Are you ready to sell? This section will detail how working with an agent can not only get your home sold quickly, but sold above market price. Let’s begin.

1. Meet with a Seller’s Agent

An agent is going to meet with the seller and discuss a variety of things: the seller’s motivation and time frame for moving, the marketing plan, and a comparative market analysis of the home.

The seller’s motivation and time frame are important because they inform the agent how far to plan ahead. For example, if a seller accepts a job in another state and needs to move there in a couple of months, that will inform the agent about when to list and how to price the house. The agent may recommend pricing the home a little lower within a given price range in order to sell the property quicker.

I utilize a holistic approach for my marketing plan in order to capture audiences with all forms of media including print, web and television advertising. However, the foundation for all these forms of marketing is professional photography. The professionally done photos of the house will be used to send flyers out to prospective buyers, create a personal website for the property, run a television ad with photo narration, and display the photos on the MLS (multiple listing syndication) where buyer’s agents and their clients can see them

A comparative market analysis, also know as a CMA, is a price analysis of the client’s home by looking at similar properties that have sold in the recent past within the same town/neighborhood. The CMA is not an exact science, so the seller’s agent will likely come up with an approximate price range for the listing price based on similar properties. It is highly recommended that the seller heed the agent’s advice regarding the listing price, otherwise the seller may risk pricing the house too high and potentially scaring off potential buyers.

After agreeing on all the fundamentals, the agent will ask the client to sign a listing agreement. The agent will also set up a time to come by the house to measure rooms, and gather material facts about the house. Most of these material facts, such as the year built, the style of house, type of roofing and cladding can be determined through observation and public record.

2. Get Pre-Inspection Done (Optional)

This part is optional. A pre-inspection helps the seller to discover any repairs that need to be made before the house is put on the market. This will accomplish two things. First, it will make sure the home is in pristine condition, boosting its market value. Second, it will give the buyer very little room to negotiate the sales price down following completion of their home inspection. There is however some drawbacks that a seller should be aware of when getting a pre-inspection (click here).

3. Prepping the House to Sell

Prepping a home to sell involves prepping it for the professional photo shoot as well as prepping it for buyer showings. Below is a list of things that a seller’s will want to consider before opening their home to the public.

Tasks

• Get professional cleaners to eliminate odors, cleans carpets, and polish floors

• Repaint rooms to a widely accepted contemporary color (eg. light blue, white)

• Consider replacing or getting rid of dated carpets, as well as replacing older counter surfaces with brighter more vibrant ones (may be worth it to paint counters if replacement is too costly)

• Apply a fresh coat of paint to fences and to the exterior of the house if the house has noticeable chipping and/or peeling of paint.

• Reseed dry or barren patches of grass. Thin or remove trees that affect the overall aesthetic of the house (eg. if a tree is blocking half the view of the house from the outside, then this may be a candidate for chopping down), plant annuals around walkways that lead up to house.

• Declutter/depersonalize. Either rent a storage unit or throw out belongings that you are not using, have been hoarding (you know who you are), or don’t immediately need and plan on packing anyway. Take down the shrine of family portraits and only leave a few pictures up for decorative purposes. Remove appliances and knick knacks that you don’t use regularly from both the kitchen counter and bathroom vanities. Shed closets of clothes and items that you don’t immediately need and put them in storage. The purpose of decluttering and depersonalizing is to emphasize space and to help the buyer mentally move into the house moving your things out.

• Remove small furniture that inhibit walkways and remove large pieces of furniture that crowd spaces.

• Repair any home defects (see advisory pre-inspection above as not all defects are immediately apparent)

• In garage, put bikes and other machinery in to storage or find a place to tuck them away neatly (eg. storage cabinet, underneath deck, hang them up).

An agent may suggest that a seller also uses a professional staging company, which will bring its own furniture and design expertise, although this will depend on the seller’s budget as well as whether it will generate a return on investment. If you do decide to professionally stage the home, please make sure you check out this section to see what professional staging can do to heighten your home’s appeal. Sellers may also work with the furniture they already have with a few added accent pieces.

4. Arrange a Time for the Photoshoot

Pretty simple. Set up a time during the week where the photographer can come by and take photos of the house. Seller’s should expect to allocate about 2 hours out of their day for the photographer, although a smaller house may only take one hour.

