1. Prepare
Preparing your home for sale is just as important as pricing your home. Create a warm,
inviting setting on the outside as well as the inside, encouraging potential buyers out of their
cars and into your home. Outside you may want to plant some flowers along the sidewalk,
pick up any items laying around the yard that may look like clutter, clean the windows, and
polish your front door. On the inside of you home, you may consider replacing, or steam
cleaning carpets if necessary, deep cleaning bathrooms, keeping the closets tidy, and
arranging furniture to allow a spacious atmosphere. Before doing any major changes, consult
with Josh and Jolene.
2. Get a Realtor
Using a Realtor to sell your home is very beneficial. Josh and Jolene can give you up-to-date
information on what is happening in the marketplace and the price, financing, terms and
condition of competing properties. These are key factors in getting your property sold at the
best price, quickly and with minimum hassle. When your property is marketed with Josh and
Jolene's help, you do not have to allow strangers into your home. Real estate agents will
pre-screen and accompany qualified prospects through your property. Josh and Jolene will
also be very helpful when questions arise between the initial sales agreement and closing.
For example, unexpected repairs are required to obtain financing or a cloud in the title is
discovered. The required paperwork alone is overwhelming for most sellers. Josh and Jolene
will work to objectively help you resolve these issues and move the transaction to closing.
3. Determining the Value of Your Home
We can help you determine your home's value by providing a comparative market analysis
(CMA). The goal of the CMA is to determine a price that someone will pay for your home.
This involves identification of similar homes with as many similar characteristics as possible,
such as location, size, features (garages, basements, landscaping), age and condition, that
have been sold recently. The prices for these comparable homes are then used to estimate
how much your home might sell for. The sales value of your home will be an estimate, and
the value will vary with other factors, such as the local economy, number of houses on the
market, the movement of people in and out of the area, etc. If you would like more
information on the current value of your home, please do not hesitate to call Josh and Jolene.
4. Marketing Your Home
Josh and Jolene will act as your marketing coordinator. Josh and Jolene use state of the art
and unique marketing techniques to disburse information about your property to other real
estate agents and potential buyers.
Here are some of the ways we market our listings:
- Realtor Internet Site
- Windermere Internet
- Josh and Jolene's Website
- Bellingham Herald
- MLS
- Color Flyers
- Home Book
- Just Listed Cards
- Office Tour
- Large Property for Sale Sign
- Flyer Box
- Newsletter
- Open Houses
- 4 Page Flyers
- Homes.com
- Bellingham Herald
- Professional Photographer
- Zillow
- homescape
- Trulia
- You Tube
- Oodle backpage.com
- Point2homes
- Facebook
- Craigslist
- Activerain
- Vast
- My space
- Citylist
- Google
5. Accepting and Offer
One day when you least expect it, your real estate agent will present you with an offer. Do not
be surprised if the offer is less than your asking price. This is all part of the process. Take
your time and give some thought to your response, you will not be expected to respond
immediately. Something to take into consideration while you weigh the offer, is the current
state of the real estate market. Josh and Jolene may also be able to offer advice as to
whether the price the buyer has offered you is fair. You may also counter offer if the price is
unacceptable. When you and the buyer finally agree on a price, the buyer will then shop for a
mortgage and have the house inspected. Expect to do a little waiting, delays can happen
because of the large volume of paperwork involved in completing financing.
6. Closing
The closing is an eagerly awaited event because it's pay-off time for the seller. You will want
to make sure everything you intend to keep is removed from the property before the closing.
Anything left behind legally belongs to the buyers. At the closing, there will be a list of fees
you'll be expected to pay out of the proceeds of the sale. That will include the agent's
commission, any attorney's fees, and any other fees you've agreed to pay in your contract
with the buyer. Don't forget to find all the house keys and garage door openers. Your will be
handing them over to the new owner's at the end of the closing.
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