Your REALTOR® has researched the market, determined your home's value, listed your property on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) database, and begun marketing your home to their contacts and other agents, literally throughout the world...
If they've done their job well, you should receive an offer for your home. Actually, in today's market, you'll most likely be receiving multiple offers. It can be a pretty long road between receiving an offer and scheduling a closing. This is where your REALTOR'S® expertise really shines!
Your REALTOR® is there to help you sort through and understand any offers and help you to make an informed decision about which is the right one to accept. The Offer/Contract process can be tricky. It's the right time to have a REALTOR® on your team to negotiate the right deal.
In this selling your home post, we're going to explore the process and steps your REALTOR® will take from the moment an offer (or offers) is made until the day a Contract to Purchase is signed!
Once you've received an offer for your home, there are several steps your REALTOR® will take that will keep the process of selling your home on track. An offer is the first step toward a signed Contract to Purchase. The buyer may have contingencies like home inspections, and your REALTOR® will take steps to verify that the buyer is pre-qualified.
During this part of the process, there is a lot of paperwork, deposits must be properly handled, and the buyer may need additional information that your REALTOR® should have in the Property File. Here are the steps and tasks your REALTOR® will manage from receiving an initial offer, culminating in a signed Purchase and Sale Agreement:
This process should culminate in a signed Offer to Purchase. When the Offer to Purchase Contract is accepted and signed by you, your REALTOR® will deliver the signed contract to the buyer's agent. They will then record and promptly deposit the buyer's earnest money into an escrow account, disseminate "Under-Contract Showing Restrictions," and deliver copies of the fully signed Offer to Purchase contract to you.
Your Realtor will also deliver copies of the Offer to Purchase to the selling agent and the lender. They will add copies of the contract to the office file and advise the seller in handling any additional offers to purchase submitted between the contract and the closing. At this point, the process of selling your home will enter into the final stages. This includes:
If your home has a septic system and/or a well...
Your REALTOR® may also work with the buyer to assist them in securing a loan. Loan approval is a major element of a successful sale and as such, your REALTOR® will spend time tracking the process. They will:
The lender will require an appraisal to approve the loan. Your REALTOR® will schedule the appraisal and provide the comparable sales used in market pricing to the appraiser. After the appraiser has left the property, your REALTOR® will follow up with them and enter the completion of the appraisal into the transaction management program. If you have any questions about the appraisal report, for example, if it seems too low, your REALTOR® will assist you in questioning the report.
Your buyer and their lender will require a home inspection before approving a loan. Along with the appraisal, this is an important element. Your REALTOR® will work with you to coordinate the buyer's professional home inspection. They will then receive and review a copy of the inspector's report and enter its completion into the transaction management tracking software.
They will sit down with you and explain your responsibilities concerning loan limits and interpret any clauses in the contract. They will also ensure your compliance with any Home Inspection Clause requirements.
If issues arise, your REALTOR® will assist you with identifying and negotiating with qualified contractors to perform any repairs required by the seller or their loan underwriter. They will also negotiate payment and oversee the completion of all required repairs on your behalf if needed.
Once you've received an offer for your home, the process can move quickly, and there are many moving parts to selling your home before closing. Your REALTOR® has the experience, expertise, and contacts to assist you and make the process as smooth as possible. Should a problem arise, they are there to help you resolve it, whether it's hiring a contractor for needed repairs or explaining the appraisal or home inspector's report.
In our next blog post, we're going to take a look at the final steps of the process when selling your home – the closing, and how your REALTOR will continue to work for you, even after you've given the keys to the new owner!
The beginning, middle, and end of summer are marked by holidays that honor our country's greatest values and liberties. Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Veteran's Day are steeped in traditions of honoring and remembering all those who served in the military. For many of us, it also means an extra day off to celebrate with family and friends.
With the promise of summer stretching out ahead, Memorial Day has a special significance. Our real estate agents share their favorite New England Memorial Day traditions.
Until this point, your REALTOR® has been researching, preparing, and compiling information and documentation to ensure that selling your home is a successful project that delivers a maximum return. Now it's time to take the process of selling your home further and actually place your home on the market and list it on the Multiple Listing Service.
This is where working with a REALTOR® really pays off. Your REALTOR® Even before your home is listed on the MLS, your REALTOR® and their team have already performed dozens of actions to prepare your listing to this point. These actions reflect the level of skill, knowledge, and attention to detail required for successfully selling your home and underscore the importance of having help and guidance from someone who completely understands the entire process.
In this selling your home post, we will take a look at the specific steps required for selling your home. From entering your home in the MLS Database to how your realtor will design a marketing strategy to build interest in your property, drive traffic to your online presence, and generate serious offers for your home.
Once your REALTOR® has taken care of all the previous steps and tasks and gathered the proper documentation for the property file and property listing file, they will review everything with you. This includes their Curb Appeal Assessment and Interior Decor Assessment. They will provide you with their recommendations for selling your home, including preparing and staging your house. They will then list your home in the Multiple Listing Service Database. This process includes:
Once your home is listed on the MLS database, this is when the real work begins. Your REALTOR® is a marketing expert when it comes to selling property. A well-planned and executed marketing strategy is the key to attracting attention and interest for your listing. A poorly executed marketing plan can result in your home languishing on the market with little interest, little traffic, and no offers.
