The Selling Process

I would recommend having a Realtor come and visit your house right when you start thinking about moving. When choosing a Realtor please keep in mind that the brokerage the Realtor represent is of importance as well. The larger brokerage firms, such as Coldwell Banker, will pay for a lot of marketing, and advertising activities that many other brokerage firms won’t do.
As professional Realtors there are many suggestions we can give you to increase the value of your home, such as staging, cleaning, decluttering, painting, landscaping etc. that may take time to finish. A pre inspection may also be an option you choose so you can address issues before putting it on the market to eliminated problems later on.

A listing agreement will be signed between you, the seller, and the Realtor/Brokerage firm you choose to represent you. The listing agreement will outline the asking price, listing date, length of the agreement, commission etc.
At this stage you also need to fill out a Seller’s Disclosure, which is a document where you disclose as much as possible about the home, such as how old the roof is, if you have had water issues in the basement, termite problems etc. The prospective buyer will be given this disclosure before making an offer so it is very important to be as truthful as possible.

Different Realtors offer different services when they sign up for a listing. For example, some Realtors will offer free staging, professional pictures, direct mailers etc. while others will only submit the listing to the local MLS (Multiple Listing System) and that’s it. Obviously I am not that
kind of Realtor, I work very hard in every possible way to market and sell your house.
Once your listing is in the MLS it will automatically be submitted to a lot of different websites such as Zillow, Trulia and realtor.com. There will be a “For Sale” sign put up on your front lawn and a lockbox on your front door and then you are ready for showings. I also hold Brokers Open where I invite agents in the area to preview the property, as well as public Open Houses.

The first two weeks will always be the busiest in terms of showings. Even though it is tough and disruptive, please make sure you approve as many showings as possible, and make sure the buyers gets privacy when they come to look at hour home.

You’ve got an offer! Great news, now let’s work with it. Is not unusual that you will get a lower offer price than your asking price. It is my job to negotiate up that number as well as other terms in that initial offer. There is some truth to “your first offer is always your best offer”. Once we agree on all the terms an amended offer will be signed by both the seller and the buyer and after that the offer is sent to the attorneys.

Although you are not obligated to get an attorney to represent you most sellers do. The attorney will review your contract and make changes based on your best interest. This period is called Attorney Review and last for about 3 days. During attorney review it is important to know that both parties, the seller and the buyer have the right to cancel the contract without any repercussions.

Once the Attorney Review process has been concluded you are formally “under contract”. You are now legally obligated to follow through with the sale of your house. The buyer has a few contingencies such as the mortgage and the inspection. If they are denied their mortgage or if there is something seriously wrong with the house they have the right to walk away.

No house is perfect. That is why buyers hire professional home inspectors to inspect the house. Once the inspections are done the buyer’s attorney will submit a letter with repair requests. The inspection issues are negotiable but should the deal fall through because of inspection issues you are obligated to disclose these issues to the next buyer. As a seller you can choose to either give the buyer a credit at closing, or organize to have professional contractors make repairs.

You need a Certificate of Occupancy from the township in order to close a real estate transaction. Every township require different things so make sure you contact them in plenty of time before the scheduled closing.

The buyers will do a final walk through of the property the day of closing. Once the walk through is completed the buyers head to their attorney to sign the mortgage and closing documents. Many times the seller will give their attorney a Power of Attorney so they don’t have to attend closing. Once the money is in the seller’s account the keys to the house is given to the new buyer. Congratulations, your house is sold!