selling your home

Steps for buying and selling a house during the coronavirus

Steps for buying and selling a house during the coronavirus

Tony Thurston

Buying or selling a property can take a long time – even more so since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. With mortgage lenders, estate agents, and conveyancers all under huge pressure from increased demand, it’s a good idea to do everything within your power to speed up the process that can be agonizingly slow. Learn to find the best mortgage rates with the help of our guide, find out the latest, accurate information on house prices in our guide.

If you’re planning to sell your house and looking for the steps in the home selling process, then more likely than not, you have been through the home buying process at least once before. If you find the buying process stressful, then this should serve as a warning that the home selling process can also be equally stressful, if not more. However, with careful preparation and an experienced listing agent at your side, you will be able to get through the process successfully and maximize your profit from the sale.

Selling a home isn’t quite as simple as sticking up a ‘for sale’ sign and waiting for the buyers to come to you. Here is a quick overview of the various steps involved in selling a property. You can also download our handy checklist of things you need to do when selling a house. Deciding to sell. Consider what is happening in the broader market and what is best for your particular situation. Also, decide if you are better off buying a new home before or after you sell your current home.

The Process of Selling a House

Here’s our guide to the step by step process of selling your property to help you get ready to list your home.

Selling a property can be a costly and stressful time for anyone. It takes a great deal of your time and effort, so it’s natural for vendors to want the process to end with the best possible outcome. All vendors naturally have the ultimate goal of seeing their property sell quickly and at a high profit. Yet in many cases, houses can sit on the property market for months if not years with little to show for the time and effort. This may be due to your agent and or partially due to common mistakes on the part of the vendor.

The process of selling a house is complex and time-consuming. Done correctly, and the prospective seller may incur profits that were higher than anticipated. However, done incorrectly, a seller will ultimately lose profits. The key to a successful real estate transaction involves selling a home as fast as possible. This helps to avoid any unwarranted fees and holding costs. It is never easy to relinquish control of a subject’s property, particularly when it’s your personal residence and money. But if the goal is to sell, and to sell fast, then you better be prepared to take even the most counter-intuitive steps – like undercutting the price.

When Is a House Considered Sold?

The real estate selling agent and buying agent each typically earn a 3 percent commission, usually paid by the seller. This cost is often considered when setting the home sale price. On a $320,000 house, that’s $19,200. Cut that number in half it’s easy to see the motivation for a seller to forego working with an agent. Fsbo sellers and realtors have a relationship akin to red sox and Yankees fans: they hate each other. They also share a desire to throw statistics at each other to make their point. The national association of realtors reported in 2018 that the average FSBO home sold for $200,000, versus $265,000 for a home sold with a real estate agent, a larger enough difference to easily make up for the 3% commission.

Buying or Selling Your House With an Attorney Instead of an Agent

Okay, you’re selling a house and someone else is buying it. No need to prepare for any expenses, right? Big mistake!

Did you know sellers typically use their proceeds to cover the commissions for their listing agent and the buyer’s agent? According to most real estate websites, you’ll probably pay around 6% of your home price to cover agent commissions. So, if your home sells for $200,000, don’t be surprised if $12,000 of that goes to the agents who helped you seal the deal. Is it worth it? For sure! Just know upfront where some of that money will be going.

One of the big benefits to selling on your own is that you save on the commission (you’ll save the 3 percent you’d pay your own agent, but you’ll still have to pay 3 percent to the buyer’s agent). But if you want to sell fast on your own, you’ll have to be prepared to negotiate like a pro. Be ready to negotiate escrow timelines, juggle contract paperwork, and consult an attorney to make sure all forms are filled out correctly. Knowing the ins and outs of the process is especially important if you need to sell your house fast.

You could think you have a buyer already lined up before you talk to an agent. Maybe you’ve agreed upon the purchase price and think you’ve just got the inspections, appraisals, and paperwork to complete. (That’s still a lot of stuff left to do!)

The catch: things can and do go wrong when you’re buying and selling a house —even if you think the paperwork part will be a breeze. With no agent to safeguard your legal liabilities, you’re on your own if the deal falls through.

Steps to Sell a House: How Long Does Each One Take?

The time you actually sell your house will vary depending on where you live. Housing markets differ from city to city. You might live in an area where it’s a seller’s paradise and everyone is looking to buy a house. Or you might find yourself in a buyer’s market, where people can’t get rid of their homes fast enough. Whatever your case, I’ve provided the exact steps you need to take in order to sell a house — along with a rough timeline.

