A 14-Step Guide to Selling your Home—here’s How a Bulletproof Home Selling Process Works!
Selling your home can be a tricky business, especially when you are working alone without any help from a realtor. It’s a daunting process that can take up your energy, and money, and at times have you feeling clueless. No matter how tilted toward the seller the market may be, there is no doubt that if you intend on attempting to sell on your own you will most likely be met by a process that you are extremely unfamiliar with leaving you exposed to anyone with more knowledge.
First-time sellers especially have a lot of questions circling their heads. What is closing? Do I need to hire a realtor? How to arrange a proper home inspection before listing? How do I get the best price for my home? These are some of the common concerns that ruin the piece of homeowners planning to sell their properties themselves.
Although there is no harm in selling your property on your own, hiring a realtor can simplify things for you. The state agency will take care of the complicated process and manage all the paperwork and daunting tasks for you. But if you are selling a property for the first time through a realtor, you must have your concerns, and this guide will answer almost all of your questions regarding a typical home selling process. If you are selling your house through a realtor, this is how your home selling process should go.
This article will highlight a step-by-step map of a typical home selling process.
Step 1- Decide to Sell
If you are planning to sell your home, it can be worth considering some things before you make a final call. You need to ask yourself some pretty basic questions and decide whether you should sell or choose another alternative.
For instance, if you are selling your existing home because you are planning to buy a bigger property, you can consider expanding your existing building or digging out a basement. There is so much you can do with your vacant property. Or depending on your situation, you can also move to a rental.
You need to assess your situation before deciding on anything. Brainstorming a little before selling your home might save you a lot of money and effort.
Step 2- Meet with Certified ExpressOffers Realtors
Hiring a certified ExpressOffers realtor can significantly simplify and speed up your home selling process. An ExpressOffers agent can help get good cash offers for your home in AS-IS condition. All ExpressOffers agents like myself are trained to extract good deals from institutional cash buyers. These professional buyers make an offer not based on emotions or unnecessary details but on the as-is condition of your home.
Starting your home selling process by contacting an ExpressOffers agent who will connect you to good iBuyers will help you in the long run. The certified agent will closely assess your situation and help you choose the right fit. Before you choose a realtor, see: 10 Things to look for in a real state agent.
If you are still not convinced, here are 6 reasons why you should start your sales process with ExpressOffers.
Step 3- Property Condition Report
A property condition report is basically a document that highlights all the features and detailed conditions of your home. If you have hired a certified agent to sell your property, they will prepare this report after carefully inspecting your house.
Your agent will briefly describe the main features of your home and present it in a way that buyers will be interested to make an offer. This report is very important, as most buyers want to know the details and conditions of real estate before making an offer. An ExpressOffers realtor can significantly help you paint the right picture of your home because buyers trust the assessment of these agents.
Step 4- Get As-Is Cash Offer
When your agent is done preparing a property condition report, the next step is to present it to prospective buyers. ExpressOffers agents have a well-informed network that helps them present your home report to the right kind of buyers.
Through ExpressOffers realtors, you can expect to get an offer for your home within forty-eight hours. See: How your cash offer was calculated.
Agents and realtors are legally bound to pass all the offers and feedback on to you. So, once you start getting offers for your property, it's time to move on to the next step.
Step 5- Evaluate Offers
You have received the offers, congratulations! Now it's time to evaluate each offer so you can make the right decision. Write down every offer you have received from the iBuyers, and evaluate them one by one. You need to ask yourself questions like why this buyer is interested in my property, what incentives are they offering me, or what are the underlying costs that I don’t know about. Take a look at 7 questions a homeowner should get answered before engaging an iBuyer.
If you decide to accept the cash offer, you will jump to STEP 12…
If you have also listed your home, it will be wise to compare cash offers with traditional listing offers. If you get the right deal at this stage, you can go under contract and close the deal with a suitable iBuyer. But if you are also considering traditional listings, the next steps will tell you how to proceed.
Step 6- Home Inspection
Arranging a professional home inspection before listing your house is very important. The home selling process is already challenging and overwhelming, and undiscovered problems in your property can make it even more daunting. A pre-inspection will hide issues in your house that you might not know about. Look at the top 5 reasons homeowners should get a pre-listing home inspection.
