Tips for Sellers

Pricing
Dangers of overpricing
Closing
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Pricing

3 Factors: These must be considered when selling your home. LOCATION, CONDITION and PRICE...and they are interrelated.

LOCATION - Your home's location and the setting influence its value. A home inside a quiet subdivision sells for more than the identical home on a busy street. Remote areas typically sell for less than those in closed-in areas. Views, streams and trees usually enhance the value.

CONDITION - New homes enjoy a marketing edge over resale homes because they are shiny and clean. Builders enhance their appeal by offering model homes (clean, bright, decorated in current colors and amenities) for buyers to examine. Our goal is to help you to make your home as close to a model home as possible, being in the best possible condition.

PRICING - If IBM stock is trading between 48 and 51, it does no good to insist on 56. Likewise, your home must be priced within the appropriate range. You must actually "sell" your property twice: to a buyer and to an appraiser. The buyer is more subjective and compares amenities you offer to what other sellers in the same price range offer. The appraiser is more objective and compares age, size and cost-identifiable features in your home against other properties that have sold.

The Final Decision on Your Listed Price. Comparable sales information helps you to determine a base price range for a particular home. Adding in the various factors like property condition, improvements, market conditions, and buyer motivation help determine whether a "fair" price would be at the upper limit of that range or the lower limit. Perhaps you will feel a fair price is outside of that price range. The "fair" price should be approximately what you are willing to agree on at the end of negotiations with the buyer. The price you list your home at before you begin negotiations is totally up to you and depends on your negotiating style.

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Dangers of overpricing

·   Many potential buyers won't even look, thinking it's out of their range.
·   Those buyers who do look are shopping by comparison, and looking at your home may convince them to make a bid on a different property.
·   Since an appraisal is often required in financing a property, it's futile to price a property for more than it's worth.
·   Properties left on the market for extended periods of time usually become "shop-worn", causing many to believe something is amiss.
·   Overpricing tends to dampen some Real Estate Salesperson's attitude, making it less likely to be shown.
·   Overpricing lengthens market spacing at the beginning and invariably results in a lower selling price than would have been otherwise obtained.

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Closing

Transfer of Possession A transaction is considered "closed" once the deeds have been recorded. Then you own the home. However, it is not always possible for you to occupy it immediately. This can happen for several reasons, but the most common is that the seller may be purchasing a home, too. Usually, it is scheduled to close simultaneously with your purchase of their home. It is sort of like being at a red light when it turns green. Although all the cars see the light change at the same time, the guy at the back of the line doesn't begin moving until all the cars ahead of him have started. As a result, it has become customary to allow the seller up to a maximum of three days to turn over actual possession and keys to the home. When transfer of possession actually occurs should be clearly laid out in your offer to prevent confusion later.

Final Walk-Through Inspection Before closing, you will want to revisit the property to ensure it is in the condition you have required in your offer, and to inspect that any required repairs have been performed. You should do this no sooner than 1-3 days before you intend to close.

Down Payment As part of your offer, you will need to disclose the size of your down payment. Once again, this allows the seller to evaluate your likelihood of obtaining a home loan. It is easier to get approved for a mortgage when you make a larger down payment. The underwriting guidelines are less strict.

Cash Offers If you are one of those rare individuals making a cash offer to buy a home, it makes sense to provide some documentation with your offer that shows you have the funds available. A bank statement would be fine. If you have to liquidate stock or some other asset, your offer should give a timetable on when you will provide proof you have converted the asset to cash.

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