Your REALTOR® Works Hard to Win Your Business, and your Trust

If you're considering selling your home, you will want to find a professional to represent your interests. Properly selling your home is a complicated process, from the initial market research to signing the papers at closing. Your REALTOR® works hard from before you choose to list your property with them until well after the new owners take possession.

To properly and legally sell your home is not an easy task. For the typical sale, there are nearly 200 actions taken when selling your home. These include research steps, processes, and review stages in a successful residential real estate transaction that your REALTOR® and their team will undertake in return for their commission. Some take minutes, some may take days, and some may not be needed, but each is critical to a successful outcome.

In this selling your home post, we're going to take a closer look at the elements of a sale that your REALTOR® and their team will undertake before they've even signed you to a contract and listed your home.

REALTOR®Pre-Listing Activities When Selling Your Home: Research and Preparation

• Your REALTOR® will begin the process of selling your house by scheduling an appointment with you for a listing presentation.
• They will follow up with a written or email confirmation of the appointment and will call to confirm.
• Your REALTOR® and their team will review pre-appointment questions.
• Research begins. Your team will research all comparable currently listed properties.
• Research sales activity for the past 18 months from both MLS and public record databases.
• Research "Average Days on Market" for properties of this type, price range, and location.

The second level of research begins. This includes the legal side of researching for your property, for codes, ownership, and more.

• Your REALTOR® will download property tax role information.
• Prepare "Comparable Market Analysis" (CMA) to establish a fair market value.
• Obtain a copy of the subdivision plat/complex layout and research the property's ownership and deed type.
• They will also research the property's public record information for lot size & dimensions and research and verify legal description, land use coding, and any deed restrictions.
• They will research the property's current use and zoning, verify legal names of owner(s) in the county's public property records

Finally, your realtor and their team will prepare a listing presentation package with all of the above materials included. As a part of the presentation package, your team will perform an exterior "Curb Appeal Assessment" of your property and compile and assemble a formal file. As part of the report, they will confirm current public schools, explain the impact of schools on your property's market value, and review the listing appointment checklist with their team to ensure that all of the necessary steps and actions have been completed.

Selling Your Home: Your Listing Appointment Presentation

Once your REALTOR® and their team have completed their research, they will meet with you to give you a formal presentation. There will cover some general information about the market and some specific information they have compiled about your home. In this meeting, your REALTOR® will:

• Give you an overview of current local market conditions and projections.
• Review your agent's and company's credentials and accomplishments within the market.
• Present you with a company profile and its position or "niche" in the market.
• Present CMA results to you, including Comparables, Sold, Current Listings & Expired.
• Offer you a well-researched pricing strategy based on their professional judgment, experience, and interpretation of current market conditions.
• Discuss your goals in order to market your home effectively.
• Explain marketing options, including the power and benefits of the Multiple Listing Service, the market power of web marketing, IDX, and REALTOR.com.
• Your REALTOR® will then explain the work your agent and brokerage do "behind the scenes" and the agent's role in taking calls to screen for qualified buyers, protecting you from curiosity seekers, and provide you with availability on the weekends.
• They will present you with and discuss a customized strategic master marketing plan for your home.
• Your REALTOR® will explain the different agency relationships and determine your preference.
• Finally, they will review and explain all of the clauses in your Listing Contract and Addendum, and of course, they will obtain your signature on the listing contract.

As you can see, once you decide to list your home for sale, your REALTOR® begins working on your behalf to research, strategize, and organize your property listing to make sure that your home is positioned and priced appropriately for your local market.They will present you with a well-thought-out marketing plan, a well-researched and appropriate price for your home, and will review and organize property records to include in your formal file to prepare for the next steps in the process.

In our next blog post, we're going to take an in-depth look at the next steps your REALTOR® will take when selling your home once you've signed a formal listing agreement.