If you’re thinking of selling your home, it’s smart to prepare a home selling plan before you start making repairs or marking a date on your calendar for an open house. Prepare your property, making repairs if necessary. Interview real estate agents and be open to suggestions for a listing price. Of course, you want the most money you can get for the property, but that might not happen if you make costly home selling mistakes along the way. Unsure of where to start? Here are steps you can take to make your home sale a success.

Selling a home has many moving parts, and whether you’re a first-time home seller or seasoned seller, the process can be daunting. In a perfect world, the home selling process would be stress-free, where you can list your house, find a qualified buyer, and collect payment. Unfortunately, selling your home involves many more steps. So, how long will it take to sell your home? the reality is that the time it takes depends on your situation, your house, and your local housing market. Luckily, we’ve put together a typical timeline for selling your house so you’ll know what to expect throughout the home selling process.

Benefits of a Real Estate Attorney

While getting legal aid is optional, it’s always better to get a professional legal opinion on your closing documents. The complicated jargon in them can be difficult to understand, even for well-educated individuals. For an appropriate fee, an opinion from an experienced real estate attorney can offer multiple benefits, including hints of any potential problems in the paperwork.

How long does it take to list a home?

Properties sell quickly in Toronto, and buyers get suspicious of homes that have been on the market longer than usual. It’s best to adjust your price or strategy and re-list it, rather than have your home listed for three months.

It will take your listing agent a few days or a bit longer to gather all the necessary info on your home (e. G., square footage, special features, and photos). But once your agent has it all, things generally happen fast. Your agent will then upload these details onto the multiple listing service, which will make the listing viewable to agents. A shorter, consumer-friendly version of the MLS listing will also appear on sites like a realtor.

The one instance where you can dramatically increase the odds of selling a home for sale by owner is when you are either located on a busy road or are located in a neighborhood where there are other homes listed by a real estate agent. When located on the main road, you have the benefit of a lot of people noticing you’re selling your home as long as you have prominent signage.

What is an Estate Sale?

Here’s good news: your money should be available immediately after you sign on the dotted line. Cash is typically disbursed by the title or escrow company, which will wire the money to your bank account or cut a check on closing day with little to no lag time. Make sure to check with your attorney or real estate agent, though—they’ll be able to provide specific details on the process for your sale.

A short-sale property can provide an excellent opportunity to purchase a house for less money. In many cases, short-sale homes are in reasonable condition, and while the purchase price might be higher than a foreclosure, the costs of making the home marketable can be much lower, and the disadvantages to the seller less severe. However, because of the lengthy process, buyers and sellers must be willing to wait. An experienced real estate agent can help you determine a fair offer and negotiate with the bank.

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4 Steps To Complete Before Selling Your Home

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People sell their homes for many reasons and in many different stages of their lives. Before you decide to sell, even before you put a sign in your yard, go through this checklist and be sure that you are ready to sell your house.

Why are you selling?

What is your reason for selling your house? Do you have a great new job lined up in another city that requires you to move? Is your house already too small, and a new baby is on the way? Are your neighbors driving you crazy? Did you see your dream house two streets over?

The point is you must be fully committed to the idea of selling your house, and not just dabbling to see what you can get. Being truly motivated to sell is often the difference between a house that sells quickly and one languishing on the market for an extensive period.

Plan and prepare for selling your house. Realize fully that everything you have in your current home will need to be moved out whether that is to your new house, the dumpster, or Goodwill. Moving is a lot of work!

Consider carefully if selling is the right move at this time. Perhaps the new job won’t work out and you’ll decide to come back home. In that situation, it might be better to lease your home and rent one in the new area for the first six to twelve months. Many people who’ve outgrown their homes have decided to add an addition to alleviate the problem rather than uproot the family, so that option should be mulled over also.

Where will you go?

Often, a home seller will be looking into buying another home as they are thinking of selling their current one. If you’ll be staying in the local area, you should decide on the neighborhoods you’re interested in and start scoping out home listings in those areas. There are a lot of factors to consider when purchasing a new home: the price, the property taxes, the neighborhood, and its amenities. You should go to as many open houses in your desired areas as you can so that you can get a first-hand look at what you get for the money in that area. It also gives you time to drive through the neighborhood and see how people care for their yards and property, and where the schools, parks, and restaurants are located. Now compare all of this to where you currently live and weigh the two. Sometimes, the decision is easy to make a move and other times it really is best to stay put.

Find a good real estate agent

If you’ve decided to go ahead and sell, call several real estate agents. You’ll want to interview at least three agents who work extensively in your neighborhood, and ask what their plan would be for marketing your home. Also, be sure that they prepare a comparative market analysis report for you.

