So you’re thinking about selling your Lakeville home. In a Sellers Market where there are more buyers than Sellers it makes selling your home much easier but that does not mean there wont be hoops to jump through. Heres the steps it takes to sell your Lakeville home and get to the closing table:
Step 1. Declutter your home so it presents nicely.
Step 2. Have your real estate agent or TM Listings 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.
Step 3. Evaluate whether doing some cosmetic improvements will benefit you, sometimes selling as-is is more profitable than doing any repairs. 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 the market what your competitors are selling for, be realistic. For example, putting in a new furnace doesn’t mean your Lakeville home will be worth more because the new furnace. Its expected when a buyer is purchasing your Lakeville home it will have a working furnace.
Step 5. Hire your realtor, don’t fall for smoke and mirrors, 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 Lakeville 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. Almost all interest will start from seeing your home online so make sure it’s presented properly.
Step 7. Your agent will list your home. 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.
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.
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 Lakeville 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
