Basic Steps to Selling Your Home
Selling your home can become a very emotional process if you have a strong attachment to it. This is especially true if you have lived in it for many years, raised your family there, and made improvements to fit your family’s lifestyle. There also are other reasons for selling, such as loss of job, the desire or need to relocate, negative financing changes, a need for a larger or smaller home, or other personal needs. Selling a home is a complex process. Here are some steps to help guide you:
1. Make the effort to become an informed home seller. This means you should have a basic understanding of the process of selling your home. This involves preparing your home for sale, obtaining a pest control inspection, listing your home with a real estate agent and office, determining a realistic listing price, disclosure requirements, reviewing and negotiating purchase offers, buyer inspections, and other activities leading to Close Of Escrow (COE). Newspaper articles, books, and the Internet are sources of some of this information.
The most important source for information is a real estate agent. You should find and develop a working relationship with an agent who can explain the selling process and answer your questions as they arise. Also ask how often and by what means your agent will communicate with you.
2. Prepare your home for sale. Begin by thinking objectively about your home as a house for sale. You will be moving out, and buyers will be looking for a house that will become their home. Try to visualize what buyers will see and think when they look at your home and compare it to other homes for sale. Does your home have the best curb appeal it can have? What needs fixing? What kinds of improvements can you make that will enhance both the exterior and interior of your home? Here is where a real estate agent can help answer your questions and offer suggestions.
3. Pest Control Inspection. One important inspection to consider to have done before listing your home is a pest control inspection, more commonly known as a termite inspection. If this inspection uncovers problems, then you can get them taken care of before you list your home and not create potential delays in the transaction process. When a buyer obtains a loan for your home, the lender usually requires a “clear pest control report”. However, a pest control report may be acceptable to a lender only if it is recent, 30 to 60 days is typical. In a slow real estate market, this short time period can influence when you may want to have this inspection. (continued - page 2) (Printer Version - pdf)