The Basics of Selling Your Home

As your REALTOR® my marketing efforts will include various forms advertising as noted below.

Advertising and Promotion
Your property will be advertised through my website, Internet home search/listing services, classified advertising and real estate guides. Promotion efforts through office and MLS tours are a good way of getting other buyer agents to view your home and to promote it to the buyers they are working with.

Even with all these advertising avenues, I will place " For Sale" signs in strategically located areas. When appropriate, and with your permission, I may send a mailing about your property to neighbors. Sometimes one of them has a friend or relative who may want to live near them. You never know how far reaching the benefits of word-of-mouth advertising by friends, relatives and neighbors can be.

Showing Property and Open House
To prepare your home for viewing, make it as bright, clean, cheerful and serene as possible. Always look at your home from the buyer's point of view. I will suggest that you be absent while the house is being shown to prospective buyers, because your presence will inhibit their actions and conversations. Children and pets should not be on the premises either.

As your REALTOR® I may also schedule an open house. You may want to notify your friends and neighbors, and assure them that they'll be welcome.

Quick tips for showing property and open house:

• Clean or replace dirty or worn carpets.
• Open all curtains and blinds.
• Replace any burned out light bulbs and turn on all lights.
• Clear all clutter.
• Clear all countertops.
• Wash and put away any dirty dishes.
• Set the dining room or kitchen table if you have particularly nice linen or china.
• immer a few drops of vanilla on the stove.
• Put on soft music.
• Burn wood in the fireplace on cold days, otherwise, clean the fireplace.
• Put fresh towels in the bathroom.
• Take any laundry out of the washer and dryer.
• Temporarily leave the house while prospective buyers are touring your home.
• Put pets in cages or take them to a neighbor.

How Long Has Your House Been on the Market?
Remember, your home is worth as much as a buyer will pay for it. If your home has been on the market for months, it's a clear message that the property may not be worth what you're asking for it. This is particularly true if there haven't been many prospects coming to see it. What you do at that point depends on whether you really need to sell, and whether you're working with a time limit.

If you're not really motivated to move soon, you can always wait - years if necessary - and hope inflation will catch up with the price you want. The problem is that in that time, your home begins to feel shopworn. Buyers become suspicious of a house that's been for sale for a long time.

If you really do need to sell, as your REALTOR® I will discuss a schedule for gradually dropping your price until you find a level that attracts buyers. There's no point in saying, "We simply can't sell our house." Anything will sell if the price is right.

If You're Buying Another Home
You may wonder what will happen when you're selling one home and buying another - how will all the details work out? This is a common situation and REALTORS®, lawyers, and title and escrow companies have plenty of experience in arranging contracts and loans so that the two transactions flow smoothly.

Ideally, it's best to find a home you like and make an offer subject to selling your current home. This generally works in a normal market. However, in a "hot" market most sellers will not accept a "subject to sale" offer. In this case you need to sell your home first and then buy a new home in the interim period between selling and vacating your house.

If you find that you need to buy the next house before you've received the proceeds from the present one, lending institutions can sometimes make you a short-term " bridge" loan to tide you over between the two transactions. Make sure you fully understand the exposure and emotional investment before proceeding with this type of loan.