Info on many aspects of your next transaction. Contact us if you want more details.
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What to expect
As a seller, you are almost by definition familiar with real estate transactions. From the seller’s perspective, there is usually a conflict between getting top dollar for your asset, the amount of effort and money required to get to market, the smoothness of the transaction, and coordination with your other asset transactions or life/work requirements. My job as a seller’s agent is to help you identify the path that works best for you, and alleviate as many of the pain points as possible to improve the smoothness and returns of the transaction for you. Some of the things that can improve the transaction from a seller’s perspective are prelisting inspections and judicious repairs, proper marketing, beginning with decluttering, staging, etc., quality marketing photos, including drone videos for more unique properties with assets that can be highlighted from the air, to market exposure work, analysis of offer criteria, and title work to close with minimum fuss.
Outside the actual sale price, seller costs are generally slightly higher than buyer costs. Expect to pay between 8-10% of the sale price in commissions, taxes, mortgage charges, and other fees. Virtually all homes will sell better with a minimum of make ready – which is from a few thousand on up. On top of that, add your next two mortgage payments and other holding costs, since you are responsible for everything until the close of escrow. From the time you decide to list until your close will be at least 45 days, and 60-120 days if your property is slower to move and/or there are inspection issues, buyer financing delays, etc. So instead of 8-10% on a net sheet, calculate 10-12% as your true costs to sell, unless you want to make major repairs before listing. There are ways to reduce those times and costs, but it requires being open to creative solutions, which often impact your earnings and are not for everybody.
As your agent I can help coordinate inspections, find and organize work by appropriate tradesmen for any eventual make-ready work you decide is worthwhile, obviously get your property the market exposure it needs through the mls, other sites, and direct contact with other agents, and interact with title to reduce your work load during the transaction. The final result should be a higher price and easier transaction than you would have otherwise.
Convenience vs Sales Price
Whether you are selling a one bedroom older home or a ten bedroom luxury estate, you need to presume that there are issues in your home that you are unaware of. Prelisting inspections are SOP in our area inspection to reduce the headaches of escrow and the almost completely unnecessary risk of falling out of contract due to inspection discoveries. Frankly, any agent not promoting prelisting inspections is not providing a complete service to their client. You are not required to fix anything that is found in the inspection, but it is disclosed prior to the offer so people know what they are buying.
At the same time, there may be items on the inspection report, or just from a visual evaluation of the marketability of the property, that make sense to repair to increase the resale value of the home. We can decide which items fit your schedule and budget to repair. In general not all items are repaired, but focus is on the items with the most impact on sale price. There is virtually no home that shouldn’t have at least a minimal facelift to improve its market reception, but market prep is an art, and no two homes are the same. This part of the sale is the one which can be most flexible to conform to your personal taste, and your preference for a hands off or aggressive approach. We can lay out your options so you can make an informed decision, and then get it done with minimal fuss.
If you have any questions, give me a call at 707.570.7078, or send me a message.
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