Selling your home comes with a lot of steps. It can quickly feel overwhelming if you aren’t prepared, educated, and organized. Our team has a tried and true process to limit the stress and keep things running smoothly.
We’re going to share a breakdown of the listing process today. Which is really step zero in preparing to sell your home! We’ll break down each of the 10 steps and clarify who is responsible for each task. Selling your home is teamwork between your agent and yourself. It really takes a lot of effort on both parts.
-
Find a great agent. We do a pre-consult call to learn about your situation and the best way to get started. Then we set up a listing consultation where we come meet you and visit your home. We will go over our marketing plan and processes at that meeting.
-
Determine your goals. Where do you want to move? Do you need to sell first or can you buy a house and move before you sell? We can refer you to some great lenders if you are getting a mortgage.
-
Price your home to sell. Pricing your home properly is one of the most important things in selling your home. We can provide a range of what we think you should list for but at the end of the day is it up to both of us to come up with a price that makes the most sense. The market is always changing. Sometimes it is headed up, sometimes it is stagnant and other times it is headed down. We will adjust to the market and make suggestions on what we see in the market.
-
Prepare your home. We want your home to show its very best. Unless it is a potential teardown or huge remodel it would most likely show it’s best being staged. We think staging is so important. We include a stager in our services that will work with your own items and help make your house shine! Next is the deep clean. It is very important to get every crevice, clean light fixtures windows etc.
-
Market your listing. Once the house is staged and super clean, we will do the professional photography. We get started with all of the marketing but once we have the pictures, we can go full throttle. We offer premls marketing through our brokerage or the Austin Luxury network depending on the pricepoint.
-
Listing goes live! At this point, we’ve both worked so hard to get the house prepped and it is time to release it to the public! We list the house on the mls and it will be syndicated to other sites typically withing 24 hours. We send you a link to the listing to be sure you are happy with the marketing and that we got the details right.
-
Show your home. It’s time to let the people in! We aide you in getting your house show ready and once it is organized it should be easier to keep that way. We will set out a lockbox for agents to get in with their clients. From there we will set up any open houses and/or broker tours.
-
Negotiate a contract. Once you get an offer, we will be negotiating the contract. This step can take hours to get to or months depending on the house, the market and the pricing. Once there is a contract, things can move quickly so be ready!
- Under Contract. Once you are under contract, the option period will begin. This is the time when the buyer will get their inspections done. Typically there is more negotiation for inspection items during this timeframe. Once all is agreed up then the next step would be for the appraiser to come out. It is good to plan to move out at least a few days before closing so that you have time to get the house cleaned and it great shape for the new buyers. Just before closing the buyer will do a final walk and this is the time for them to look at any repairs done and for the seller to provide any receipts for that work. Be sure and schedule for utilities to disconnect the day after closing and typically we try to make it a transfer and not a disconnect.
- Closing day! You will head to the title company and sign the closing documents. If you have already left town, you can typically sign remotely. Be sure and gather all the keys, remotes and information about the house and put them in a safe spot in the house. Bring one key to the title company.
While this list can seem very full of tasks, keep in mind that many of them are handled by your agent. Our teams organization limits the overwhelm, we provide you with small, manageable lists throughout the process. We keep you informed of what we’re doing on our end while also insuring you have a clear understanding of your responsibilities. Communication is key!
If you’re interested in selling your home in the Austin area, we would love to schedule a pre consultation phone call with you, you can find our email in the show notes. Please take a moment to rate our show and subscribe so you’re notified of future episodes!
