Seller Service

Determining the right price is hands-down the most important part of achieving the highest return in the least amount of time. Many factors go into determining a home’s market value, such as the sales price of nearby homes that have recently sold, the listing price of similar homes that are currently on the market, as well as the condition and location of a home. Below are my approaches on how to assist you in determining the proper listing price.

Properties listed at the right price sell fastest and put the most money into their sellers’ pockets. Underpricing isn’t common but can cost you money. Overpricing is a really bad practice that can keep a property on the market longer than necessary and end up with price reductions and lowball offers. 

A proper list price that reflects current and realistic market conditions is critical to getting your property sold quickly.  Listing a property appropriately will make the difference in not only the amount of time on the market to sell it, but ultimately on the price you obtain.  Many people make the mistake of aiming way too high, in the belief that there is no harm as the price can be reduced if no offers come in. While price reductions can be a valuable tool to stimulate interest in a property, one should not plan to do that as an initial strategy. You only get to make one first impression- a first impression of an unrealistic seller rubs many buyers the wrong way; the initial price may deter many buyers from even viewing the property and having the opportunity to fall in love with it; and the longer it takes to sell, a stigma begins to attach to the property, with fewer agents excited to show it and buyers wondering what is wrong with it.  A price reduction may be too little too late- it may bring out the bargain hunters looking for an even further discount, and you may end up getting a lesser sales price than if you had originally listed at the reduced price.

How do I come up with a suggested list price that positions your home to get the highest price? It’s a combination of experience and knowledge of the current marketplace. I will provide you with a very detailed analysis and market evaluation so that you can understand the process and come to your own conclusion.  I keep tabs on each neighborhood and how many active listings are on the market, how many new listings are coming on the market each week, how many active buyers are out there looking for your type of home in your target price range, whether the financial markets are causing an increase or decrease in purchasing activity.  Being familiar with the existing and recently sold listings is key to identifying and comparing properties and their values. 

I generally do not advocate pricing a property intentionally lower than its value in an attempt to create a bidding war. In my experience, an appropriately priced property is more likely to receive multiple bids in the price range you are hoping for.  A property priced extremely low will typically generate a variety of offers and often disappoint buyers who make full-price offers in good faith only to learn that they won’t be considered. Those buyers may not come back.

You know your home and your neighborhood as well, and your opinion of value and what you are willing to sell for are key components.  We will, review all of the data collaboratively, and together agree on a listing price that you are comfortable with and that will result in a successful sale so that you can move forward to your next chapter. 

First impressions are key when selling a home, your home only has one chance to make a great first impression, so before the for sale sign goes up, it’s critical to put in the time to prepare your property and make it ready for the market.

There are many ways, large and small, to increase the marketability and desire for your property, the more desire for your property, the better your price! Depending on your property’s situation such as the condition of your property compared to others, the existence of upgrades, curb appeal, design layout, etc., I will identify and recommend only the improvements that your property needs to make top dollar on the sale of your biggest asset. We have a list of the best stagers, painters, landscapers, and contractors to prepare your property for sale. The payoff is worth the investment for the most profitable sales price. If you don’t have the budget for preparing or staging your property, we will have an alternative plan for you at no extra cost.

Once your property is fully prepared and ready for the highest exposure to the market, we will develop a customized marketing plan to attract the interest of the right buyers and command the best price for your property. Today, the vast majority of homebuyers use the internet in their home search, they won’t view homes that don’t look their best.  So in addition to the traditional print advertising and open houses, our marketing plan will focus on online activities, we have professionals to showcase your home in its best light with top-tier photos, video, drone photography, and immersive virtual tours.

Showings are an inconvenient yet necessary part of the home-selling process. We try to take the hassle out of it for you, so it is as least disruptive as possible. It’s important to maintain a certain level of cleanliness; clear dishes from the sink, make beds, put away laundry, and vacuum and dust regularly. It’s also a good idea to clear out; it makes buyers uncomfortable to tour a home when the owners are in the next room, so for the sake of your sale, vacate your home for showings. We communicate, every time your home is shown, whether it’s an open house, or a single showing, with a recap of all comments.

Once your property hits the market and starts receiving offers, the seller’s real challenge arrives: How to choose the best offer and make a successful sale? The answer is not always easy, the best offer isn’t necessarily the highest, and it depends on many factors, here is where my expertise applies, and can help you in choosing the best offer for your situation.

