1. Choosing a Broker
You’ve decided to put your home up for sale and contact 3 real estate agents for a market analysis. The first says that your home should be priced at $350,000, the second says $359,000 and the third says $369,000. Which one to choose?
A market analysis is the broker’s opinion of what someone would be willing to pay for your property, based on similar homes that have sold recently. When comparing your property to others, adjustments to value are made to compensate for the various amenities and differences between the properties. Correct pricing of your home will minimize the amount of time it’s on the market.
Two things come to a potential buyer’s mind when looking at a home that has lingered: “There must be something wrong with the home,” or, “I can give a low ball offer because the seller must be desperate by now.” At this point, you may well be desperate to sell, especially after months preparing a home for showing and the delay on your future plans.
Another pitfall to overpricing: unless your home is being purchased by a cash buyer, your sale will be subject to a bank appraisal. If the home doesn’t appraise, the sale is in jeopardy. You don’t want to go back to the negotiating table a week before closing, or in the worst case, go back on the market!
While most brokers are honest professionals, there are those who may puff up the price just to get your listing. The result is a lengthy market time, and an eventual price adjustment.
Then, there are those in the real estate industry who promise a “quick sale,” or a “reduced fee” … sounds tempting, doesn’t it? Allow us to translate. “Quick sale” = underpriced listing. “Reduced fee” = compromised service. Make sure that you choose someone who makes you feel comfortable, and who earns your trust and confidence.
2. Preparing for Showings
Getting your home ready to welcome potential buyers may take just a few days of tidying up, but most likely, you’ll have one or more projects that require help from a professional. These are the steps we recommend to our clients.
Think Like Our Photographer
Try to see your home as if for the first time, noticing anything that should be cleared away or moved to create a spacious, tidy scene in each room. This will enable our photographer and photo editor to produce top-notch marketing photos of your home.
Is There Such a Thing as Too Spacious?
If you’ve already moved into a new home and you’re selling a vacant property, it would be wise to consider professional staging. Some buyers find it hard to imagine how to furnish a vacant home, and empty rooms can sometimes come across as cold and uninviting in photographs. A staging expert can bring in a few temporary furnishings that will make a big difference.
Call in a Professional
If you’re up against years’ worth of clutter or need some repairs done, it’s well worth getting the help of a professional. We can offer an extensive list of trusted contacts, including:
Staging Professionals
Painters
Landscapers
Contractors
How to Ace a Showing
On showing days:
Clear any dead leaves or snow from your drive and walkways.
Open drapes and curtains to allow as much light into your home as possible.
Adjust the heat or air conditioning to make the house comfortable to guests. On cold days, a natural fire in the fireplace is especially inviting. In nice weather, leave windows open for fresh air.
Clean kids’ fingerprints from glass and windows (especially common around slider door handles).
Create a cozy hiding place for your cat in her carrier, or;
Arrange for nervous or loud pets to be elsewhere during the showing.
3. Use Counteroffers To Your Advantage
You’ve found a buyer, but the offer is not quite what you were expecting. Is it a good idea to make a counteroffer? Perhaps. But to be a strong, in-control seller, it’s imperative that you understand how counteroffers work.
When Counteroffers Occur
Counteroffers are replies to original offers. For example, the buyer asks that you leave the washer and dryer with the house. You decline and counter back to the buyer with the washer and dryer marked off of the personal property section of the contract. You have made a counteroffer.
Counteroffer Snafu
It sounds simple, but there’s one twist: A counteroffer is an entirely new offer, one that the buyer doesn’t have to accept. Any change, no matter how minor, voids the first offer, and the buyer is under no obligation to respond to the new offer. This means that even though the buyer first offered to pay full-price (in cash) for the house, you may have just killed the sale because you balked at leaving a washer and dryer worth a couple hundred dollars!
Communicating Your Acceptance
There’s an additional point to understand regarding offers of all kinds. The buyer has the right to withdraw the offer anytime before hearing of your acceptance. For example, while you’re deciding on an offer, you could receive word that the buyer is revoking her offer and purchasing another property. This is why it’s important to let your agent know as soon as you make your decision.
When Counteroffers Make Sense
Weigh the pros and cons before proceeding, and be ready to accept the consequences. The buyer can walk away from the sale, or even counter back at terms less favorable than they first proposed. In general, win/win negotiating will serve you better than mind games. Be mindful of your buyer’s feelings, and they will likely return the kindness if something goes wrong in the inspection stage, ensuring two happy parties at the closing table.
4. The Home Inspection
Congratulations, you and a bona fide buyer for your home are “in contract!” Time to relax, right? Well, not necessarily. The inspection is the first of two major hurdles (the other being the appraisal) in getting to the closing table.
Treat It Like a First Impression
It is important to keep in mind that the buyers for your home spend 2 to 3 hours, on average, with their chosen home inspector at the time of inspection, providing them an opportunity to reaffirm their buying decision, so be sure to prepare the house as you would for a showing…Make it shine! Welcome the buyers back with freshly baked cookies, always a nice touch.
Experience Counts
Inspections come at a substantial cost to the buyers, so well-informed buyers have vetted the industry professionals (home inspectors now have to be licensed in the State of New Hampshire, not the case just a short time ago), all the necessary calls are made to engage the home inspector who they feel will do the best possible job on their behalf. Any deficiencies and/or repairs discovered and reported may bring about a new round of negotiations. An experienced broker, however, is your best advocate in helping to navigate any unexpected detours that the impending sale may take at this critical time.
Our List of Contacts
When needed, our seller clients enjoy a wide-ranging list of vendors and contractors accessible through our company’s many trusted business contacts. At Manter Realty, we are with you every step of the way, providing the professional expertise in negotiating, so that you may achieve the goal of a successful closing!
5. The Appraisal
If ever there is a critical time, where the success or failure of your sale hangs in the balance, it is now. An experienced, respected agent can tip the scales in your favor, by demonstrating to the appraiser how your home was priced responsibly.
Who or what determines value is far from an exact science. While it is true that the bank appraiser and the *Realtor® pull from the same database to produce their independent value assessments, value, much like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. We are the sum and substance of all our experiences, beliefs and predispositions.
The properties that we select in the interest of our seller clients to support a full price offer may (and sometimes do) vary from those selected by the appraiser assigned by the buyer’s lender. If your home does not appraise at the value needed by the buyer’s lender for approval, the difference could ultimately determine the potential for lost proceeds to you at the closing table.
Linda Manter holds a Certificate for the successful completion of the Division of Community Education Program in Concepts of Residential Appraising, completed in May of 1987 at NHTI. This additional Certificate, and her more than 30 years of real estate experience, make all the difference on the rare occasion an appraisal challenge occurs.
*the term REALTOR® has one, and only one, meaning: REALTOR® is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.