The Process of Selling a Home
Before you put a house on the market, let me share my process for successful selling!
Professional Staging
Staging is an important part of the home selling process. There's a reason model homes have furniture and home décor! Studies have proven that some people are unable to visualize what a property will look like without furniture. To sell your property in the shortest time at the highest price, you can hire a professional stager. The fee is approximately $450 which includes the stager coming to the property for a walk-through evaluation. Another option is to do your own staging with my guidance and recommendations. If you are currently living in the property, you can stage yourself by removing 75% of your personal property including personal photographs and memorabilia. When you are done, a professional cleaning including carpet cleaning, power washing the exterior and landscaping completes the process. Once we've come up with a staging plan for you, we'll schedule the professional photographer and videographer for your marketing photo shoot.
Professional Photographs
Research shows that it is marketing that sells a property. In most cases, people know they love the home from the photos and video before they ever set foot in the property. Marketing photos and video are synced to over 1000 public sites, so we want yours to stand out from all of the others. That's why I use a professional real estate photographer and videographer. Professional marketing is so important, I will cover the expense for you.
Pre Listing Home Inspection
The reason some people decide to do a pre-inspection is to avoid the unpleasant surprises a home inspection may bring to light. This report provides sellers with a thorough report before the home goes on the market. Sellers have the opportunity to make necessary repairs before potential buyers start touring the property and to avoid a deal that falls through due to structural or maintenance problems.
Home Warranty
A previously owned property competes with new instruction properties. One way to level the playing field is to offer a home warranty for one year. A home warranty (with appliance coverage) will ensure the new buyer is covered if significant repairs are needed after closing within the first year. For example, let's say the A/C goes out the day after they move in. They pay a service charge of $100, but the home warranty will cover the cost of anything over and above that, including a brand new A/C system if necessary. How good will that sound to a potential new buyer? The best part? The home warranty can be negotiated OUT of the contract if the price isn't where it needs to be for you. You won’t have to pay it. In general, a home warranty costs around $600. The cost is taken out of the proceeds of the home, so you won’t have to come out of pocket up front! Pro Tip: Many home warranty companies also offer limited home warranties that cover you if you need to make repairs before going on the market.
MLS
Once staging and marketing photography are done, I will activate your property on the Multiple Listing Service. This is the site where NE Florida real estate agents go to preview properties for their clients. It’s also where sites like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com pull from to display properties for sale.
Walk-Through Video/Sneak Peek
After the property is Active on the MLS, I will create a YouTube video of the property for Facebook. This only takes 2 to 5 minutes, depending on the size of the property, but the impact it has is amazing. I refer to this as a Sneak Peek. Although the property is already active where agents can see it/show it, our social media audience also gets a preview.
Seller Responsibility
You have a couple of responsibilities at this point. Be flexible about showings and keep the property as clean as possible. Most buyers purchase a home on emotion and do it quickly. If they can't get in to see the property soon, they're probably not going to buy it. As far as keeping the property clean, I understand that we all live in our homes. But you can do certain things to make sure it's presentable. Dirty kitchens and bathrooms is the number one thing that turns people off. The close second is pet or cigarette/cigar smoke odors. Make sure the sinks are clean and free of dirty dishes by wiping them down when you leave the house. If you're a smoker, plan to have the carpets shampooed and walls painted to reduce odors before going on the market.
Feedback
About 7 out of 10 agents give feedback when asked, but there are always going to be agents that are afraid to respond because the property wasn’t a match for their customer. That being said, I’ll do my best to get feedback so we know if there are problem areas we need to improve to get the property sold. If you download the ShowingTime app from the link I'll send you when we go live on MLS you'll be able to see feedback in real time!
Have Fun!
The home selling process can be stressful, but it doesn't have to be. I will do my very best to keep you informed. Most people don t like real estate agents because honestly, most are impossible to get a hold of when you have questions. I'll make the experience as smooth as possible and help you reach your goal of selling your property so you can move on with the next stage of your life.
