So you’re thinking about selling your Cape Coral house. In a Sellers Market where there are more buyers and than Sellers it makes selling your home much easier but that does not mean there wont be hoops to jump through. Here’s the steps it takes to sell your Cape Coral home and get to the closing table:
Step 1. Take inventory and declutter your home so it shows nice. Get a friend to help, or ask us, getting an opinion from someone not emotionally attached will be very helpful.
Step 2. Contact your Real Estate Agent or work with us at TM Listings. Do a thorough walk through in your home and look for items that may be flagged for non compliance in a appraisal, if any repairs are needed, fix them. For example if a buyer is using FHA financing, they will not get the funding if a home has flaking paint or hazards, exposed wires etc.
Step 3. Evaluate whether doing some cosmetic improvements will benefit you and weigh out the costs, sometimes selling as-is is more profitable than doing any repairs, it certainly less stressful! After flipping many homes I’ve learned not all repairs are necessary or profitable as HGTV makes us believe.
Step 4. Determine value with your realtor, look at comparable sales in the market, what the competitors houses are selling for, be realistic. For example, putting in a new furnace doesn’t mean your Cape Coral home will be worth more because the new furnace. Its expected when a buyer is purchasing your Cape Coral home it will have a working furnace.
Step 5. Hire your realtor, don’t fall for smoke and mirrors and fancy listing presentations, those are just sales schemes, get the best value. Many agents will deliver a very fancy listing presentation but the reality in the end, your don’t need a lot of fluff to sell your Cape Coral home. For example at TM Listings we charge less than most competitors yet still delivery full service. Advocate for yourself and save thousands while still getting top service and advice.
Step 6. Make sure the Realtor uses professional pictures, this is a must, it’s shocking how many agents still use old pics. Almost all interest will start from seeing your home online so make sure it’s presented the very best using professional pictures.
Step 7. Your agent will list your home on the multiple listing service. Make sure a copy of the listing is emailed to you so you can evaluate the listing, if it needs corrections let your agent know. You know your home better than anyone else so make sure the data is correct.
Step 8. Get set up on the showing app, it will notify you when showings are being scheduled. It’s expected on every showing you leave for that scheduled time, typically 1 hour. Try to approve every showing, the more you show the more offers you could get.
Step 9. You get an offer or offers. Your agent will help you decide what offer is best for you. You can accept, counter or reject.
Step 10. After you’ve accepted an offer many buyers will opt to have a home inspection. Typically a buyer can negotiate after an inspection. You can negotiate or they may cancel if negotiations fail.
Step 11. After the inspection typically an appraisal will be ordered and the appraiser may call out work order(s), we discussed this in step 2. In a hot housing market sometimes the price adjustments haven’t kept up with past sales and an appraisal might not hit the offer amount in which case more negotiating may take place or cancel.
Step 12. The title company will clear title, the lender will get a clear to close. And its time to close. I like to have a clear to close 1 week prior to the closing date, this allows if any problems happen the Seller didn’t pack everything up and move out and maybe the closing wont happen, people lose their job, things happens. Theres nothing worse than a Seller moving all their belongings out of a home and then no closing. If the buyer is clear to close one week prior to closing the likelihood of the transaction falling apart is very limited.
Step 13. The buyer will schedule a final walk through. This is for them to make sure nothing major has changed in the home. For example if the appliances were included, they still need to work.
Step 14. Pack your belongings, move out prior to closing. Its good etiquette to leave your home in cleaned condition for the new buyer to move in. Show up to closing and close, you’re done, you’ve made it!
As you can see there are a lot of steps to sell your Cape Coral house. A lot can go wrong in the process. Make sure you hire a good realtor to assist you. If you don’t have a realtor, please reach out to us at TM Listings for a free market evaluation.
Troy Molde