First, money is a key ingredient of a strong offer. But there’s more to it than just seeing who’ll pay the most. I will help you to evaluate the buyer’s overall financial picture. You don’t want to take the highest bid only to find out later the buyer can’t back it up. And that could happen: If they offer more than their lender thinks the house is worth, the buyer may not be able to borrow enough money to cover the offer amount. Hopefully, they have enough in savings to make up the difference—but if not, the whole deal could fall through. Another possible snag is that certain loan types, like FHA or VA loans, can take longer to get approved and may require you to spend money on extra repairs. So, it’s important to look at the buyer’s overall situation. Have they gotten preapproved for a mortgage? Are they getting a conventional loan? Are they offering more earnest money to show they’re serious? Are they giving you an all-cash offer?

Okay, so money is important. But it shouldn’t be the only deciding factor in how you choose the best offer. You should also think about what buyers are—and aren’t—asking for.

Some buyers will ask for contingencies. These are conditions the buyer and seller have to meet before the sale is finalized. And if one of you doesn’t follow through, the buyer can back out of the deal.

Here are some types of contingencies:

• Mortgage contingency: The buyer has a specific amount of time to get fully approved for a loan. If they don’t secure financing, they can back out of the sale.
• Home sale contingency: They’ll buy your house—after they sell their place. This is usually because the buyer needs the money from the sale of their house to help buy your house.
• Inspection contingency: A buyer can request to have your home professionally inspected. If the inspector finds problems, the buyer can request repairs. And then you’ll have to negotiate on how to take care of those repairs. This can be a dealbreaker if they’re too demanding or if you’re selling your house as is. And if the house has structural damage or needs other major repairs, the buyer might just decide to walk away from the deal.
• Appraisal contingency: This contingency lets the buyer out of the contract if the home appraises for less than the offer price. The appraisal is important because lenders won’t lend more than the appraised value of a home. If an appraisal comes in low, the buyer can make a bigger down payment to make up the difference—but if they don’t have extra money, the deal will fall through. If you really want to save the deal, you can lower the price to the appraised value.

Besides contingencies, buyers may also want you to give them stuff—like your furniture, fridge, or washer and dryer. And they may ask you for concessions. That’s when you pay all or some of their closing costs for them.

When you’re fielding multiple offers on a house, it’s easy to get so caught up in the offer amount that you overlook these buyer requests. And to be fair, most buyers will make a request or two. But the more contingencies or demands they throw into the mix, the more chances there are for the deal to break down.

I will help you to understand the give-and-take that comes with each one and think about how that will affect your time, money, and emotions. Then,  we can choose the one that makes the most sense overall.

During the offer negotiation process, I’ll keep you updated on market conditions and how they may call for price changes or other actions to adapt.

Markets are like the weather, always changing. Do you know how many comparable properties to your home came on the market this week? How about how many were sold or taken off the market? It’s my job to monitor these changes and keep my listing clients informed. Changes in the competition don’t always require a price adjustment, but they may. Sometimes they can cause us to make changes in our marketing approach and negotiations, I’m always concerned with my client’s peace of mind, and giving them the information necessary to know that their property is at the right price to achieve the Seller’s goals.

Once the buyer’s offer has been accepted, you and the buyer enter into a legal contract known as a Purchase and Sale Agreement. This document outlines the specific terms and conditions of the transaction and is acknowledged by both parties signing the document. I will walk you through the paperwork, and get ready to open the escrow. We rarely have buyers fall out of escrow due to the upfront, transparent nature of how we conduct the sale of your home.

Once the offer is accepted and a closing date agreed upon, escrow allows the buyer and the seller to have an outside party ensure all parts of the contract are complete. Dozens of detailed tasks, document deliveries, deadlines, inspections, and mortgage details are all happening during this period, I am on every one of them and help coordinate the completion of all necessary forms to the escrow company and keep your transaction organized and moving until it is completed. 

Most Sellers do not understand the complexities of handling a real estate sale from start to finish.  To a Seller, the most important thing is often the price, and once we have a buyer who has signed a contract, they believe the hard part is over. It may be, but we must remain diligent in every step of the transaction.  This is a legally binding contract, and both parties have legal obligations to abide by.  I will make sure that you know what may be required from you, and the deadlines for the same, and give you any assistance necessary to comply with those. 

The process of taking a signed purchase contract through to closing involves a great many details, deliveries, and document submissions. I coordinate all of this for my sellers and make your part easy while we do as much as possible to make sure you are clear on each step of the transaction, and its impact.

