A Seller’s Checklist
The Colorado Real Estate market is an exciting place to be for sellers these days. Now more than ever it is crucial to have an experienced agent by your side to help get the most out of your experience selling. Corken + Company is here to help you through every step of the selling process. Here is a checklist to help you get through the home selling process.
Calculate Selling Expenses:
- List the repairs and projects you’ll have to do to get your home in selling condition and estimate the costs of hiring supplies and contractors.
- Expect to pay about 7 percent to 10 percent of the home’s sale price in closing costs, including real estate agent commissions, transfer taxes and prorated property taxes.
- Factor in costs of: Professional home inspection, Capital Gains Tax, Mortgage payoff penalties, Moving expenses, and cost of living in a new city.
Plan Your Strategy:
- Determine how fast you want to sell, and how much money you are hoping to receive.
- Work with an agent that knows the area and has a great reputation.
- Plan the sale at a strategic time for the market and your family.
Prepare the Home for Staging:
- Have a yard sale. Sell, donate or trash everything you don’t need.
- Our team at Corken + Company even includes a professional organizer who can help in this process.
- Make necessary repairs.
- Make improvements to increase your curb appeal, i.e. the home’s external attractiveness when viewed from the street.
- Hire a professional home stager or research staging tips.
- Corken + Company’s team includes a full professional staging team that comes complimentary with ever home sale.
- Declutter, depersonalize and decorate every room and outdoor areas so buyers can imagine themselves living in the home.
- Paint interior rooms neutral colors.
- Replace outdated lighting fixtures and window treatments.
Set up showings and open houses:
- Keep the home in show-ready condition at all times.
- Take appointments or set up a lockbox so agents can show the home when you’re not available.
- Corken + Company will set you up with the showing service to coordinate all of this. We will ensure that we select times that you are comfortable with people showing your home.
- Hold an open house for potential buyers.
Reviewing Offers and Negotiating:
- For each offer, note the proposed offer price, preapproval letter, contingencies, earnest money amount, proposed closing date and offer expiry date.
- Keep emotions in check when receiving lowball offers.
- Approach each offer as an opportunity to negotiate.
- If you won’t budge on price, offer financial incentives that don’t require cash out of your pocket, such as paying for part or all of the buyer’s closing costs, repairs found during the property inspections or points.
Get Through Escrow:
- Create a formal plan for handling home repairs, including when they should be made and who pays for them.
- Clean and prepare the home for the appraisal and home inspections.
- Choose an escrow officer who will order a title search, request payoff information for your mortgage and other liens on the home, prepare and record documents, hold and disburse funds and prepare closing statements.
- Corken + Company has a preferred title company, Land Title, to help in this process. However, you always have the choice to use a title company of your choosing to help in this process!
- Prepare for the final walk-through inspection.
- Lastly, sign the closing documents and move out of your home.
As you can see the home selling process is extensive, and we here at Corken + Company can help guide you through the entire process. When it comes time to consider selling, it is our job to make sure you have a seamless & enjoyable experience!
Contributions from:
https://www.hgtv.com/lifestyle/real-estate/real-estate-survival-guide-sellers-checklist
