Selling Your Home
Here are some questions that you'll want to ask yourself before setting out to get your home sold.
- What is the reason I want to sell my home?
- Do I need more space or do I need less space?
- Are you relocating? If yes, how fast do you need to sell?
Ask yourself what is your short term and long term goals to determine how selling your home fits those goals.
A JLA Agent can help you accomplish these things by saving you time and money with the use of their expertise. They will be able to ask all the questions that you may not have asked yourself to narrow down your particular situation. They will find the best way to achieve your goals in your real estate market.
DETERMINING THE SELLING PRICE
Next you will want to determine the best selling price for your home. With the assistance of a JLA Agent they will have the knowledge of the local market, be able to assess the condition of your home and find the home sold within your neighborhood that compare. To maintain a non-biased view of your home enlist the services of a JLA Sales Agent. Another option to get an objective opinion about the price of your home is having an appraisal done. This will need to be paid up front, in cash, and may cost between three and five hundred dollars.
Your JLA Agent can save you time and money by educating you on how to set the asking price for your home. He or she will create a comparative market analysis by taking into consideration the type of market you are in and recent sales of comparable properties. Your agent will then guide you to the best fair market price that will help sell your house within the desired time frame. Usually, real estate agents have a better sense of market value than anyone else, they live and work where you live!
GETTING YOUR HOME READY
Now is the time to get your house into "showing and selling" condition. Of course most of us don't keep our homes in this condition, we live in our homes! Therefore, a JLA Agent can guide you in the best practices to get your home ready to sell. As we live in our homes, things tend to accumulate. Things get broken and we tend to overlook them as we continue living. We develop a comfort in the way the home is. With getting your home ready, we need to change our mindset from this is comfortable and get it ready to sell. Just fixing little things that are broken or updating with a fresh coat of pain will go a long way on how quickly your home sells. And possibly have an effect on the offer price.
As we all know first impressions are very important and you only get to make one. Look at your home from a buyer's view. You at one time were the buyer of this home. What things did you pay attention to in your home search? This may lead you to updating your landscaping, painting your door or even giving your home a bath (pressure washing). Stand back and look at other things that may detract from a potential buyer. Declutter the home, let the buyer imagine their items in the home instead of staring at all of yours. The fewer obstacles between the buyer and the true appeal of your house the better. Keep in mind that we have grown accustomed to living in our homes so we don't pay as much attention to our surrounding. What's normal for us may be unsavory to the buyer.
Make your house look as spacious as possible. Organize your closets and kitchen cabinets, and if you have things stored in the attic or basement, make sure they are presentable. If you are showing during the day, pull back your curtains and drapes to show how bright and cheery your home is. If you are showing at night, turn on all of the lights to create a warm and welcoming environment for the prospective buyers.
A house that is marked with your personality and style may be harder to sell. You might even consider such things as removing obvious clues to your political affiliation and tucking away and biased literature that may be visible. This should reduce distractions and help the buyers to visualize the home as their own.
Your JLA Agent can save you time and money by providing an objective and expert opinion on what needs to be changed or improved. They know what the buyers are looking for because as I said earlier, they live and work in your neighborhood. They will perform an analysis of the entire property and, taking into account the state of the market in which you are selling your house, point you to the changes that need to be made in order to sell it for the most amount of money and as quickly as possible.
YOU'RE READY TO SELL
Your home is ready to sell. Now is the time to put it on the market. Establishing a marketing strategy is a must. Your JLA Agent will have to decide how you want to get the word out there that your house is for sale. There are many different ways to advertise your property. A yard sign, flyers, direct marketing and social media are just a few of the many options you have. The path you choose will depend on what your agent thinks will bring the most potential buyers. If you are in a buyer's market you will have to be extra careful when choosing a plan. You don't want you house to sit with no one showing interest. usually expect the busiest time for traffic should be the first 3-6 weeks. If there is nothing, your agent will reevaluate his or her approach.
Your JLA Agent can save you time and money by exposing your house to the most potential buyers possible. Your JLA Agent will present you the best marketing strategy that will have the highest possibility of bringing not only the most buyers, but the most qualified buyers, to your doorstep.
Once you get an offer your JLA Agent will also be available to review the written offer to make sure that it is written in a proper way to covers the necessary areas. They will be able to go in great detail in the process.
Most offers to purchase your house will require some level of negotiating to come to a win-win agreement. Your JLA Agent that you choose to work with will be well versed on the legalities of the real estate contract used in your area. In addition to legal issues, you will need to understand contract basics, including what each contract clause means to you and your buyer, what you will net from the sale of your home and what areas in the contract lend themselves easiest to negotiation.
Some of the things that you may have to negotiate on are;
- Price
- Financing
- Closing Costs
- Home Warranty
- Repairs (if needed)
- Appliances & Fixtures
- Landscaping
- Painting
- Closing Date
Your JLA Agent can save you time and money by making sure that the offer presented to you is by a qualified buyer. There is no reason to review and offer if the buyer or buyers making it will not be able to actually buy your home. Your JLA Agent will also be available to review the written offer to make sure that it is written in a proper way and covers the necessary areas.
FINALIZING THE SALE
Once you have accepted an offer, your JLA Agent can save you time and money by coordinating all the necessary items that must be done to finalize the sale. Your JLA Agent will be directly involved and keep you informed as to the results of each action and what effect, if any, it will have on the sale of the property. He or she will also help you coordinate any actions you must take to keep the sale moving forward. There are some sales that go smoothly and some that require a lot of work to get to the closing table. Until you get into it, you won't know which one you have on your hands. Either way, you JLA Agent will prove to be a valuable resource to you.
Days before the closing your JLA Agent will be in contact with all parties involved and will go over closing statements when received to make sure everything will go smooth during closing. You should have also begun to make arrangements for your upcoming move if you have not done so already.
CLOSING DAY
Closing day is where ownership is legally transferred to the buyer. As the seller, you will need to be prepared to give over any necessary documentation regarding the property and, depending on the arrangements made during negotiations, you may be required to have done something specific in order to close. Be sure and read all of the documents. Your JLA Agent can save you time and money by being present during the closing to help explain the process and forms to you and make sure everything goes as planned. By being present during the closing, they mediate any last minute issues that may arise.
Congratulations on the successful sale of your home! You will need to do such things as make sure that all utilities (i.e. electricity, gas, lawn care, cable, etc.) have been cancelled.