5. Get Ready to Go Live!

The agent will at this point be ready to list the home on the MLS (the multiple listing syndication) where all the buyer’s agents can find it. The seller’s agent may include a deadline for offers in the listing. This deadline will be based on previous discussions with the seller regarding the time frame for selling the house, and taking into account the market condition (slower markets may not include a deadline at all).

I usually recommend the listing goes live on a Tuesday, in order to give a few days for the house to catch the attention of prospective buyers, leading up to the open house on the weekend. It is imperative that right before the house goes live, that the seller and the agent work out a schedule to allocate time for private showings midweek to any early prospects who want exclusive access to the property.

6. Private Showings/Open House

As mentioned above, private showings will happen throughout the week. A seller should not be present for showings for a variety of reasons. First, the buyer and seller have competing interests; one wants to get the house for the lowest price, and the other one wants to sell it for the highest price. Second, a seller may unintentionally give away information regarding their motivation for moving which could give the buyer leverage during negotiations. Third, a seller could share details about the house that the buyer doesn’t like about the house. The seller’s agent will be keeping the seller posted on any interest or feedback that may arise during the private showings.

The open house will happen on the first weekend the house goes live. Again, the same rules apply as above, and only the seller’s agent should be present. The purpose of an open house is to get as many eyes balls on the home in a short period of time. It may also add a psychological dimension to negotiations. For example, if a lot of people (whether they are interested or not) show up to the open house, a buyer may be compelled to write a larger offer for the home due to the perception of increased competition.

7. Offer acceptance

Following the private showings and open house, the seller will hopefully be presented with multiple offers. A seller’s agent may submit a counter offer to one of the buyer’s offers before accepting it, based on the seller’s instruction. The counter offer could ask the prospective buyer to tighten certain home inspection or mortgage approval deadlines, or ask for a larger offer or down payment. The seller will then accept one of the offers, which will begin the real estate timeline to close. A typical real estate transaction last about 45 days.

8. Sign Purchase and Sale Agreement

Following the buyer’s home inspections, the buyer’s agent will try to negotiate with the seller’s agent any last minutes changes to the sales price based on the amount of needed repairs that the home inspection found. The buyer and seller’s attorney will also be negotiating in the background, adding any contingencies to the Purchase and Sale Agreement relating to either the home inspection or any undetected issues that are discovered after the home is sold. These details will be negotiated for a few days after the home inspection until both parties are satisfied and are ready to sign the Purchase and Sale Agreement, which represents the finalized terms of the sale. The Purchase and Sale Agreement usually happens 3-5 days after the home inspection is completed.

9. Mortgage Commitment

After signing the Purchase and Sale Agreement, the onus is now on the buyer to get their mortgage approved over the next three to four weeks so that they have all their finances in order for closing day. In order for the mortgage to be approved, the buyer’s mortgage lender will send a third party appraiser to appraise the seller’s house. The appraisal process is similar to a CMA, whereby the appraiser will determine a value for the seller’s property based on comparative properties that have been recently sold nearby, the location of the home, and the overall condition of the property. A seller’s agent will likely hand the appraiser their comparative market analysis, to help ensure the appraisal comes in at the sales price of the home.

If the appraisal comes in below sales price, the buyer’s agent will ask for a reduction in sales price from the seller in order to get the buyer’s mortgage approved. This will begin a series of bartering between the seller’s agent and buyer’s agent, regarding how much lower the seller is willing to drop the previously agreed sales price and how much the buyer should bring to closing to make up for the amount the bank is no longer willing to lend. For more details, regarding the mortgage and appraisal process, click here.

10. The Closing Day

After the mortgage is approved, the seller can move the rest of their belongings out of the house if they have not done so already. The buyer will do a final walk-through of the house before the closing date to ensure that anything the seller had contractually agreed to take (eg. microwave, chandelier) is gone, and anything the seller contractually agreed to leave behind (eg. refrigerator, oven) is still there. Buyers will also make sure that the seller has made all the repairs that were previously agreed to in the Purchase and Sale Agreement.

The closing attorney will also be doing title search’s on the home leading up to closing to ensure that the seller has no unpaid liens or taxes on the home, to make sure the new owners have free and clear title on the property. On closing day, the seller will not need to be present, however they will need to have signed a variety of closing documents. The most important document is the deed, which will be signed over to the new homeowners. Once everything is signed and verified by all parties, the property has officially been sold!