Consumer Information for Sellers:
| 1. Things to Do Before You Sell | 5. Terms to Watch for in a Purchase Contract |
| 2. Tips to Make Your Home More Salable | 6. Understanding Capital Gains in Real Estate |
| 3. Our Marketing Plan | 7. What is Your Home's Value ? |
| 4. Demand Buyer Qualification | 8. Would you be better off refinancing ? |
Things to do before you sell
1. Get estimates from a reliable repairperson on items that need to be replaced in the home for sale, such as a roof or worn carpeting, for example. In this way, buyers will have a better sense of how much these needed repairs will affect their costs.
2. Have a termite inspection to prove to buyers that the property you're selling is not infested.
3. Get a pre-sale home inspection so you’ll be able to make repairs before buyers become concerned and cancel the sale's contract.
4. Gather together warranties and guarantees on the A/C, appliances, and other items that will remain with the home you're selling.
5. Fill out a disclosure form provided by your sales associate. Take the time to be sure that you don’t forget problems, however minor, that might create liability for you after the sale.
Tips to Make Your Home More Salable
1. Get rid of clutter. Throw out or file stacks of newspapers and magazines. Pack away most of your small decorative items. Store out-of-season clothing to make closets seem roomier. Clean out the garage. You're selling, so these are things to do anyway in order to move.
2. Wash your windows and screens to let more light into the interior. A bright home for sale always makes a good impression.
3. Keep everything extra clean. Wash fingerprints from light switch plates. Mop and wax floors. Clean the stove and refrigerator. Selling a clean house makes a better first impression and convinces buyers that the home has been well cared for.
4. Get rid of smells. Clean carpeting and drapes to eliminate cooking odors, smoke, and pet smells. Open the windows.
5. Put higher wattage bulbs in light sockets to make rooms seem brighter, especially basements and other dark rooms. Replace any burnt-out bulbs.
6. Make minor repairs that can create a bad impression. When you're selling, small problems such as sticky doors, torn screens, cracked caulking, or a dripping faucet, may seem trivial, but they’ll give buyers the impression that the house you're selling isn’t well maintained.
7. Tidy your yard. Cut the grass, rake the leaves, trim the bushes, and edge the walks. Selling a first impression, put a pot or two of bright flowers near the entryway.
8. Patch holes in your driveway and reapply sealant, if applicable.
9. Clean your gutters.
10. Polish your front doorknob and door numbers.
Our Marketing Plan
Is it enough to put a for sale sign in the yard, an ad in the paper, and then hope for the buyers to come? -I don't think so! I you're considering selling, take a moment to review my Action Plan to get you top dollar for your home for sale, in the shortest time, with the least hassle for you:
1. Market your home to the MLS Realtors (+15,000 agents working for you!) -We place your property in the MLS, availlable to all real estate agents in the tri-county area. - Your home for sale, promoted through emmail brochures and telephone to real estate professionals (90% of buyers are working with realtors) to get them interested in showing the home you're selling.
2. Your home marketed on the Internet in the most popular websites and local media classifieds. 70% of buyers start their search on the Internet, we make sure the properties we're selling have maximum exposure online.
3. I create a virtual tour of your home, at no extra cost: your 24 hrs Open House. A virtual tour will put your home at the top of any search online of homes for sale!
4. Promote your home for sale to our extensive database of buyers.
5. We place a sign on your property directing viewers to our phone and our website, where they can see photos, information, and virtual tour, encouraging them to contact us to visit the property. When you're selling, you want to reach all possible prospects.
6. Promote your home to area neighbors through postcards. People often want friends and family to move to their area.
7. Hold Open House advertising it to the Realtors of the Board, the media, the Internet, and the neighborhood, to ensure maximum exposure.
8. Handle all calls, and negotiate in your behalf, qualifying all prospects, and assisting with the financing process if necessary. You can go on with your life, we do the selling!
9. Create and have available to prospects and buyers high impact marketing materials promoting your home for sale.
10. Keep you informed at all times about the selling process, showing appointments, and overall activity in the most convenient way to you.
Terms to Watch for in a Purchase Contract
1. The closing date. See if the date the buyer wants to take title is reasonable for you.
2. Date of possession. See if the date the buyer wants to move in is reasonable for you.
3. The earnest money. Look for the largest earnest-money deposit possible; since it is forfeited if the buyer backs out, a large deposit is usually a good indication of a sincere buyer.
4. Fixtures and personal property. Check the list of items that the buyer expects to remain with the property you're selling and be sure it’s acceptable.
5. Repairs. Determine what the requested repairs will cost and whether you’re willing to do the work or would rather lower the price by that amount.
6. Contingencies. See what other factors the buyer wants met before the contract is final—inspections, selling a home, obtaining a mortgage, review of the contract by an attorney. Set time limits on contingencies so that they won’t drag on and keep your sale from becoming final.
7. The contract expiration date. See how long you have to make a decision on the offer.
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