector may not check certain items that are unusual or inaccessible, such as:
- Septic systems
- Underground pipes and sprinkler systems
- Swimming pools
- Playground equipment
Before your home inspector arrives, you should keep the following in mind:
- Clean in and around your home.
- Make sure all your light bulbs work.
- Make sure to empty your washing machine, dryer, oven, and dishwasher in case they are inspected.
- Make sure your attic, garage and sheds are easily accessible.
- Leave a note if anything doesn’t work and explain that you’re getting it fixed.
- Provide documents about maintenance and repairs, if requested.
- Leave your home before inspector arrives.
Once the home inspector delivers an inspection report of your home, you and your agent will be able to discuss how to handle any possible issues the buyers mention. You can choose to negotiate with the buyers about the items, decide to fix an item, provide money for the buyers to fix it themselves or provide documentation that the problem has already been addressed.
step Four:
Prepare for Appraisal
step Four:
Prepare for Appraisal
step Four:
Prepare for Appraisal
Similar to preparing for your home inspection, for an appraisal you should:
- Clean in and around your home.
- Provide a list of all major improvements to the home.
- The age and condition of your roof and other structures.
- The age of your heating and air conditioning system, and other appliances.
- Provide any permits required for home improvements.
- Provide access to all rooms, garages, sheds, and attics.
- You can either leave your home, or do your best to stay out of the way of the appraiser.
Appraisers tend to use as many pieces of data available to provide an accurate value of your property. Appraisers tend to look at:
- Comparable properties in your area that are of similar size, age and condition.
- The condition of your home’s systems and structure.
- The square footage of your property.
- The number of bedrooms, bathrooms and even garages.
- The location of your property.
- The quality of your flooring, plumbing and electrical systems.
If the property is valued by the appraiser lower than the sales price, it may require a renegotiation of the property. The appraised value dictates the maximum amount the lender will allow the buyers to borrow, not including their down payment. Depending on how the contract was written, if the appraisal is low, you can:
- Ask the buyer if they have the extra cash to make up the difference between the loan amount and the purchase price.
- Reduce your price to the appraised value.
- Split the difference with the buyer.
- Cancel the contract.
Step Five:
The Close
Step Five:
The Close
Step Five:
The Close
Before the closing day, you’ll need to:
- Take care of any repairs that was required by the contract.
- Keep all receipts, invoices and proof of any repairs that were done.
- Gather all manuals and warranties for your appliances.
- Cancel all utilities for the day after you move.
- Change your address.
- Review all settlement documents, including the settlement statement.
- Check the property survey to be sure it’s correct.
- Clean the home.
- Prepare for the buyers final walk-through, if requested.
Sellers may or may not attend the closing, so you should consult your agent and the settlement company to decide what’s best. You may have the option to sign all documents before the official closing. Whether or not you attend the closing, you’ll need to provide house keys to your buyers, along with all alarm codes, remote controls for the garage, and mailbox or gate keys.
Sellers’ expenses, which are deducted from the proceeds of the sale, include:
- Final balance on your mortgage.
- Real estate commissions.
- Prorated property taxes, utility bills, homeowner’s insurance, and homeowner’s association dues.
In the scenario that you are not able to move before the closing, you’ll need to arrange a “rentback” from the buyers. Your agent can help you complete appropriate paperwork for a “rentback.”
If you are moving, the buyers may request to do a walk-through of your home within 24 hours before the closing to check that the property is in good condition. If the buyers find something that needs to be fixed, your agent can help you decide how to handle it.
After the closing, you will:
- Receive the proceeds from the sale, usually by wire transfer.
- Cancel your homeowner’s insurance the day after your closing to make sure you’re covered on closing day.
- Save your closing documents and home improvement records for taxes.
Congratulations on the sale of your home! We look forward to helping you on the purchase of your next home!
