San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Preparing to sell your first home
Selling a home that you’ve loved and made memories in can be an emotional process. In addition, it will also take time and work to sell your home, use these tips to help guide you through the selling process.
Know your expectations
When you decide to move make sure you know what you want to accomplish and why you are moving. Are you thinking about downsizing, or maybe looking to upgrade? These are important factors to know when first beginning the home selling process. You should also think about your timeline, determine when exactly you should put your house on the market and prepare to move.
Find a REALTOR®
The next step is to find a REALTOR®. Be sure to interview a few agents before making your selection, you want to make sure you found someone who is the best fit for you and your needs. Some important questions to ask are how the agent will market your home and how they intend to communicate with you throughout the process.
Figure out your pricing strategy
After selecting a REALTOR® to work with it’s time to work on pricing your home. Your REALTOR® will be able to help you determine a price that fits your neighborhood and home features. It’s crucial to remember that real estate is local, down to your street, and what sells in another neighborhood may not be the same case for your neighborhood.
REALTORS® have access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and are able to run a comparative market analysis on your home to determine what it is likely to sell for. This step can help you not only price your home effectively but also help it to sell faster.
Get your home ready to sell
Prepping your home to sell requires some work. Your REALTOR® may advise you to declutter your home or even make some necessary repairs to make it sell ready. This is an important step because you want to make a great first impression to potential buyers with appealing listing photos, as well as during viewing appointments.
Offers, negotiations, and closing
Once your home is on the market and being viewed you need to be prepared for the next step, which is receiving offers. If a buyer is interested in purchasing your home they will submit an offer to your REALTOR®.
If the offer is satisfactory to you with pricing and contingencies you can work with your REALTOR® to accept the offer and move to closing. However if you want to negotiate with the buyer for more money or maybe a later closing date, your REALTOR® will help you navigate the negotiation process.
After reaching a deal it’s time to head to the final step, closing. This process can take some time, typically between 35-45 days. On your closing date you will have paper work to sign to finalize the sale, always ask the title company or your REALTOR® if you have questions regarding the documents you are signing.
For more information on buying, selling, or leasing your home in the San Antonio or surrounding areas, visit SABOR.com and use a REALTOR®.