Before You Sell, Let Your Realtor Help You To Prepare By J Harris At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

When preparing to sell a home, you may be dealing with a lot of mixed feelings — for example, letting go of all the memories in the old house, yet looking forward to new and exciting adventures in a new one. It also is a very hectic time, especially if you moving out of the area. There will be the going-away parties with neighbors and at work, ensuring you have changed your address with everyone, and coordinating the sale of your home with the purchase of your new one.

Your realtor(s), both for selling the old home and for buying the new one, can be of great assistance to you in coordinating these transactions and avoiding the domino effect of the closing, moving and closing dates. Your realtor gets everyone to commit to a window of dates and also to stick to them. The realtor will get all agreements in writing and can place financial penalties on any party who fails to comply.

Curb Appeal

Your realtor is used to viewing home and property from the potential buyers perspective. He/she can be essential in assisting you to prepare your home with a strong curb appeal. It is important for your property to be visually appealing in order to attract more potential buyers and garnering a quicker sale.

The realtor will look at the exterior, which should be well maintained with trimmed trees and shrubs, nothing sitting around to detract from the property’s appeal, foundations without cracks, and well maintained and cleaned window casings, gutters, chimney, shutters, siding, doors and moldings. Anything that needs painting should be painted. If you are not sure, ask your realtor. Ensure the garage door always is closed when not in use.

Another area your realtor will review is the interior, where there are plenty of improvement areas that do not cost a lot to do but make a world of difference in buying appeal. Clean all the windows inside and out with no streaks. Make sure floors, tiles, tubs, showers and faucets sparkle. The same for kitchen appliances, especially ranges, ovens, refrigerator and freezer — inside and out. Give the carpets a good cleaning, even if you recently did this. Ensure there are clean filters in the heating and air conditioner. Repair squeaky floors and oil squeaky doors. Ensure the faucets do not drip. Your realtor will advise you of many other inexpensive things that will add buyer appeal to your home.

Once your home is ready to show, your realtor will provide invaluable services to you. He/she will establish a fair asking price for your home, based on the location, economic conditions, supply-demand of the local market, seasonal influences, school availability in the area, the average home prices in the neighborhood, and the extra features and amenities of your home.

Next, your realtor will promote, advertise and market your home at no cost to you, using resources not available to homeowners who prefer to self-sell their homes.

Your realtor will schedule all showing appointments, negotiating times that are convenient for you without losing the potential buyers. The realtor will qualify interested buyers, weeding out those who cannot qualify for a mortgage; and then help you negotiate a sale price with the buyer.

Another service of your realtor is referrals for insurance, inspections, legal counsel and financing. Your realtor may even be able to refer you to a lender for a bridge loan, if you are forced to purchase a new home before you have sold your current one. A bridge loan helps, when you are forced to carry mortgages on two homes simultaneously over a short duration.

Rely on your realtor when selling your home. Experience in the industry gives the realtor a unique perspective that can only assist in a good sale for your home.

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