• Title – I work closely with the title company to make sure that all documents and deliveries are processed on time. I work with my sellers to examine all items that may appear on your property’s title report, and review all material defects and items of importance that may need to be addressed. Though the buyer is the one most concerned with receiving “clear title”, the seller must be able to respond to their objections and address any liens, transfers, etc., so it’s important to know what’s in all recorded documents.
• Inspections, Survey & Appraisal – I will be the one to coordinate access for the buyers’ inspectors and their loan appraiser and to accept deliveries of reports, objections, or correction requirements from the buyers. I will help you to respond to any issues, and demand timely performance by the buyers on each issue and each release of contingency.
• Lender Document Coordination – One of the leading causes of delayed closings is some problem with funding due to the lender’s last-minute requirements or other document demands. I am monitoring all document flows to make sure this doesn’t happen for my sellers. Although the buyer’s agent should be monitoring this, we make sure to also be informed along each step of the lender’s process. If there is a problem, we need to know how significant it is and ensure it is resolved.  I can’t protect against every aspect of a lender’s process, and can’t guarantee that an escrow won’t have any delays- but, what I can do is work diligently to rapidly address any issues, keep pressure on the buyer to be responsive, and minimize the chance and/or scope of any delay.

Price negotiations are only the beginning. Once a contract is in place, there are documents, disclosures, and inspections to get past. Any of these items can result in further negotiations and can make or break a deal. This is particularly true for the home inspection contingency, the buyer hires a home inspector to investigate every nook and cranny to determine if the home needs any repairs. Afterward, the buyer will have a chance to negotiate with the seller to cover the costs of certain repairs or to ask for concessions. I take the fear of the unknown out of this and guide you through it.

The time to think about this is from before even the first offer, as you don’t want to negotiate a purchase price that leaves you little or no room for possible repairs or condition corrections. This single item is the cause of the vast majority of deal failures after a successful initial price negotiation.

The best and proper practice is to disclose any known defects to a potential buyer before they write the offer.  This prevents them from claiming that the discovery of those items justifies a reduction in price, and satisfies the true disclosure requirements of a Seller.  Not all defects may be known by you until an inspection takes place.  Not all defects result in a price negotiation, but many do.  I will work with you to determine what is the best course of action in the circumstance- whether you choose to make some repairs and not others, to provide a credit to the Seller, or insist on the sale as is and at the originally negotiated price.  Each of these are viable options, and depends on the totality of circumstances and what is best for you.

My goal from the outset is to help you avoid too many “surprises” related to condition and repair negotiations after inspections. I’ll do my best to give you information about what I see that buyers may want corrected, and in some cases may even suggest you obtain your own inspection prior to listing.  This allows you to either correct some issues before they are discovered by the buyer, or simply to disclose them in advance so that the buyer has taken them into consideration for their offer, making it more difficult to re-negotiate the price. It is important, however, that whatever information you discover at whatever point in the transaction, be disclosed to buyers.

I want you to always be thinking ahead to inspections and repair demands from the first offer. Always be thinking of what may be coming in the way of inspections and repair negotiations, especially when the initial purchase contract price negotiations are in play. No matter how urgent your need to sell, if you go too far in price concessions at the beginning, you may have no room left when inspections are done and condition corrections are requested by the buyer.

Depending on the desires of the buyer and their selection of inspectors, there could be as few as a single inspector hired to do a thorough inspection of the home and all equipment supporting the home.  However, there may also be other inspectors hired with a more focused goal, possibly a heating and air conditioning, septic and/or sewer, roof, fireplace, etc.  Each of these inspections will have deadlines for completion and submission of reports and buyer requests for corrections.  My job is to keep the buyer on their schedule and obtain the release of this contingency as early as possible.  If a buyer is to back out of a transaction, I will work to protect your property from being off of the market any longer than necessary.  (I will always continue to market your property for backup offers until all contingencies are released- the existence of an accepted backup offer can not only protect you from losing time but can deter an existing buyer from aggressive re-negotiations.)

I have seen so many inspections that result in some form of surprise to the parties.  That’s ok.  My job is to handle the information and work out a solution.  Remember, your buyer generally is excited to buy your home and wants to live there.  In most instances, we all want the same thing, and a fair, smart negotiation will usually result in that happening.  This is an important step in the negotiating process, and you want me on your side for this!

All hard work pays off now! At closing, the purchase funds are deposited into the escrow, all the paperwork is signed by the buyer and seller, both parties pay any settlement fees, and the documents are officially recorded. Before closing, you’ll receive a settlement statement outlining any fees that may apply to you. Your net proceeds payment will be in your chosen bank within 1-2 days after closing. I will help to arrange the delivery of the keys and possession to the buyer.

Are we done, NO! I will always be here and ready for your next adventure in real estate!