Steps to Selling a House
Have you been giving some thought to the question, “I want to sell my house, but where do I start?” In that case, you are not the only one. According to the 2018 Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report, the average seller stays in their home for 13 years before deciding to sell it, and they spend an average of seven months thinking about listing their home before actually doing so.
It’s possible that you’re considering selling your home because you’re in need of more space, you’re prepared to downsize, or you’re moving for reasons related to either your job or your education. No matter what your motivation may be, it is imperative that you come prepared for the process of selling the item. Because you probably have an emotional connection to your home and because it’s likely your biggest investment, selling a home for the first time can be both an emotional and stressful experience. This is especially true for first-time home sellers.
You have the advantage of having already been through a purchase and sale transaction when you bought the home, which gives you a leg up on the competition as a first-time home seller. You, as a prospective buyer, probably spent some time accumulating your financial paperwork and looking for the ideal residence. You, as the seller, will also need to do a significant amount of preparation work; however, this work will be of a different nature, as it will consist of making sure that the house is in the best possible condition for prospective buyers. And depending on your plans, there’s always the possibility that you’ll have to deal with the additional stress of buying and selling at the same time.
First-time home selling guide
The following ten steps are a comprehensive compilation of several of the most useful recommendations for selling your home.
1. Determine why you are selling in the first place.
2. Do some research to find out what the best time is to sell in your region.
3. Make a firm commitment to a particular representation technique.
4. Complete home upgrades.
5. Set the price of your home so that it is competitive.
6. Prepare your home for sale by staging it.
7. Make sure to adequately market your listing.
8. Keep an eye out for closing barriers.
9. Get out of here!
10. Complete all of the necessary closing responsibilities.
1. Determine why you are selling in the first place.
Invest some time in contemplating the reasons behind your decision to sell. Because it can be a difficult and costly process, you should make sure that selling is something you really want to do before you get too far into it.
Take care of the finances: Make a call to the company that services your loans now to talk about your outstanding mortgage balance. It is the first thing you need to do in order to figure out how much equity you will have after the sale of your home. If you are aware of this number, you will be able to better plan for your future house purchase and create a budget for the home upgrades you will need to make before you list your property.
Create a list of the items that cannot be negotiated: Make a note of the things that are absolutely necessary to you as well as the things that you won’t settle for. How long do you anticipate the move taking? What kind of a budget do you have in mind for the pre-listing home improvements? What is the lowest possible purchase price that you will consider?
2. Do some research to find out what the best time is to sell in your region.
It is possible to determine the optimal time to sell your home by first gaining an understanding of the current state of the real estate market in your area, including whether it is a buyers’ market or a sellers’ market. If the timing of your purchase is flexible, you may want to think about waiting for a sellers market, which occurs when there are more buyers seeking for houses than there are properties available on the market. It provides the seller the authority to negotiate and has the potential to drive up pricing.
3. Make a firm commitment to a particular representation technique.
One of the first choices you’ll have to make is whether or not you’ll sell your home on your own, sometimes known as “for sale by owner” or “FSBO,” or whether or not you’ll work with a real estate agent. In 2018, only ten percent of sellers who stated that they had sold their home within the previous year had successfully completed the sale of their property without ever employing the services of an agent. Another 10% of people considered selling their home on their own, but in the end they sought the assistance of a real estate agent or broker.
Think about the benefits and drawbacks of each alternative, taking into account factors such as the urgency with which you need to sell your home, the current state of the real estate market in your area, and any difficult aspects of your property that might call for the assistance of an expert during the negotiation process.
• Allocate sufficient time to prepare your home for listing and market it across many channels; this is the reason why real estate agents work full time and why you should do the same if you plan to sell FSBO.
• Conduct research into recent sales that are comparable to those in your area.
• Keep showing times flexible or use a lock box to secure the property.
• Refrain from taking criticism directed at you personally when receiving feedback from other agents and buyers.
In the event that you intend to employ the services of an agent:
• Conduct an interview with each possible agent.
Do not be afraid to negotiate the terms of your contract.
• Put your faith in the guidance provided by your real estate agent.
4. Complete home upgrades.
Getting your house ready to sell usually requires some work, whether that work is done by you personally (known as “sweat equity”) or by a professional (known as “professional improvements”). After all, you want potential buyers to feel the same way about your home as you did when you first purchased it and fall in love with it. Invest some time and effort into getting your house into move-in condition in a way that will appeal to the widest possible audience of prospective purchasers.