Your REALTOR® understands the market and has proven marketing strategies and processes that they will customize for your home. They will have already performed a detailed market analysis to determine the proper price for your home, and they will now prepare marketing materials to get the word out. Your marketing plan will include both digital and traditional components, and your REALTOR® will take the following steps:
Once they have prepared your home's marketing materials, they will next begin to distribute them through their company's networks, social media platforms, and company website and notify other agents. Your REALTOR® will take steps that include:
Along with preparing and distributing materials, your REALTOR will place ads and maintain your home's Internet marketing strategy. As your property generates interest, they will continuously manage the marketing plan and monitor the results. Managing your campaign includes:
Your REALTOR will keep you abreast of any and all developments. They will place regular weekly calls to you to discuss marketing and pricing. They will discuss feedback from showing agents to determine if changes will accelerate the process of selling your home.
Ultimately, your home's marketing plan will drive traffic, increase showings and spark interest in your property. All of this effort will generally lead to an offer, or in this current market, multiple offers which your REALTOR® will present to you.
In our next selling your home blog post, we're going to look at the steps your REALTOR® will take when offers are submitted and your home is placed under contract.
In a seller's market, such as we have today, sellers might feel like they can skip some steps before listing their home. After all, sellers are getting their asking prices, aren't they? But is that the only thing to consider? Our real estate agents know staging your home is important in any real estate market. Here's why.
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.
The second level of research begins. This includes the legal side of researching for your property, for codes, ownership, and more.
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.
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:
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.
New England is justifiably proud of its spectacular Atlantic Ocean shoreline that makes the region a top tourist destination year after year. But residents know that the scenic lakes in New Hampshire and Maine offer an unbeatable sense of serenity as well.
Both states offer relaxing lake living activities such as boating, canoeing, swimming, fishing, etc. But when you look closer, you'll see what makes these areas truly one of a kind.
Our real estate agents share some of the things that make Maine and New Hampshire unique for lakeside living.
Once you've settled on terms, defined the agency relationship, reached an agreement, and signed your listing contract, your REALTOR will take the next steps. They will begin working in earnest preparing your home's MLS listing and begin organizing much of the legal paperwork and information needed when selling your home.
Simultaneously, they will prepare your listing, take photographs, prepare a profile, organize and prepare your Property File and Property Listing File before moving on to the next step; entering your property in the MLS and developing a marketing strategy to maximize exposure for your property in the market.
In this selling your home post, we're going to examine all of the steps your REALTOR® will take from the time you signed a listing agreement until it's time to list your home on the MLS and begin marketing your home.
Your REALTOR® will have done a lot of preliminary work even before you've signed a listing agreement. They will have conducted a significant amount of research to determine the status of your local market, pull together preliminary documents, determine legal statuses like ownership and zoning, and developed a preliminary marketing strategy.
Now the work begins. Selling your home means pulling together the detailed information, data, and legal paperwork needed to prepare your MLS listing and compile your property listing file.
Once they have gathered the documents needed for the property listing file, your REALTOR® will gather your current financing information that includes:
If your home is in a neighborhood with a Homeowner's Association, it may be necessary to adjust your sales plan to meet the HOA bylaws. Your REALTOR® will research and contact the HOA to verify fees and bylaws.
The next step is to gather and analyze all utility information to include in the MLS listing and property listing folder. This is an important element of preparing a cost analysis for any potential buyers so they can understand your home's operating cost. This step includes the following tasks:
Research electricity availability, including the supplier's name and phone number.
If your home has a rental component, your REALTOR® will complete this next series of tasks to prepare the information a buyer will need to assess the rental potential of your property. If there is no rental component, they may not need to take all of these steps. These tasks include:
At this point, your REALTOR will take the final steps necessary for selling your home, including the preparation and staging of your home before it's officially listed in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) databases. This includes:
Up to this point, you have a signed Listing Agreement, and your REALTOR® will have taken all of the necessary steps to gather the needed information to prepare your home's MLS listing properly. They will have all of the legal information necessary in the Property File and Property Listing File, which will include verified square footages, operating costs, utility information, and any additional information needed, for example, rental and lease data.
In the next selling your home blog post, we'll look at the next steps in the process of marketing and selling your home, which includes entering the property in the MLS Database and creating a marketing strategy for your property to build interest, drive traffic, and generate offers for your home.
Sustainable kitchen products are those that use eco-friendly materials, last longer, and are more easily recycled than traditional items. Buying these products has become more popular in recent years as more consumers consider the impact on the environment when they're making purchases.
Our real estate agents know that there are many reasons why homeowners opt for sustainable kitchen products. Some of the top benefits include:
Thinking of how to make your kitchen more eco-friendly? Opt for some of these products in your home.
Looking for a brand new kitchen to enjoy for years to come? Contact us today if you're interested in buying or selling a home in New England.