Sellers Guide
Lawyers Realty LLC stands ready to help you with all of the questions you have about selling your home. We have many decades of experience in the real estate industry, and we pride ourselves on exceptional customer service. Our clients come first! Let's begin the home selling process so that you can understand how safe, easy and hassle-free our team of professionals makes it for our valued clients.
Choose a link from the list below, or follow them step–by–step to learn more:
- Preparing to Sell your Home
- So You're Ready to Sell your Home
- Determining Property Value
- Getting Your Home Out There
- Selling Your Home
- Saying Goodbye to Your Home
- Surviving the Move
- Hiring a Moving Company
#1 Preparing to Sell your Home
The first question you might want to ask yourself is, “why do I want to sell my home?” Do you need more space? Are you an empty nester looking for a smaller space? Have you accepted a job in a different part of the country? All of these questions affect the potential sale of your home and the negotiating process of that sale.
You may also want to begin making a list of all of the interior and exterior projects that you want to complete before placing your home on the market.
Contacting a Lawyers Realty Realtor will point you in the right direction. Our agents have the knowledge and understanding of the industry. They can provide reliable information and get you moving in the right direction towards the sale of your home.
#2 So You're Ready to Sell your Home
Assessing your home's salability is key in beginning the home selling process. You may want to ask yourself, “What would I like to see or not see if I were touring this home as a potential home buyer?”
Problems like chipped paint, dirty walls, windows and doors, unfinished remodeling projects and cluttered garages are all areas for home selling improvement. Neat, tidy and organized works!
#3 Determining Property Value
There are a number of factors that go into determining the value of a home.
- Get an independent, certified appraisal. You need to know what your home is worth before putting it on the market. For a few hundred dollars, you can have an independent appraisal done of your home that will let you know what your home is worth.
- It is realistic to compare the homes in your area and the asking prices of those homes. Ask your Lawyers Realty Realtor for a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) of your home.
- The law of supply and demand always comes into play. Do you live in an area with increasing job opportunities or an increasing supply of homes? Is your home desirable without a lot of competition?
- Your needs greatly impact the selling price of a home. Do you need a quick sell or do you have time to sit and wait for buyers?
- The selling price is not cut and dry. On many occasions, you can negotiate the price, split closing costs or offer different allowances to the buyer to make the sale of the home complete.
Only your qualified Lawyers Realty Sales Professional can assist you with selecting the correct pricing strategy for your home. For more information on how to receive a no obligation consultation that will help you properly determine the value of your home, contact at (717) 364-3000 or contact us here.
#4 Getting Your Home Out There
There are a number of ways that an agent can drive traffic to view your home:
- Yard Signage and Direction Signs
- Open Houses
- Direct Marketing Postcards
- Multiple Listing Service (MLS)
- Websites/Internet
- Newspaper Advertising
- Realtor Community Networking
#5 Selling Your Home
The Offer
An acceptable offer depends on many different things:
- Is the proposed offer near the asking price?
- The timeframe of the seller – Does the seller have another house payment?
- Does the seller have enough time to wait for the agent to bring them other potential buyers?
- What if the home is listed and never receives a single offer?
- What if several offers are received at the same time?
When potential buyers are searching for a home, they can respond in three different ways to the seller(s):
Negotiating
This negotiating process can at times seem very complicated. However, if you are working with a Lawyers Realty LLC professional, your interests will be represented.
During the negotiating process, a seller can react in one of three different ways:
- Accept the buyer's proposed offer
- Decline the buyer's offer
- Make a new counter–offer
#6 Saying Goodbye To Your Home
Closings usually take about 30 days to complete. This mainly depends on the buyer's financing availability, successful home inspection completion, and various lender conditions (ex. title search, title insurance, termite inspections, surveys and appraisals).
The closing process is the transfer of the title of the property from the seller to the buyer. The buyer will receive the keys to the home or the deed to the land, while the seller receives payment for the property. The amount the seller receives is based upon the amount that is still owed on the mortgage, any outstanding fees or taxes and any additional closing costs. All legal papers are filed with the local record office.
It is this step where the buyers and sellers do very little. It is important for the buyer to take a final walk through of the property to make sure the property's condition has not changed. It is equally important for both the buyer and seller to make sure the paperwork they are signing reflects the agreement of the original sale.
#7 Surviving the Move
Moving can be one of the most emotional times in your life - new home, new career, new neighborhood. While this may sound great to some people, for others, these changes can be an emotional rollercoaster.
The key to surviving your move is to first analyze the situation. You may want to ask yourself this question, "What does my move entail?" "Will I be moving across the country or just down the block?" "Could I handle the move myself, provided I have the right packing materials and friends to help?" Or "Do I need to explore the option of hiring a professional moving company?"
#9 Hiring A Moving Company
If you plan on hiring a moving company, you might want to do some research first. Our Moving Guide offers great information for those researching the possibility of hiring a mover.