Choose to have a pre-inspection done: Even though it is likely that the buyer of your home will conduct an inspection as part of the buying process, sellers frequently choose to do their own pre-inspections. A quarter of the sellers who utilised the services of an agency carried out an inspection prior to making contact with an agent. Why? A pre-inspection can assist you in avoiding surprises further down the road, and it can also provide you with the opportunity to correct issues that an inspector might identify for a potential buyer.
Improve your return on investment with these common upgrades: You might want to think about installing some of the home features that buyers are looking for today, such as a steam shower, professional kitchen appliances, heated floors or radiant heating, solar panels, or even both.
Remember the importance of curb appeal: Investing some time and effort into your front yard will help you make that all-important good first impression. Clean the driveways and sidewalks with a pressure washer, decorate the flower pots and garden beds with plants appropriate for the season, prune the overgrown plants, and rake the leaves.
By avoiding improvements and selling in its current state: The overall sale process can be completed more quickly and with fewer out-of-pocket expenses if you choose to sell a home in its current condition rather than making significant improvements to it before putting it up for sale. However, selling the home in its current condition will likely result in a lower profit for you.
5. Set the price of your home so that it is competitive.
It can be difficult, but one of the most crucial things you can do to ensure a successful sale of your house is to set the listing price at the appropriate level. Properties that are priced correctly have a greater chance of being sold within a timely manner.
Utilize all of the resources at your disposal to assist you in correctly pricing your home so that it can be sold quickly.
Investigate other comparable: Comparable are records of recent sales of residences and the prices at which they were sold. They are also referred to as “comps.” It is essential that the comparable properties you use as a point of comparison are of a comparable size and condition to your own, and that they are located in a very similar region; the closer they are to your own residence, the better.
Hire an appraiser: A professional assessment of your property can cost anywhere from $300 to $700, but this may be a reasonable expense to incur if it enables you to sell your home more quickly and for a price that is more in line with its true market value.
Put your trust in your broker: Your real estate agent should be an expert in property values in your area, making them an excellent resource for determining the appropriate price to offer your home for sale for. In addition to this, they are able to offer advice on how to price the item in a way that will generate the maximum attention and possibly even lead to a bidding battle.
6. Prepare your home for sale by staging it.
When you are getting your house ready to sell, one of the things you should do is rearrange your furniture and organise and decorate it in a way that would appeal to the greatest number of possible purchasers.
The process of staging your house can take many various shapes and demand differing degrees of effort, but here are a few important recommendations that will help you get the most out of the process:
De-clutter, clean, and de-personalize: Having an excessive amount of belongings in a space can give the impression that there is insufficient space for storage. Having an excessive amount of personal objects, such as photographs of the seller’s family, can make it difficult for potential buyers to imagine themselves living in the property.
Choose a staging strategy that is tailored to your specific requirements: Home staging can be done to varying degrees, depending on the buyer’s budget, how much time is available, and how valuable staging is in the area where the home is located. While some aspects of staging can be accomplished by do-it-yourself methods, larger-scale staging jobs normally require the assistance of a professional stager.
Reduce the number of items pertaining to your children and pets. Even if many prospective buyers already have children or pets of their own, they want to be able to see their own family living in the house, not yours. Take the time to fix any damage caused by your pet, remove their possessions, and clean up any items left behind by your children such as gates, highchairs, and stacks of toys.
7. Make sure to adequately market your listing.
When you are satisfied that your house is ready for sale, the following step is to make sure that as many potential buyers as possible see your listing. The following is some advice on how to properly advertise a home for sale on the market.
Advertise across many channels: Homebuyers in the modern day conduct their home search using a variety of methods, including browsing internet listings and checking for “for sale” or “open house” signs in front yards. The greater the number of sites where your ad appears, the greater the number of potential buyers who will see it, and the greater the likelihood that you will find a buyer.
Create an alluring description for your listing: It is important that the description of your home on the listing website reflect the best aspects of your property as well as the amenities that buyers in your neighbourhood are looking for. Make sure to highlight these features if they are common in the area where you reside, such as a rooftop deck, a backyard pool, access to public transit, or adjacent green spaces. In general, though, it is best to keep your listing description brief and steer clear of ambiguous real estate lingo.
Set times for showings: You’ve already put in all the effort to have your property ready for potential buyers, so now it’s important to ensure that you can host as many showings as possible, whether they are remote viewings, private tours, or open houses. In addition, having a clean house is not the only requirement for a showing. Ensure that there is a means by which customers can provide feedback. Keep track of who comes to see the property, and if you’re selling it on your own, think about inviting a third-party representative to lead the tours so that potential buyers will feel more at ease sharing their feedback.
