Tag: How to work with the Best Realtor in Fort Collins

What Are The Next Steps That Occur When You List Your Home For Sale?

We have discussed the report I provided you with information regarding the value of your home in today’s market and how long it might take to sell. You are comfortable with what I have told you and feel ready to get your home on the market. You would like to have it on the market as soon as possible. The next step is to sign all of the listing paperwork. This includes signing all disclosures that will be provided to the buyer, the closing instructions, loan payoff and closing information and the Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Contract. We also discuss showing instructions for your home.

Next we will go through your home room by room and I will provide you with staging advice. The way that we live in our home is not the way that our home should look when our home is on the market. I will provide you with suggestions to make your home appeal to the highest number of buyers and provide you with the best chance of multiple offers. When walking through your home I will also be making a list of décor items that I can bring to dress up your home. This may mean new towels for the bathroom to be used for showings, it may mean pictures for the wall, a lamp for the bedside table or any number of other things. I will schedule a time to come back for the final staging. I will bring all of the décor and place it where it should go. At this point you will be ready for pictures.

Pictures of your home are taken by a professional photographer. He will come at the scheduled time. I usually am present for this appointment. We will turn all lights on and he will go room by room photographing your home. Outside front pictures and back are also taken. This process usually takes an hour or more. He may also take the time for a video. You do not have to be present for the pictures, in fact it is much easier if you are not home. This allows the photographer to focus on showing your home in the best light, rather than answering questions and trying to work around you. Once pictures are taken the photographer will do his thing and make the pictures look their best. I will receive the photos within a few hours to a day. Once staging and photos are done you are ready to go in MLS. This process of staging and photography can be a quick as you need it, all occurring in 24 to 48 hours or can take longer if
needed. We are working together to make this happen. If you need the home on the market ASAP, we can make it happen. If we have some time, we can stretch the process.

Necessary paperwork has been signed. We have photos, your home is staged and ready. The next step is entering your home into the realtor’s MLS system. This can take a couple of hours. Brochures are made, sign is ordered and put up with brochures in the box. From the realtor’s MLS system the listing information is populated to over 600 websites across the country for buyers to find and look at. Showings calls can begin right away. Make sure that when you have a showing set up that you are not home, but you leave the lights on and ready to welcome that buyer for your home.

How Do We Arrive At A Value For Your Home?

You have decided to sell your home and have asked me to come over and meet with you and get you ready to go on the market.  What do we do next?  I have you give me a tour of your home.  During that tour you tell me about all of the recent improvements you have done and I also note upgrades that your home has.  For example granite countertops rather than laminate, large yard backing to open space rather than a yard in the middle of the neighborhood surrounded by other homes.  After this meeting I take all of this information back to the office.

Next, I sit at the computer and start doing my research.  I am looking first a homes in the neighborhood that have sold in the last 3 months that are similar.  Then I look at homes that have sold nearby that are similar.  By similar I mean first that the are approximately the same square footage. The homes that I am comparing to your home should have finished basements if you do and if you don’t the best homes to compare you to should not have a finished basement either. Then I look to see that they are the same style.  It is important to compare ranch style homes to ranch homes, two stories to two stories and bi-levels to bi-level homes.  Then I look to see that the homes that I am comparing to your home have the same number of baths and same number of garage spaces.  Then I check to see the number of bedrooms.  This will often give me a price range.  I will see a home that is clearly better than you and one that is not as quite as nice.  Those two homes have set the range.  Next,  I look within that range for the homes that are as close to like your home as possible. Similar upgrades etc.  After this research I should be able to give you a $10,000 to $15,000 range of what I think your home will sell for in today’s market.

In addition to doing the research myself,  I also have my licensed assistant do the same research.  He is able to have an objective look.  He does not know you and did not see your home.  I share with him important details and he arrives at homes that he thinks are comparable to your home and a value for your home.  We then meet and review the information.  Sometimes we arrive at different values and have come up with different comparable properties.  If that is the case we review and decide what should be included in my report and what should be left out.  Perhaps I forgot to tell my assistant that you have remodeled your kitchen.  Not knowing that will affect the value of your home. By having both of us do this research, you are getting two opinions wrapped into one report on your home.

