Selling Your Home
Your home sale will possibly be one the largest monetary transactions you will ever be involved in! It is imperative that you have at least a minimum understanding of the process of selling your home. If done correctly, the selling process can be smooth, predictable and controlled, and can result in a timely sale that accommodates your needs while yielding the best possible results, both financially and contractually. Done incorrectly, it can become a nightmare, and possibly even prove to be risky or costly.
Be sure to enlist the services of experts in their fields as you need them in the process. "Serving, not just selling," has been The Massengale Group's mission statement since the beginning and our clients will confirm that we have served them well.
Here's a preview of the process of selling your home.
Click on any of the links to go to that section.
1. Choosing the Right Listing Agent
When we list a home for sale, we immediately set in motion a complex and tech-savvy marketing plan to broadcast the availability of your home. Our commitment to state-of-the-art internet marketing and sales ensures that your property is presented to a far greater number of prospective buyers than other agents can offer. More buyers seeing your property translates to a faster sale of your property.
We will quickly post your home with photos on this website and the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Also, your home will be listed on Realtor.com which is currently the most popular site for home searches. We use digital photography, virtual tours, internet search and optimization technology to maximize your listing's exposure to as many agents and buyers as possible. We make sure all listings have multiple photos since research shows that the number one desire of buyers is to see lots of photos. We will also market your property quickly and effectively through other proven methods, which may include signs, fliers and newspapers.
Here are some questions you should ask when considering choosing an agent to market your home:
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Ask if they are full-time agent who has sold a number of properties similar to yours.
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Ask for a list of homes they´ve sold and for a list of references.
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Are they familiar with your neighborhood? What do they recommend you do to prepare your home for sale?
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Find an agent who is tech-savvy: today´s transactions move at internet speed.
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Ask how much time the agent will have for you, and if they have an assistant: Successful agents are often the most efficient, and can afford to pay a knowledgeable assistant who will always be available to answer your questions.
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Ask the agent specifically how they will market your property.
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Does the agent return your calls promptly? Time is money when attempting to sell a home.
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Complex issues will arise over the course of selling your home. You should feel comfortable that your agent is willing to explain everything to you until you understand clearly.
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Finally, a good agent will spend more time listening to you and asking you questions about what you want, rather than talking about themselves. Pick an agent with whom you feel comfortable.
We believe that if you give us an opportunity to answer the above questions, you will feel confident of our ability and integrity to have us market your home for you.
2. Setting the Right Price
Pricing your home accurately is one of the most critical decisions you will make. On their own, most people tend to overestimate the value of their home. An overpriced home will languish on the market, and worse, it will accumulate days on the market and agents will stop showing the house because they know it is overpriced. Also, buyers will not want to see the house because they figure that something is wrong with the house if it has been on the market for such a long time.
As experienced real estate agents, we look at dozens of homes every day and we know the price homes actually sell for, compared to their original listing price. We can tell you, generally within an accuracy range of a couple of percent, the price your home should sell for on the market.
3. Disclosure
One of your primary duties as a seller is to make a list of anything that should be disclosed to buyers. The Sellers Disclosure is a form that basically requires you to disclose every material issue, which may effect a buyer's decision to purchase your property. We are familiar with the legal environment surrounding disclosures and will help you fill out this form.
In most cases, a buyer will want to review the Sellers Disclosure before making an offer on your property. We include a copy of your Sellers Disclosure within the MLS system so that it will be immediately available for Buyer's agents to download so that there will be no delay in writting up an offer.
4. Prepare Your House for Showings
We recommend the "Three R's" to Sellers who want a successful house showing:
Repair anything you are aware of that is not working properly, particularly if it is really noticeable upon casual inspection.
Refresh the house with clean and dust free living, put out your best china, towels and bed sheets!
Finally, Remove everything that is bulky and unused to a common storage area. Move all small items and papers into a desk or cabinet furniture.
A Buyer's first impression upon visiting your home is critical to their motivation for putting in an offer quickly. If two homes for sale are identical in price and features, the uncluttered home will always sell first.
It is important to leave your home while agents are showing it to potential buyers. We recommend you leave the showing of your home to professionals. Buyers are more comfortable discussing the home´s merits and drawbacks with their agent if you are not there; they might even feel like they are intruding if you are home. Your agent is experienced in dealing with others on your behalf and has a fiduciary duty to represent your interests in the best possible way; let them do the talking. This way, you don´t accidentally volunteer information that your agent could use more strategically during negotiations
5. Offers and Counter Offers
Having an experienced negotiator on your side can save you time and money.
Price Isn´t Everything: Price is not always the deciding factor and the first offer may not be final: Our role is to help you sift through all the terms and conditions of the offer(s) you receive to help you create a transaction that best suits your needs. When appropriate, we will help you draft up a counter offer in response to an offer that comes up short of your needs. Contrary to popular belief, when presented with multiple offers, the highest price offer may not be the best offer to accept, after all things are considered.
