Ready to Sell Your Home?

This will vary from property to property. Once you receive an offer (or offers) we will assist with reviewing the terms of the offer by a form called the Purchase and Sale Agreement. In this agreement, the buyer will request a specific closing date. This date can be negotiated to best fit your needs keeping in mind if the buyer is financing the purchase the bank will request between 30-60 days to complete the financing process.

The terms inspection and appraisal can be easily confused. A home inspection is primarily an inspection that is purchased out-of-pocket by the buyer. The buyer chooses the company and or inspector to take an in-depth look at the property allowing the buyer to have full knowledge of what they are about to purchase. An inspection is not a requirement by the bank or any other financial qualifying entity.

An Appraisal is a process completed by a licensed appraiser that is determining value of a home. They are hired primarily by the bank that is funding the sale of the property to ensure their investment is sound. In some cases different loan products that may be associated with a grant or federal backing will have additional set standards usually surrounding safety, (i.e. steps with no railings, chipping flaking paint, unfinished building elements.) In some cases, these items may require fixing prior to the appraisal being complete.

We strongly recommend sellers DO NOT attend the showings on their home. Buyers are accompanied by ourselves or a qualified buyers agent. Attending a showing often makes a buyer feel they can not focus on viewing the home, it also puts you in a position to inadvertantly disclose information that the buyer could use during the negotiation of their offer. On the flip side, talking with multiple buyers can influence your decision making when you are reviewing offers if there was some you were partial to over others which can seem minor but can also put you at risk of breaking fair housing laws. Our job as your listing agent is to protect your best interest, and protect your property to the best of our ability which we do by acting as the liaison between the buyers agent and or buyer. We're here to work for you!

We all have those little projects in our home that we intended to get done but never quite finished. Now you are ready to sell your home and that list looks longer than ever! It's ok... take a breath... of course it is always nice (and beneficial to profit) to have everything move-in-ready when your house hits the market but that isn't always possible. We discourage sellers to include a list of fixes that will be done prior to closing when listing the home. It puts pressure on you, the seller, and often results in a reduction in price if the items aren't completed by closing time. We recommend sharing your list with us while we are in the process of listing your home, thet way we can tell you what buyers will expect vs. cosmetic fixes.  You can set a time frame of a day or weekend to make those fixes and when that time is up, you're all done!

This is a great question! In todays digital world people show with their eyes. Below are two photos, if you were the buyer would you prefer setting up a showing for the home on the top or for the home on the bottom? A photo is worth 1000 words so by keeping a clean, minimalistic home during the selling process. Buyers will of course be aware that you do still live in the home and in most cases may be in the process of packing but always keep in mind buyers will be more attracted to a tidy home and will ultimately be willing to pay more for clean home they can picture themselves moving right into.

Photo on top of a living room that is messy with trash on the coffee table and a blanket on the floor. Photo on bottom of a neat and clean living room ready for showings.

Some tips to keep in mind are:

Remove clutter as well as personal items such as photos, nicknacks, and other personal items such as keys, eye drops, change and other items that tend to find a home on clean surfaces.

Do a "spring cleaning" mop the floors, clean the windows and freshen up!  A clean, good smelling home will always win over one that hasn't seen a vacuum in 3 years.

Less is more, remove large items such as furniture or large toys to show buyers the amount of space your home offers. The less furniture the better! This also gives you a jump start for when it is time for you to move into your new home!