Your chosenflatfee agent may charge more for sales progression if it is not part of the service you commissioned at the start. In order to signal your commitment to the sale, you should remove the property from the market once the offer has been accepted. A few days after you have accepted the offer, check with your legal representative to make sure the buyer has appointed their own legal representative. If the buyer does not seem to be making any preparations for purchase, ask your estate agent and legal representative to check what is causing the delay.
Because so many buyers look for homes online these days, and so many of those homes have photos, you’ll be doing yourself a real disservice if you don’t have high-quality visuals of your home. At the same time, there are so many poor photos of homes for sale that if you do a good job, it will set your listing apart and help generate extra interest. You should be prepared to tell your estate agent all the relevant material facts about your property. Your estate agent will provide more guidance, but broadly material facts are things which may have a major impact on whether a buyer decides to purchase your home; for example if it regularly floods. Estate agents are legally required to share this information with potential buyers.
Deposit – a payment passed on to your legal representative upon exchange of contracts, which represents a percentage of the purchase price. Once you have accepted an offer, the buyer will instruct their legal representative to commission searches and review the title of the property. Enquiries are therefore raised at different points through the process, sometimes at the very last minute, and will normally be answered by your legal representative but may need your input. These questions are important as the buyer’s legal representative has to satisfy the lender’s requirements. An estate agent acts on your behalf to negotiate the sale of the property between you and the buyer, and is able to list your property on property portal websites.
What you paid for it originally and how much money you want to make are not relevant to the value of the property now. Remember that a property is only worth what people are willing to pay for it. You are not required to answer questions on condition; questions which are outside your knowledge; or questions which the buyer can find out the answers to themselves.
How you price your home can mean the difference between an offer and weeks or even months on the market. If you know you have unfinished maintenance issues or you want to sell your home quickly, a pre-listing inspection may be worth the cost. A pre-listing home inspection costs between $280 and $400. HomeAdvisor indicates that some home inspectors charge a flat fee for homes up to 2,000 square feet, with an additional charge per square foot beyond that.
Your agent will also have more experience negotiating home sales, helping you get more money than you could on your own. If any problems crop up during the process, an experienced professional will be there to handle them for you. Finally, agents are familiar with all the paperwork and pitfalls involved in real estate transactions and can help make sure the process goes smoothly. This means there won’t be any delays or unforeseen legal ramifications in the deal.
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They can help you set the right asking price for your home to maximize your chance of getting a bid. List your house in April or May, since people are more likely to buy a home during the warmer months. Make a list of local mortgage brokers and familiarize yourself with the mortgage process, so you can guide them through it when they make a bid.
With Opendoor, you can receive a competitive offer on your home and then move on your own timeline without listing on the market. This enables you to skip several of the steps outlined in this guide. Unlike a home flipper that’s investing in undervalued homes to maximize price appreciation, Opendoor makes a competitive offer on houses that are in good condition. One caveat regarding pre-listing inspections, state laws typically mandate that sellers must disclose known property issues to buyers. You’ll likely be required to disclose any major pre-listing inspection findings that you choose not to repair. A great real estate agent will factor in value adjustments (square feet, beds, baths, condition, etc.) between your home and the homes your agent included.
In contrast, agent-assisted home sales averaged about $295,000. You’ll want to make sure you understand the limitations , the process and the costs. The sites often operate on a fee-based model, so you might end up saving money but not as much as if you handled the entire process yourself.