8. Keep an eye out for closing barriers.
If your home has been on the market for a while and isn’t selling as quickly as you had hoped, you may need to go back and address some of the steps that were discussed above, such as making improvements to your home, setting a price that is competitive, and marketing your home in an effective manner.
Obtaining that fantastic offer is most likely going to be the most difficult part of the process of selling your home; but, just because your property has been offered for sale doesn’t necessarily indicate that the difficulties have come to an end. Take into consideration the following potential problems that may arise between the time you accept an offer and the day the transaction is finalised.
Report on the home’s poor condition: When severe problems are discovered during the home inspection that a buyer has your property undergo, the buyer may decide that the necessary repairs will be too costly and back out of the transaction as a result. This can happen in a number of different situations. After the report of the inspection is finished, you should be ready to bargain, regardless of whether it reveals little issues that need to be fixed or significant difficulties.
Too low of an appraisal of the home: If your buyer needs financing in order to purchase the home, the buyer’s lender will almost certainly conduct an appraisal to determine whether or not the home is worth the amount being loaned. In the event that the appraised value of the property is lower than the amount that can be borrowed, the buyer will either need to come up with the difference in cash or back out of the purchase.
Failure to obtain financing: It is likely that your buyer will not be able to obtain financing until the underwriting procedure is being completed. This might be the result of a variety of factors, including the accumulation of additional debt, a failure to make required payments on credit cards, or a shift in job status that leads the lender to believe that there is an unacceptable level of risk involved in providing financing for the home.
9. Get out of here!
Prepare for the costs of moving by: Moving is an expensive and time-consuming process, and it does not matter where you are moving to. Even a local move that covers less than 100 miles and is handled by two movers and a moving truck would cost an average of $80 to $100 per hour.
Be careful to take the necessary precautions in advance to prevent any unpleasant and expensive surprises on moving day.
When the time is right: Not only is relocating a costly endeavour, but also the time of the transaction is of the utmost importance. According to the Zillow Consumer Housing Trends Report 2018, 61 percent of sellers also buy within a period of one year. If you are selling and buying a home at the same time, you might want to look into temporary housing so that you don’t have to stress about perfectly timing the sale of your home and the purchase of your new home, which almost never happens.
Make sure you’re ready to act quickly: The average time it takes to sell a house in 2018 is between 65 and 93 days, from list to close, so you’ll need to be prepared to move out in a short period of time. It is imperative that you vacate the premises by the agreed-upon closure date.
10. Complete all of the necessary closing responsibilities.
As the seller of the property, it is your responsibility to handle certain legal procedures and paperwork when the time comes to finalize the sale of the property.
Finish the repairs, and get the certificates you need: If you are required to finish repairs as a condition of your post-inspection negotiations, it is your duty to finish those chores before the closure takes place. In addition, if the buyers requested and you agreed to the completion of any particular inspections or certifications, such as an inspection of the sewer line or a certification of the roof’s condition, then those inspections and certifications must be carried out.
Provide the following property disclosures: A property disclosure is exactly what it sounds like: you, as the seller of a home, are obligated by the laws of most states to reveal any known flaws or problems with the property that may have an impact on its value or safety. These must be put in writing and submitted to the closing attorney in advance of the transaction, and the specific rules and procedures vary according on the state in which you reside.
Examine the anticipated final expenses: Because the costs associated with selling a house can add up quickly, it is important to review your estimated closing costs well in advance of the actual closing date. This will help you get ready for the fees that will be incurred. The commission paid to your agent, the commission paid to the buyer’s agent (which is typically paid by the seller), as well as any applicable taxes and fees, can add up to a closing cost for sellers that is as high as 8 to 10 percent of the sale price of the home. However, if you do have some equity in the property that you are selling, these costs will be deducted directly from the profits that you will be receiving once the transaction is finalised.
Showing up for your closing appointment, during which you will sign all of the legal documents that are associated with the sale of your property, is one of the very last steps in the process of selling your home. According to the laws of the state in which you reside, you either have to sign the contract at the same time as the buyer or do so at a separate appointment.
Hand over the keys: Once you have vacated the property, you are responsible for providing the buyer with the keys in accordance with the terms of the contract you signed with the buyer. If the buyer is taking immediate possession, you might hand over the keys at the closing appointment. Or, depending on the terms of your agreement, it could be much later.
Close the transaction: At closing, the settlement agent (either the closing attorney or escrow company hired at the outset of the transaction) will record the new deed for the home with the county, pay off your remaining mortgage balance, pay all closing costs and make sure you receive your profit.
