Selling Your Home
For most families, their home is their largest financial asset, and deciding to sell it is a big decision that involves a lot of preparation and work. When you’re ready to sell it’s important to have an experienced real estate professional handle the details involved in the successful sale of a home for top dollar.
As experienced professionals who have helped many homeowners sell their homes, we know how to handle every aspect of the sales process – from strategically marketing and showcasing your home to making sure everything’s signed, sealed and delivered by the closing date.
Providing you with comprehensive, high-quality listing service is our top priority. We can provide an accurate assessment of market value and a comprehensive and professional marketing plan. So when you decide to sell your home, please contact us and let’s get started!
The Basics of Marketing Your Home
Our marketing efforts and considerations will include advertising, showing the property, how long the house has been on the market and whether you’re buying another home. Your home will be listed through a Multiple Listing Service (MLS), as well as all of the most popular websites and the ones exclusive to Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.
Advertising and Promotion
Properties are commonly advertised through real estate agent Web sites, Internet home search/listing services, classified advertising and real estate guides. Promotion efforts through office and MLS tours are a good way of getting other buyer agents to view your home and to promote it to the buyers they are working with.
Even with all these advertising avenues, ” For Sale” signs on front lawns are still remarkably effective. When appropriate, and with your permission, we may send a mailing about your property to neighbors. Sometimes one of them has a friend or relative who always wanted to live near them. You never know how far reaching the benefits of word-of-mouth advertising by friends, relatives and neighbors can be.
Showings and Open Houses
To prepare your home for viewing, make it as bright, clean, cheerful and serene as possible. Always look at your home from the buyer’s point of view. We will probably find a tactful way to suggest that you be absent while the house is being shown to prospective buyers, because your presence will inhibit their actions and conversations. They won’t feel free to open closets and cabinets, test out the plumbing and discuss their observations objectively as they walk through the house. It goes without saying that your children and pets should not be on the premises either.
When we have scheduled an open house, we will notify the neighbors via postcards, and assure them that they’ll be welcome. They’ll jump at the chance to poke around in your house, and sometimes they can turn up a buyer among their friends.
Before each showing and open house, we recommend that you:
- Clean or replace dirty or worn carpets
- Open all curtains and blinds
- Replace any burned out light bulbs and turn on all lights
- Clear all clutter
- Clear all countertops
- Wash and put away any dirty dishes
- Put fresh towels in the bathroom
- Take any laundry out of the washer and dryer
- Leave the house so your we are free to deal with prospective buyers in a professional manner
- We will work with you and your pets
How Long Has Your House Been on the Market?
Professional appraisers sum up their entire body of knowledge in three words: “Buyers make value.” Your home is worth as much as a buyer will pay for it.
If your home has been on the market for months, it’s a clear message that the property may not be worth what you’re asking for it. This is particularly true if there haven’t been many prospects coming to see it. What you do at that point depends on whether you really need to sell, and whether you’re working with a time limit.
If you’re not really motivated to move soon, you can always wait – years if necessary – and hope inflation will catch up with the price you want. The problem is that in that time, your home begins to feel shopworn. Buyers become suspicious of a house that’s been for sale for a long time.
If you really do need to sell, we can discuss a schedule for gradually dropping your price until you find a level that attracts buyers. There’s no point in saying, ” We simply can’t sell our house.” Anything will sell if the price is right.
If You’re Buying Another Home
You may wonder what will happen when you’re selling one home and buying another? How will all the details work out? This is a common situation; we, along with lawyers and mortgage brokers, have plenty of experience in arranging contracts and loans so that the two transactions dovetail smoothly.
Should you sell your home first then buy, or buy first then sell? Ideally, it’s best to find a home you like and make an offer subject to selling your current home. This generally works in a normal market. However, in a “hot” market most sellers will not accept a “subject to sale” offer. In this case you need to sell your home first and then buy a new home in the interim period between selling and vacating your house.
If you find that you need to buy the next house before you’ve received the proceeds from the present one, lending institutions can sometimes make you a short-term “bridge” loan to tide you over between the two transactions. Make sure you fully understand the exposure and emotional investment before proceeding with this type of loan.
Seller’s Articles & Resources
When selling your home, there are no guarantees that a buyer will simply walk through the front door. There are steps that you need to take so that your property receives maximum exposure to attract a ready, willing and able buyer.
The appearance of your home, a buyer’s first impression, and other considerations can also affect the sale of your home. Have you considered that home prices in your neighborhood and the value of your property are also factors used for pricing your home? As Realtors in your neighborhood we see as many homes as possible to ensure we are pricing your house accurately based on current market conditions. Effective marketing will help ensure that your home is sold in a timely manner at the best price.
Useful Websites for Sellers:
The Massachusetts Association of Realtors provides valuable advice to sellers.
House Logic provides practical advice for improving the value of your home.Below are some articles that you might find useful in the home selling process. Please feel free to click on one the links to read more. Se
Useful Articles for Sellers:
What is a CMA and Why Do You Need One?
The Home Sale: Securing the Deal
