Resources for Sellers and Buyers

1. 10 Important Steps to Take Before You
   Sell Your House
2. 10 Surefire Ways to Turn Off Potential Buyers

10 Important Steps to Take Before You
Sell Your House

1. Get Pre-Approved for a Home Loan

Before you decide to sell your current home, get pre-approved by a lender you trust and research the housing market in the area where you wish to live so that you have a good idea how much it will take to buy your next house. Start looking for two types of real estate: houses that seem to match the one you'd like to buy and houses that are similar to your current home. How do the two categories compare in price? Can you handle the $ difference if you're planning a step up?

2. Check Your Mortgage Payoff

Call your lender to check the payoff amount of your current home mortgage.

3. Determine How Much Your House Is Worth

Determine your home's fair market value. We can help you determine value by performing a market analysis of your property as a free courtesy, but you may want to take it a step further and order an appraisal.

4. Estimate the Costs of Selling

• Attorney, closing agent and any other professional fees.
• Excise tax for the sale.
• Prorated costs for your share of annual expenses, such as property taxes, home owner association fees, and fuel tank rentals.
• Any other fees typically paid by the seller in your area (surveys, inspections, etc.).

5. Estimate Costs in Buying a New Home

Calculate moving expenses, loan costs, down payment, home inspections, title work and title policy, paying for a new hazard insurance policy--all expenses related to buying a home. Your lender should give you a disclosure of estimated costs when you apply for loan pre-approval.

6. Calculating Your Estimated Proceeds

Deduct your mortgage payoff from your home's fair market value.

Deduct your costs to sell from the remainder to get an estimate of the proceeds you will be paid at closing.

Will your closing proceeds cover your costs to buy a new home? If not, do you have enough cash or another funding source to make up the difference?

7. Make Necessary Repairs

Make all needed repairs unless you want the house to be regarded as a fixer-upper. I'm not referring to cosmetic updates--just items in need of repair. Anything that's obviously broken gives potential buyers a reason to offer you a lower price.

8. Get the House Ready to Show

Most houses need a minor amount of touch up before they are shown to potential buyers. The first impression is the most important. Great curb appeal is a must. Freshly mowed lawns, pruned hedges, freshly swept front entry ways are all needed. The potential buyer must first like what they see on the outside, this will then make them want to take a closer look inside of the house. Remove all unnecessary items from the kitchen counters. Fresh paint indoors (and sometimes out), organized closets and cabinets, sparkling clean windows and appliances and a clutter-free look are essential if you want the house to appeal to buyers.

9. Be Ready and Willing to Let People In

Make the house readily accessible. That means it should always be ready to show. Many buyer agents won't show a house that takes 24 hours or more to get into. A lot of times, the prospective buyer is “hot” to look at a newly listed house. Do not let them cool off or find another house, because you were not ready to show yours. If a buyer agent is bringing buyers to look, do not be there when they come to look. Why? Because they feel comfortable looking with their agent and lurking sellers make buyers nervous--they don't feel comfortable inspecting the house when they feel they are intruding in your personal space.

10. Get rid of clutter

Prospective buyers need to feel that the house has ample room for storage and not find closets that burst open with mounds of “stuff”. Consider renting a storage shed for a month or two while your house is on the market.

 

10 Surefire Ways to Turn Off Potential Buyers

The majority of buyers will turn around and walk out of your house if they encounter one or more of these problems. Most of the problems are home selling issues that you can correct without spending a lot of money. Do it now, before you put the house on the market, because if your house develops a reputation among agents as the house that smells, the house with the huge barking dog or the house where the owner won't leave people alone, it will be too late. Unfortunately, your house will be the last on their list to show potential buyers.

1. Odors

House odors are number one on the home selling no-no list. Cigarette smoke and pet odor are number one, with a damp smell or mildew in a close second. If you smoke indoors, the house will smell like cigarettes. If you have pets, the house may smell bad, even if you don't personally notice it. Ask a friend who does not live there to take a sniff-sniff, but do not get angry when they tell you the truth. Eliminate the offending odor so you can present potential buyers with a clean, fresh atmosphere. People are not stupid. They can tell a house that's full of perfumes to cover up odors, and they will steer clear!

2. Dogs that Meet You in the Driveway or at the Door

Remove dogs (and cats) for showings. If you can't, contain them in crates for their own safety and to show respect for the potential buyer. Dogs and cats frighten some people, irritate some, and cause allergic reactions in others. You'll have a much better response if you control your pets. You say you plan to put them in a bedroom or the garage and then ask people not to open the door to that area. Would you buy a house that you could not fully inspect? The answer is no!

3. Filthy Bathrooms

Filthy grimy bathrooms are an instant turnoff. Scrub them, paint them, install a new shower curtain, rugs and or towels, do what it takes to make them sparkle. If you're serious about selling the home, this extra work is a must.

4. Dimly Lit Rooms

Dark homes are a turnoff to most home buyers, so try to brighten them up:
Turn on all inside lights before buyers arrive
Replace dim light fixtures
Open drapes to let the light stream through windows
Repaint some rooms with colors that reflect light
Trim shrubs that shadow windows
Dirty and fogged windows are another buyer turnoff. Clean them inside and out to bring in more light. If possible, replace any double-pane windows with broken seals.

5. A House Full of Busy Wallpaper

Busy wallpaper in every room turns off most buyers, and even people who love wallpaper rarely like what you've chosen. It's a personal decorative touch that they want to select themselves. It's the masses you must appeal to when you're selling a home, so take a hard look at your wallpaper and decide if it should be removed and replaced with paint. Don't paint over it, because it will be obvious that you did--and buyers know that makes removing it even more difficult.

6. Damp Basements

Dampness or damp smells in the basement throw up a red flag to buyers that the foundation leaks! Most problems we see are not caused by faulty foundations. They occur because rainwater is being diverted towards the foundation instead of away from it.
Clogged underground drains
No rain gutters along roofline
Downspouts aimed the wrong way
Go outside the next time it rains and determine where runoff water is going and fix if needed.

7. Bugs

Roaches, spiders, or any insect that shouldn't be in the house, get rid of them!

8. Poor Curb Appeal

You must grab a buyer's interest from the curb if you want to sell your home for top dollar. Buyers often refuse to go into a house with an unkempt yard, sagging doors or peeling paint. You say you can't afford to paint? Okay, but get that yard in tip-top shape and grab a screwdriver to fix those doors.

9. Gutters with Plants Growing in Them

Some people never clean their gutters, and it always makes buyers wonder what else hasn't been maintained. Remember the drainage issue in #6? Cleaning packed gutters might help.

10. Sellers Who Hang Around for Showings

Yes, you... leave the house during the showings with buyer agents. Home buyers feel awkward about opening closet doors and getting a good look at the house, if the seller is just one step behind them. If you're showing the house yourself, give buyers some space, don't hover.