Most buyers get an inspection done before purchasing a property. If they find any hidden issues, this gives them a reason to renegotiate the deal. A pre-inspection will tell you the issues with your home that can hinder the selling process. If you know the problems in advance, you can get them fixed or set the price for your home accurately.
Step 7- Establish Price
Establishing the right price for your home can be the most agonizing part of the selling process. Your sale can break apart if you could not manage to set the correct price. If you are working alone without any agent, you will have to do the market analysis yourself and establish a comparable price for your home. But if you are working with an agent, he will be familiar with the market and suggest you a good price based on comparable homes and the actual condition of your property.
Your agent can do the valuation for your home, but I suggest you never go for the highest valuation. Also, keep in mind that your prospective buyer will try to negotiate the given offer, so always add at least 5% to what you can accept.
Step 8- Prepare Home for Sale
Staging your home the right way will not only make the prospective buyers interested in your property but will also increase its overall value. See our guide on how to sell my home cash.
This step will include tidying or decluttering your house, arranging repair work if needed, and staging the property for viewing. Remember that your home’s curb appeal is highly important for accelerating the selling process. Your home should be clean with no broken windows or doors, the front garden or pathway should be presentable, and the roof should be in good condition.
Step 9- List for Sale
This step includes listing your home for sale on multiple listing services and websites. Make sure to put out the right information, photographs, and contact details to get the offers. You can consider hiring a professional photographer to shoot your house before listing it for sale. The good quality images will surely create an appeal for prospective buyers.
Carefully read the questionnaire provided by the listing services and fill out all the information. Most listing services require you to fill out a variety of documents and forms to present buyers with the correct picture of your property.
10. Showings
This is yet another important step in the home selling process. You need to prepare your house for showing in the best possible way. What you need is for your prospective buyer to imagine himself buying the house and living in it. Buying a house is sometimes more feelings based rather than decision-based, this is the reason why you need to present your house in a way that is appealing and will engage the five senses of your buyer.
Here are a few takeaways to make your house showing more eventful
Make sure that every corner of your house is squeaky clean.
One great tip is to pay critical attention to the areas of the house that buyers are going to see first. For instance, from porch, yard, and foyer. Remember that good first impression always works
When buyers show up, make sure to open all the lights and blinds to create an appealing aesthetic
Step 11- Evaluate Offers
List down the valid and considerable offers that you have received after showing your house. Evaluate each offer based on the following factors:
Offered price
Commission savings
Holding cost
Closing cost
You can also personally interview the interested buyers to know how their given deal benefits you. Get the questions ready when you meet with the buyers and extract all the information that will help you evaluate their offer.
Step 12- Sign Contract
After evaluating all the offers made, it’s time to sign a contract. This is the most crucially climatic part of the long and enduring process of selling a house. In some states, your due diligence may start as soon as the real estate contract is signed between the buyer and the seller.
Make sure that you are completely satisfied with the offer before signing the contract and making the deal on paper.
We know that selling a house is no easy task. It is both emotionally and physically restraining. However, the process can be made a hell lot easier if you follow some simple tips like these!
Step 13-Due Diligence
Due diligence in the home selling process refers to doing your homework about the physical and financial state of the house. Let the buyers inspect your house, collect all the necessary facts, and have the appraisal done. The best way to do due diligence is to have your homework done right before making an offer.
Step 14- Closing
This is the last step of the exhausting and overwhelming home selling process. You are now done with listing your house, establishing a sales price, and finding the right buyer. Now it's time to close the deal! But how is that done? If you have an agent, he or she will take care of the legal work. But if you are working alone, you will need a title company that will examine your deed and detects any possible issues in the document.
Hiring an agent at this point will be the right decision because a realtor will handle all the legal formalities. After all the paperwork is done, all you have to do is sign the contract, close the deal, and get your things moving.
Conclusion
Selling a home is a tiresome process that can actually leave you exhausted. Hiring a good agent that understands your needs to demands is the key to simplifying this process and getting a good deal out if an iBuyer or traditional buyer. I advise you not to rush into things. Take your time evaluating each offer before making any decision. If you want to make things easier for you, visit here , or call me at (704)-486-9938.