Listing Consultation
Define Priorities & Expectations and Create a Plan
- What is driving your move
- Timeframe
- Goal for net proceeds
- What do you love about your home
- What is special about the neighborhood in which you live
- What investments have you made in your home
- Recommended modifications to increase the saleability of your home
- Trends in your market area (inventory, price per square foot, days on market)
- Intricacies of and strategies used in pricing your home
- Marketing plan components
Preparing your Home for Sale
- Complete pre-market inspections such as whole house, sewer, roof, chimney, and pest
- Complete recommended repairs
- Prepare a property binder with a list of upgrades, manuals, invoices, and history of the home
- Professional photographs to be taken
- Marketing plan designed and materials developed
- Set the stage
- Discuss formal staging if vacant
- Check the visibility of your house numbers, repaint or polish if necessary.
- Create an inviting walkway. Add color with annuals and a new doormat to brighten your home and welcome buyers.
- Open windows everyday to let in fresh air. Appeal to buyer’s sense of smell and create an inviting feeling by lighting candles or baking.
- Sharpen the look of your rooms by paying attention to detail. Polish knobs and handles and replace lights in bathrooms and kitchen as necessary.
- Turn on all lights, especially at night, to highlight your home’s amenities.
- Create a focal point in your entryway by adding a picture, lamp or plant.
- Remove furniture to make room appear larger and allow for a clear traffic pattern.
- Replace old lampshades, bedspreads and bath towels and coordinate matching area rugs, pillows and candles throughout all rooms.
- Hang all pictures on the low side and hang mirrors across from windows that get a lot of light or have a view.
- Set your dining room table for a decorative appeal.
- Place plants and fresh flowers in rooms to add vibrancy and freshness. Use big, bright or bold accessories to draw attention to important areas of the room.
- Try not to be present when potential buyers are viewing your home. If you are present, keep conversation to a minimum.
Determining a Price for your Home
The Woolfords will help you determine the list price of your home by providing you with a thorough market analysis. It is a skill where experience and judgment are fundamental. Some of the factors that influence the list price of your home are:
- Physical qualities and updates
- Market conditions
- Competition
- Interest rates
- Economy
Pricing your home is a complex task that requires the expertise of an experienced real estate professional. Consider the following:
- If the listing price is set outside of the property parameters, potential buyers may be deterred from considering your move
- Arriving at the optimal price requires evaluation and understanding of current marketing conditions, the marketable features of your home and recent trends in the real estate market
- The closer your home is priced to fair market value when it first comes on the market, the more likely it will sell quickly, at the highest price
- The higher your home is priced above market value, the fewer number of available buyers
The Woolfords will advise you of the following factors when assisting you in determining a listing price for your home:
- What have buyers recently paid for similar properties?
- Will this price attract enough attention by buyers to generate showings and acceptable offers?
- What properties are competing for the attention of buyers right now?
- What properties have not sold, indicating what prices buyers are unwilling to pay under current market conditions?
You’ve received an offer, now what?
Questions for the Buyer’s Agent and Lender- Asking the buyers’ agent and lender questions prior to reviewing an offer can give you as the seller and us as your advocates a better idea of how committed the buyers are and what type of experience they have in purchasing a home.
- Are the buyers local or moving from out of town?
- Have they owned a home before?
- How long have they been looking to purchase a home?
- How many homes have they viewed?
- How many offers have your buyers written?
- Have they been in contract on a home before?
- With whom have they been pre-approved?
- What type of loan are they getting?
- How much are they putting down?
Negotiations– Upon receiving an offer, it must be broken down beyond just the purchase price. Other than the purchase price, there are many pieces that attribute to making the escrow process smooth and most importantly, affect your net.
- Length of Escrow
- Amount of Initial Deposit
- Type of Financing
- Amount of Down Payment
- Contingency Periods…Inspections, Insurance, Review of Seller Disclosures, Appraisal, and Loan
- Allocation of Costs…Title, Escrow, City Transfer Tax, County Transfer Tax, Home Warranty and Buyer’s Agent Commission
- Is the Buyer’s Agent Experienced and Reputable
- Is the Lender Experienced and Reputable
Once in Escrow…And Making it to the Finish Line
- Communicate, Communicate, Communicate with you through the entire process
- Provide timeline for the length of the escrow period
- Deliver contract to the title company and lender
- Ensure initial deposit is turned in to the title company
- Deliver disclosures to the buyer’s agent and ensure preliminary title report and natural hazard disclosures are issued to all parties by the title company
- Coordinate appraisal and inspection dates/times with you
- Meet the appraiser at the property with support of the agreed upon purchase price inclusive of comparables and list of improvements
- Negotiate any requested repairs
- Coordinate repairs
- Communicate with buyer’s agent and lender to ensure contingencies are requested to be removed as they are due up
- Coordinate and attend signing of final paperwork
- Coordinate utility transition from seller to buyer
- Coordinate buyers getting the keys on the day of close