Next, I get back together to review the completed report.  We look at the value and also how long it appears that it will take you sell your home.  If you want your home to sell faster than the average length of time that similar homes have taken to sell you may need to adjust your price to have your home sell faster.  If you are comfortable with the value of your home and the time line, then we are ready to go on to the next steps to put your home on the market.

Next week we will cover what those next steps are. 

Hot Seller’s Market Fort Collins

Hot seller’s market in Fort Collins and Northern Colorado is taking some of the uncertainty away for sellers.  A recent Zillow survey found that sellers find the experience of selling a home stressful.  We all know this to be true, whether you are an agent involved in the transaction or a seller.  Part of the stress of selling your home is the unknowns that can be a part of the process. 

As the seller you want to know what you are going to have to do to prepare your home.  You want to know what your home will sell for.  You also want to know how long it will take to sell.  These concerns are normal and certainly warranted. Some of this stress comes from the seller not having a lot of control over the much of the process.

When your home is positioned in a hot seller’s market Fort Collins some of the stress of the unknowns can fade away.  You can expect that your home will sell rather quickly and that more than likely it could sell for close to full price. You can also assume that preparing your home for sale will not be a long and difficult process.  It is easy to see that a strong seller’s market can take some of the stress out of selling your home.  Each home is unique and you will need to consult your real estate agent for guidance.

Work closely with your agent can also help to minimize your level of stress.   Follow your agents guidance on preparing your home for sale and pricing.  Don’t assume that you have the best house on the block and that all you have to do is list the home for sale and there will be a line of buyers that want to pay top dollar for your home.  Address any known issues with your home before putting your home on the market. Addressing issues ahead of time will help the home be as attractive as possible and ensure that a future inspection will go as smoothly as possible. Follow you realtors’ guidance, throughout the process.  Now may be the time to sell your home.  Call Lestel and see if you can use this market to your advantage!

Home Search Blueprints

Whether you are a first time home buyer or an experienced homeowner, doing your homework before looking for a home is the key to saving you time and helping you get the best value for your money. How is it that your real estate agent helps you? Here are some home search blueprints.

  1. The first step in shopping for a home is to make sure that you have financing ready to go! Your agent can recommend trusted lenders that will take you through the pre-approval process so you are ready to go shopping for your home.
  2. Your Realtor helps you find a home. But more than that, they provide you with information on neighborhoods, schools and the locations so that you can make good decisions on a home that best fits you. Your agent helps you clarify your needs and wants and provides you with property options that meet your specifications as much as possible.
  3. Now it is time to write the offer and negotiate. Your realtor will analyze the value of the home and advise you on what your initial offer should be. The market affects what you can do, but a good negotiator can tip the scales In your favor. Your agent will direct you on how to proceed with the seller’s response to your offer.
  4. Inspection time! Your agent knows the best home inspectors in the area. They will recommend
    the best that can help provide you with the true state of your home that you are interested in buying.
  5. Once you know about the condition of the home it is time to negotiate repair requests. Your agent can help you understand the inspection report and help you evaluate what is important to you to have repaired by the seller or if you should asked for a concession at closing. Realtors help you focus on what repairs to asked for and what to let go of. They can also provide a list of trusted workers.
  6. Your realtor handles all of the details so that your home purchase goes smoothly. They keeps everyone informed. They monitors the loan process so that you can successfully get to closing.
  7. Closing Day! You only need to get through closing to finally get your home, but details can make the difference on that final day. Everything from making sure you bring your driver license to making sure that the wire is received by the title company. Your agent does everything she can to insure that your closing day goes off without a hitch.

Follow these home search blueprints and use an experienced agent. Your agent is your experienced guide through the process from beginning to end. Contact us today.