Good real estate agents will be ready with suggestions on prepping your home for sale, staging it for open houses, and setting a competitive suggested price. They should also be able to give you a range of what your house will ultimately bring when sold. Consider the low end of the range to decide if selling for that price makes sense for you. If the numbers work for your situation, go ahead and list your house.

Arrange to finance

While you are speaking with your current lender to get an exact payoff figure, also ask about current finance rates with them. Ask them for a GFE (good faith estimate) on the amount you’ve determined you’ll need to borrow for the home you’ll be buying.
Also, call a few other lenders to get similar information from them, so that you can compare rates and fees from one lender to another. Choose the lender that you feel most comfortable with, keeping in mind the fees and rates that you’ve acquired from each of them. Next, ask for a loan preapproval letter so that you’ll know how much you qualify to borrow based on your income, assets, and monthly bills. This preapproval letter will help your buying transaction go more smoothly because sellers will know you are serious and ready to buy.

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Remember That Selling Your Home Is Just Business

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In selling your home, there are common, easily identifiable traps to avoid — for your sake and the buyers. The more you can treat the experience as a business proposition, the better for all concerned.

** Create emotional distance. **

Once the “for sale” sign goes up in the yard, stop thinking about the property as your home. To steal a line from The Godfather, “It’s just business.” You are not selling your dreams or your memories, you are helping someone else to find their own. One of the best ways to divorce yourself from the house is by staging it for sale.

– Remove extra furniture.
– Paint the rooms a neutral color.
– Remove personal memorabilia and keepsakes.
– Create vignettes in each room that highlight its purpose.

In this fashion, you not only get a jump on moving — packing up your things and removing the largest piece of furniture — but you also begin the process of disassociating yourself from the house as “yours” and you help a potential buyer to see is as “theirs.”

** Get your top price with an expert. **

Make no mistake, you can sell your home on your own. You will need to research recently sold and currently listed properties to arrive at a sale price. You’ll need to get your home placed on the Multiple Listing Service (about $300), and all the showing, negotiating and paper shuffling will be up to you. (Seriously, if you go this route, get a real estate attorney.) You’ll still have to pay the buyer’s agent a fee of 1-3%. You’ll save a few thousand dollars. Is it worth it?

That’s a question only you can answer, but consider these points about real estate agents:

– They know how to set an accurate price for your home.
– They know how to negotiate and get the best price.
– They have no emotional attachment to the home and will not be offended by buyer criticism.
– They have the time to show the home. It’s what they do.
– They’ve done the paperwork a million times.

Bottom line. Working with an agent is easier, more efficient, more cost-effective, and in the end, more profitable.

** Avoid price fumbles. **

It is inevitable that homeowners and agents will argue about setting a price on the home. Again, this can be a factor of emotional attachment. Over-priced homes, especially in the wake of an economic recession and the real estate market adjustment, will not sell. There’s just too much inventory out there.

You cannot know what the final price will be, especially if multiple buyers are interested and start bidding. Trust your agent. Price is crucial to a successful sale.

And price expectations are integral to avoiding a sense of failure and disappointment. You are probably not going to get whatever that asking price may be. If you’re lucky, you’ll get more. You may get less. The important thing is that the negotiations are carried out fairly, based on solid reasoning on both sides, and that the price you do get represents reasonable value for all concerned.

** Prepare your home properly. **

Getting a home ready for sale isn’t just about cleaning. All those things you’ve ignored for years? The missing doorknob on the hall closet? The toilet that runs unless you jiggle the handle just right? Fix them. Don’t put a patch on them or a big potted plant in front of them. Trying to hide problems is a huge mistake because when they are revealed, they put you in a bad light and make the potential buyer wonder what else is wrong that you’re not telling them about.

The best way to avoid problems due to unforeseen home repairs is simply to have your home inspected before you list it, not after there’s an offer on the table. Why dread the results of a home inspection when you can be proactive and preemptive? Get an inspector in. Listen to what he says. Fix what’s wrong, and look forward to a higher sale price.

** Put the focus on the buyer. **

You may think this process is about you, but it’s about the buyer. When someone wants to see your home, get up, get out, and let them. Accept that short-term inconvenience is part of the package — and that includes keeping the place in constant “show” condition. That spur of the moment showing may be the one that seals the deal.

That being said, don’t trust every Tom, Dick, and Harry who comes up the walk, especially if you are selling your home on your own. Don’t sign anything with an unqualified buyer. Insist on a pre-approval letter from the mortgage company or other proof that they do have the money to go through with the transaction.

While each of these pitfalls is easily understandable, they are also easily avoidable. The movie line was right. Selling your home is business. Treat it that way and make the experience smoother for you and for your buyer.

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