Real Estate Blog

So, you think you're ready to sell but you don't know where to start?

Step one is an initial property review. Give me a call and we'll schedule a time for me to out and take a look at the entire property. We'll just do a quick review and talk about things that need to be done with the property and ways that you can improve it to get it ready for showings. Some of these suggestions may include basic repairs, decluttering, and maybe even refreshing your landscaping to increase curb appeal.

Stop two involves reviewing local market comps to come up with the fair market value of your home. At the same time, we’ll do some required paperwork  including a listing agreement and a property disclosure. The disclosure provides the buyers with a lot of information about the home, including age of the roof, if there is an HOA, and the like. I will also take some initial photos of the home. We’ll set up a time for a professional photographer to come in and take photos of the home. We’ll work with the photographer—and the weather!!—to make this happen. One more thing you’ll need for this is a key for a lockbox. The box will allow me to track everyone that uses the box to enter the house. 

As far as showings, we use a service called Showing Time. When an agent wants to show your home, they’ll contact the service and then the Showing Time will contact you. This can happen with a text, phone call, or email. 

Step Three is taking the listing live. That means actually activating the listing in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The information will syndicate out in about a one to four hour time frame to all the major real estate sites and at that point everybody knows what you've got and what's for sale and what price it is and how great it looks. This is when buyers start looking at it getting excited calling their real estate agent and scheduling showings!

Step number four is an exciting step—OFFERS! This is an important step when people will bring us offers to purchase your property.  There's lots of terms and conditions on these offers; it’s not just sales price and closing date. We also have to consider what type of loan and what type of inspections they're going to do, just to name a few considerations.  We'll work through those together and negotiate,  maybe even do some countering back and forth with the buyer. Once all parties in the contract come to an agreement, we’ll sign off and have a “Binding Contract.”

Step number five  is inspections and appraisal. This is by far the most challenging part of any home sale or purchase. But don’t worry! I’m here with you every step of the way. There are basically two sections to the process of house selling. The first part is getting the property marketed and getting a contract, and the second part is getting it to the closing table. This is the most challenging part. The buyer will hire inspectors to come in take a thorough look at the property. I assure you they're going to find things! I could have my home inspected today and I'm sure there'd be things that I didn't know were wrong with it! The inspectors do a good job finding these things. Unfortunately that can be complicated and the buyers will probably provide us with a list of repairs that they want to be taken care of before they buy the home. Now that list can be short or it can be long depends on a lot of factors. This can be determined by the property condition, of course age and the buyer. Some buyers are more apt to take a property with a few things that need to be done than others are.  The good thing is I know how to navigate that list and I’m here to help you. Once we get that signed and everybody's satisfied with the inspections, I can also help you hire a handyman or contractor to make the repairs. The appraisal is actually a quick process. The lender will order an appraiser to come out and do a quick 30 45 minute review of the property they'll take a few pictures do some measurements and then they'll go back and they'll compare the property to the local sales comps and provide a report to the lender which will determine if the property meets the value of the contract and satisfies the loan requirements. The appraisal sometimes causes unnecessary anxiety for a seller, but it’s generally a very easy and straightforward process. 

Step number six is our ultimate goal-CLOSING TIME!!! We'll meet at the closing attorney's office sign the papers, make sure all the loan documents are signed properly, make sure that the new deed is signed and notarized and once everything's settled the attorney will hand you your check and you'll hand the keys to the buyer. Guess what?!?! We just sold your property! This is actually one of the joys of what we do — seeing people realize their dreams of buying and selling real estate. 

I know this process seems long and complicated and yes there are challenges along the way but remember this is my specialty as a Real Estate Professional. I’m here to help you!

If you have any questions about this or anything else in the real estate process just give me a call. I’m Alan Castleman with Hickman Realty Group, and I’m here to help you!

731.414.5862

731.664.1006