Recent Seller Question: “Help! I’ve never sold a house before. Where do I start? What are the steps in the process?”
Great Question!
There are 100’s of steps involved in the home sale process and no two transactions are exactly alike. To give you a general idea of what to expect, we’ve put together a list of the most common activities.
Listing Process:
- Invite Real Estate Agent to tour your home (Don’t worry – it doesn’t need to be “show ready”)
- Ask lots of questions & decide if this is who you want to hire — if not, keep looking!
- Determine the List Price based on your Broker’s recommendations
- Sign Listing Contracts
- Get all paperwork filled out and ready for listing
- Staging recommendations (#1 – declutter)
- Prepare property for its debut to the public (think “school picture day” — clean & looking it’s best!)
- Photography appointment
- Sign in the yard and property goes live (now the neighbors know — let the gossip begin!)
- Marketing plan rolled out (now everyone knows!)
- Showings & feedback (what buyers are thinking of your property)
- On-going pricing & staging strategies based on activity and feedback
Offer Process:
(For your planning purposes, the time from accepted offer until day of closing usually takes 30-45 days.)
- Receive an offer & continue negotiations until agreement is reached
- Inspections, then negotiations on requested repairs (they always find something!)
- Appraisal completed & value approved by buyer’s lender
- Agreed upon inspection repairs completed by seller (or contractors)
- Buyer loan processing continues
- Packing — lot’s of packing!
- Coordinate movers, trucks, storage units… (calling all friends and family)
- Clear to close from lender (underwriter loan approval — Happy Dance!!!!)
- Final Utility Reading (plus stop/forward mail, subscriptions, etc…)
- Celebration Table (more commonly called Closing!)
- Moving Day (calling all friends and family)
- Transfer Possession (often 0-7 days after closing)
A great agent will be there every step of the way and will walk you through the process from start to finish!
Schedule a “Meet & Greet” with us!
Summary