| Getting Your House Ready to Sell: |
Having your home inspected by a professional home inspector before you list is a recommendation from Sophia.
Eventually your buyers are going to conduct a home inspection. You may as well know what they are going to find by getting there first. Having an inspection performed ahead of time helps in many other ways:
- allows you to see your home through the eyes of a critical third-party.
- helps you to price your home realistically.
- It permits you to make repairs ahead of time so that ...
- Defects won't become negotiating stumbling blocks later.
- You have the time to get reasonably priced contractors or make the repairs yourself, if you are qualified.
- It may encourage the buyer to waive the inspection contingency.
- It may alert you of items of immediate personal concern, such as radon gas or active termite infestation (not all inspectors offer these extra services, you can check for radon yourself).
- It may relieve buying prospect's concerns and suspicions.
- It reduces your liability by adding professional supporting documentation to your disclosure statement.
- Alerts you to urgent safety issues before agents and visitors tour your home.
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| Repair & Cleaning Checklist: |
- Exterior of House:
- House recently painted
- Exterior lights operating
- Missing shingles replaced
- Moss removed from roof
- Windows:
- Window trims painted
- Windows operating freely
- Windows washed
- Entry:
- Floors cleaned
- Closet cleaned
- Bathrooms:
- Sink stains removed
- Joints caulked
- Missing tiles replaced
- All fixtures operating
- Floors cleaned
- All supplies stored
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- Living Room:
- Recently painted
- Cracks in ceiling/walls repaired
- Leaks repaired & watermarks covered
- Curtains/drapes/blinds cleaned
- Carpets cleaned
- Furniture positioned to show space
- Kitchen:
- Appliances in good working order
- Refrigerator defrosted
- Family Room:
- Drapes/blinds opened
- Carpets cleaned
- Cracks in ceiling/walls repaired
- Curtains/drapes/blinds cleaned
- Bedrooms:
- Cracks in ceiling/walls repaired
- Wallpaper secured
- Woodwork repaired
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| Possible Work Orders: |
The following is a list of some possible work orders. The work orders must be completed prior to closing and the seller is responsible for having them done. Check with your local authorities for specific requirements.
- Broken windows
- Electrics not in working condition.
- Peeling or missing paint.
- Debris in crawl space
- Overgrown shrubbery
- Gutters and downspouts blocked or missing
- Plumbing not in working condition
- Water damage inside home
- Earth-wood contact
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| The Listing Agent And Marketing Your Home: |
For whatever reason, now it is time to sell your home and you need a real estate agent.
For your protection, you want a knowledgeable real estate agent to act as a buffer between you and buyers,who are unlikely to be known personally to you.
Sophia provides a set of marketing strategies of proven efficiency over the past 5 years including:
When you feature your property, it will be showcased on the front page and all property display pages in the Country, on rotation throughout the Sophiasells.com website.
- Newspaper ads.
- Large display ads.
- Local real estate magazines.
- Sophiasells.com search listing pages
- MLS pages
- Property Type search pages
- Listing Brochures
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| Details of a Listing Contract: |
Agency Duties of a Listing Agent?
Many people think of the real estate agent as a salesperson. Many agents (perhaps most agents) would jump at the chance to be just a salesperson. But they aren't just a salesperson. Most states have legislation meaning real estate agents are also agents.
An agent is required to their clients. They have a duty, called a fiduciary duty. This means the agent is responsible to act in the best interests of their client. A car salesman does not have to act in your best interests -- they just have to sell the car. It isn't that simple for real estate agents.
Real estate agents not only have to sell the house, they have to safeguard their client's interests too. That involves a lot of liability, which is one reason for all the disclosures and the pages and pages of contracts, and why they want to be paid for being more than just a salesman.
The listing contract will specify that your agent is acting as a sellers « agent. This means that, in the sale of your house, they are working for you and only you and looking out for your best interests.
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| Frequently asked Questions: |
What is a title insurance?
Title insurance protects the named insured against loss because of defects, liens, encumbrances, adverse claims or other matters not shown or disclosed to the new owner that attach before date of policy.
What are closing costs?
Closing costs are an accumulation of charges paid to different entities associated with the buying and selling of real estate. For sellers, they are usually about 9.5-10% of the total sales price of a property. Some of the closing costs you might encounter are: discount points, escrow fee, documentation fee, homeowners « association fees, pest/rot inspection, real estate commission and title insurance premium.
How long should it take to sell?
Average listing times vary from 30 to 180 days, according to market conditions in a particular region, town, or even neighborhood, and of course, price, terms, condition, location, accessibility and exposure play an even greater role. Selling in any market is easier if you keep time on your side. Most professionals will tell you that allowing yourself at least six months will put you in a position to get a better return from their marketing efforts.
How do I price my house?
Always price your property sensibly.
It is important to be realistic about your home's value and price it accordingly. To determine the fair market value, a real estate professional can supply information on comparable homes that have sold or gone under contract in your area.
What's an MLS and why do I need one?
A Multiple Listing Service, or MLS, is another resource to help ensure you reach a large number of prospective buyers and dramatically increase the exposure of a property.
Quite simply, it's a system under which participating brokers agree to share commission on the sale of houses listed by any one of them. So, for example, if you list your house with one broker and another broker actually sells it, they share the commission. The advantage to you is clear; more people have an interest in selling your house.
What is market value?
Market value can be a tricky concept to explain regarding any product. It is not a static figure and depends on a variety of factors that includes timing, urgency, and other abstract concepts. Within real estate, market value is an even more difficult concept to understand. By definition, market value is the price in which a particular house will sell within 30 to 90 days based on its current condition. Based on this definition, market value factors in such disparate issues that are completely unrelated to the property in question such as: the overall real estate market; the type of neighborhood the home is located in; the time of year that the property is on sale; and also how urgently the owner wants to sell their home.
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