The Home Selling Process

What is the Home Selling Process?

Life changes and now you are thinking about making a move.  You’ve got to sell your home but you’re not sure where to start.  As a Canon City Realtor with over 30 years of experience selling homes I’ve put together this overview of the home selling process to help you get started.  By taking the necessary steps to prepare your home for sale and throughout the home selling process, you’ll help guarantee you receive maximum value for your home.

Preparing your home for sale

Your first step in selling your home is to invite me over to give you practical tips for selling your home.  Even if you are six months to a year out, that’s okay.  I’ll walk through your home with you and let you know what things you can do to increase the value of your home and which things you don’t need to do.  Many times, I’ve found that sellers make repairs because they think they need to be done when in reality they don’t increase value and they wouldn’t have hindered the sale.  So just call me.  I’m easy to talk to and there is no obligation.

What should I list my home for?

While I’m visiting your home giving you tips to ready it for sale, I’ll also take notes on the amenities in your home.  From there I’ll be able to prepare a market evaluation to determine what other comparable homes have sold for and how long they took to sell.  With that information in hand I’ll be able to tell you how much we can sell your home for, how long it will likely take to sell and how much you will net from the sale.

Determining the market value of your home is based on many factors, such as today’s market and competition, economic and financial conditions, location, your home’s amenities and how others view your property. If you ask too much or too little for your home, it makes a difference. If you ask too little, you may get a lot of people viewing your home, but you’ll also leave money on the table. Asking too much will cause you to have fewer showings and miss out on potential buyers, making it take longer to sell. Pricing your home right from the start lets you sell your home for full market value in the shortest time frame possible.

Staging your home

We’ve heard the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Well, that’s not true when buyers look at homes. They will judge your home based on its appearance. From the second they pull into your driveway, they will begin judging your home. Outside you’ll want to make sure it has good curb appeal.  Inside, you’ll want to clean like you’ve never cleaned before, declutter and repair those things you’ve neglected.  Staging your home can cause your home to show larger and brighter and can cause your home to sell more quickly.

Listing your home for sale

Once you’re ready to put your home on the market, we’ll go through the listing agreement and there will be disclosures for you to fill out.  As the seller you’ll complete forms disclosing to the buyer everything you know about the property, including square footage, where your water comes from and if your home was built prior to 1978, information on lead based paint.  Once we’ve completed all the forms my team and I will go to work making sure everyone who is looking to buy and all of the Realtors who sell in our area know about your home.

Accepting an offer

When an offer is presented I will review the offer with you to help you understand all the nuances of the offer.  I’ll also ensure the buyers are pre-qualified and prepare a net sheet to show you exactly how much money you will net from the sale.  I’ll answer all of your questions to ensure you are either comfortable with the offer or we will prepare a counter-offer.  From there I will negotiate on your behalf, with the buyer’s agent, to get you the best price and terms possible.

Between contract and closing

After you’ve accepted an offer, I’ll monitor the progression of the sale to ensure all deadlines and contingencies are met.  My team and I will keep you updated throughout the transaction to ensure you know what is going on each and every step of the way.

Once the buyer’s loan is approved and we have “clear to close” from the lender, the buyer will do a final walk through of the home to ensure the house is in the condition they expected and that all repairs were made according to the home inspection.

The Closing – what to expect

The closing is the formal process where both the buyers and sellers sign all of the required paperwork, money is exchanged, and title is transferred to the buyer.  The closing typically takes an hour when a mortgage is involved.  A cash transaction could take as little as 15 minutes.

From the purchase price of the property, the closer will subtract the amount of your mortgage payoff, taxes and any other transaction costs to determine your net proceeds.  The deed transferring title as well as the loan documents will be filed with the clerk and recorder and the title company will submit your mortgage payoff to your mortgage company.

Selling your Canon City home

When you are ready to sell your Canon City home, my team and I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you to discuss our home selling services and the benefits of working with us.  Our home selling services include helping you to:

• Prepare your home for sale,
• Price your home;
• Stage your home;
• Complete all of the required paperwork;
• Market and advertise your home;
• Coordinate all showings;
• Present and negotiate all offers;
• Guide you through the home selling process;
• Track all dates, deadlines and contingencies in the contract;
• Attend closing with you;
• Handle any post-closing issues; and
• Answer all of your real estate related questions.

Our Satisfaction Guarantee

As your specialist in Fremont County, if you list your home for sale with Kurt Zerby Real Estate, we promise to market your property in a professional manner consistent with our commitment to sell your property for the best price and in the shortest amount of time. If after 30 days you feel we have not fulfilled our promise to you, we will release you from your listing agreement.

Our past production levels in home sales make us confident that you will be satisfied and pleased with our service.