The home selling process begins with the decision to sell what ever the reason may be. Then you should meet with a Realtor and get a free home value report so that you know how much your home is worth in the current real estate market. When you meet with the agent you should get there advise on what needs to be done to your house to get it ready to sell. You may hear things you don't like, but remember they know what sells houses and it is going to hopefully make you more money in the sell of your home. Here are some tips I have gathered to get your home ready to sell. - Seller tips

Once you have your home ready for the market, it is time to get your home listed. You will meet with your Realtor and they with advise you on the best price to list your home. Keep in mind; it's always your say on what you sell your home for. You will sign a contract between you and the brokerage, and it will spell out all the terms and conditions. You will also need to fill out a sellers property disclosure form stating the thing you know work, don't work and anything that may be wrong with the property. Don't lie, it could lead to trouble down the road. Be sure before signing with an agent that you know what their marketing plan is and how they are going to get your home sold. A good agent is going to measure the rooms, take lots of photos, and want to know everything about you home. If your agent gets your signatures and leaves, it's not a good sign that your home is going to get advertised well. Listings with pictures and/or staged to sell will sell it quicker and get a lot more showings.

Now your home is on the market. While your home is on the market it needs to be kept clean and ready to show at anytime. I know how inconvenient this can be as I have had my home listed while having a 2 year old and an infant, but it must be done. You never know, your buyer could have been the one that came through when you let your guard down and decided not to because they were turned off by the mess. Also, you need to make your home available at anytime. If you tell someone that can't look when they want to, you may have just sent your buyer away forever to buy your competitions house. Currently I am seeing median priced homes stay on the market for 3 to 4 months.

Here is something to keep in mind. You are selling your home, which means your going to need a new place yourself. Don't wait until your home is sold to start looking. Start looking early and be informed on the market you're looking to buy in. You can look and wait to buy when you get an offer on your current house, but what happens if you find the perfect home for you before your home sells? You make an offer, but part of your offer is that it is contingent on the sell of your current home. This way if your home doesn't sell then you don't get stuck with two home and two mortgages.

All right you got an offer, now what? Your agent receives the offer for your home and will review it and advise you on what is being offered. One thing to keep in mind is if you don't negotiate with the buyer they are not going to negotiate with you and you are never obligated to accept an offer you don't like. If you get down to where your buyer and you are just $500 to $1000 away from an agreement but you're in a stalemate, consider this. If you choose not to concede the difference and leave your home on the market, it could be another month or two before the next offer. Sure your second offer was $1000 better than the last one, which is just what you wanted, but in the mean time you paid $1200 to $2400 more in mortgage payments. So did you really win?

You have accepted an offer, what's next? Now that you have accepted an offer on your house, your agent will send the nessesary documents to the title company and open escrow. In most case, now the buyer is going to pay to have a home inspector come a check your home to make sure it is in good repair. Should there be a major problem, either the buyer says ok I am still buying the house, or you step back into negotiations to see who is going to pay for the repairs or the buyer can walk away if you refuse to repair the required items. Also, the buyers mortgage company is going to have an appraisal done to make sure the house is worth what they offered. Should the appraisal not be right, you are going back to negotiations and are likely going to have to sell your home for less because its not worth what the original offer was. There are many problems you can run into at this stage of the sell, but that is why you have a Realtor to help you get through this process. I have not covered all that can happen but these are the major players.

Closing time. Everything went well and now you are ready to finalize the deal. At this time your going to sign everything that is needed to sell your home. You should always check your closing statement to make sure all the numbers are right and your Realtor will too. In Idaho the deal is not complete until both buyers and sellers have signed and everything has been funded. This can take a day or two, then at that time if you are owed any money you will receive a check from the title company. Congrats! You have just sold your home.

 

*I have done the best I can to explain the home selling process, but if I have missed anything I am sorry. This just the basics, seek expert advise as needed.