Dealing Objectively and Fairly: Selling your home requires remaining objective and always negotiating in good faith. We will help you negotiate contractual terms that are beneficial to you and fair to the other party. An experienced agent also knows how to handle situations including multiple offers prior to your going into contract with one buyer.
Earnest Money: Once there is a ratified offer, the buyer will deposit an agreed upon good faith deposit into an escrow account, reflecting their earnest intention to purchase your property.
Keep it in Writing (counter offers and addendums): Converting all verbal agreements to a commitment in writing signed by both parties clarifies everyone´s intentions and prevents things from being ambiguous, forgotten or contradicted later. We will help you draft addendums to your contract that will help further your objectives.
Staying on Track: Real estate contracts provide a series of deadlines for both buyer and seller. Keeping this series of events on schedule ensures a timely and successful close of the transaction, or close of escrow. Upon acceptance of an offer, we will give you a copy of the contract and all the addendums and we will track the transaction so that everything gets done within the required time restraints.
6. You Have a Buyer
After successful negotiations and some compromise, you have entered into a valid purchase contract for your property! During this stage of the property selling process, the buyer will learn a lot more about the property.
Contingencies: Most purchase agreements provide the buyer with specific amounts of time to inspect the property, review the preliminary title report and all disclosure documents and obtain financing and insurance before they must actually complete their purchase of the property. At the successful conclusion of each of these milestones, the buyer will remove that contingency of their purchase and move one step closer to the close. Or, the buyer may use information they have learned to request a renegotiation of the terms of the contract (often the price).
This is when an objective, experienced listing agent can really make a difference by helping you make an informed decision on how to respond to the buyer.
7. Escrow and Title Company
To "open escrow" the Buyer's Agent delivers the contract and deposit check to the Title Company identified in contract.
What is Escrow? In a nutshell, escrow begins when your earnest money deposit and purchase offer is accepted by the seller. Escrow ends when funds are transferred and the buyer becomes the new owner and their name is registered in the county records.
Title Company: The Title Company acts as neutral third party to the transaction and basically handles all the cash and paperwork involved in the transaction. The title company will research the complete recorded history of the property, to make sure that the title is free and clear of all encumbrances by the date of closing and that all new encumbrances are properly added to the title.
8. Title Insurance
There are two title insurance policies issued upon each real property transfer. The first is the Buyer's or "owner's" policy which is typically paid for by the Seller. The other is the Lender's policy, paid for by the Buyer. The Seller's title insurance is approximately 1% of the sales price.
Title insurance has many qualifications to coverage, but it basically provides the buyer and lender with insurance on the ownership of the property and all matters pertaining to its past history. We will be able to tell you about title insurance coverage and give you an estimate of what your title insurance will cost you based upon the purchase price of your property.
We can recommend several Title Companies who will take good care of you and will also provide detailed explanation on all closing documents.
9. Inspections
The most important and often only inspection conducted by the buyer is the general physical inspection. After an accepted offer is in hand, the Buyer chooses a licensed inspector, and gives you notice to have the property available for an inspection. It is important to ensure that you have all of the utilities on for this appointment. At the inspection, the inspector will investigate all of the major systems of the property and present any deficiencies in a detailed report. The Physical Inspection Report is delivered to both the Buyer and Seller.
Please note that every inspection report WILL uncover some problems! We have NEVER seen a home inspection report without some issues. At this point the Buyer will traditionally ask the Seller to repair any major issues. We will work with you to determine reasonable requests to either repair the items or to discount the purchase price of the property so that the Buyer can make the repairs at a later date. On rare occasion, if you cannot come to an agreement with the Buyer on what needs to be done, you can mutually cancel the contract.
10. Final Walk-Through
The final walk-through is traditionally done 2-3 days prior to your scheduled closing date. The Buyer is provided access to the property to ensure it remains in the same condition as at the time of the physical inspection. This walk-through also provides the Buyer the opportunity to verify that the items negotiated for correction and repair have been completed. If you have done repairs, you will need leave the buyer copies of receipts showing that repairs have been completed.
11. The Closing
Sometimes things don´t go according to plan. This is when you really need an experienced real estate agent. Maybe something in the house broke at the last moment, or the buyer´s loan won´t close on schedule; there are a lot of variables. We´ve been through this numerous times and have various strategies and options to help make your transaction as smooth as possible for you.
When your transaction is nearly completed, the title company will provide you with a "closing statement" (HUD-1), a summary of all the financial details (pro-rations on property taxes and all the transaction-related costs.) We will go over this with you to be sure it is accurate. On the closing date you will go into the Title Company and sign papers. After the Buyer has also signed papers, the Title company will record the transaction for you and the buyer at the County Recorder´s Office and you will receive your proceeds from the transaction, and the buyer will become the official new owner.
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