Last week, we identified eight key questions that you will have the first time you sell a home, and explained how to tackle the first four of them..
Here’s what you need to know:
- Do I really need an agent to sell my home?
- How do I pick a real estate agent?
- How does the listing contract work?
- What do I have to disclose?
- What do I need to do to get my home ready for sale?
- How does the offer process work?
- Once I have a firm sale, what are the next steps?
- What are the final costs of selling?
This week, we will tackle the last four questions.
What do I need to do to get my home ready for sale?
So you’re ready to get the home shown to buyers and a deal made. So what’s the next step?
Start by decluttering! Most of us have too much stuff and not enough space for all of it. Buyers want to picture themselves living in a home, and that’s hard to do when it’s full of someone else’s personal items.
Your listing agent or a professional home stager can give you lots of tips specific to your space, but generally speaking, decluttering and cleaning go a long way. If the paint is really dark, a fresh coat of Cloud White might be in order. But don’t think you need to renovate your kitchen just to get the sale. Buyers may have their own ideas about renovations they’d like to make, in which case any money you spend on renovating the place yourself may be wasted.
De-personalizing your home a bit is also quite helpful. For example, take down family photos that remind potential new buyers they’re in someone else’s home. Help them envision themselves living there and you’ll be more likely to get an offer.
(See “Related to this story” below for articles with lots more advice on decluttering and home staging.)
How does the offer process work?
Your beautifully decluttered and staged home is on the market, your agent has hosted open houses and showings, and now you’ve got an offer – maybe even more than one. So now what?
With any offer you receive, you can either accept it, reject it, or counter it. If you counter the offer, the buyer can counter back, accept your counter, or reject it, and so on.
As the market stands now in most of the Lower Mainland, it is common to receive more than one offer, especially on single-family homes. Before offers are presented, you and your listing agent need to decide if you will receive them by email (so that just you and your agent are present while reviewing them) or if you want to let the buyers’ agents present to you in person.
If you choose the latter scenario, your agent will arrange for each offer to be presented at a different time. For example, if there are three offers, the first one will be presented by the buyer’s agent; they leave and the next buyer’s agent comes and presents; after they leave, the final buyer’s agent presents. Then you discuss all three offers with your agent. You may choose to accept one of them, reject all of them, or counter one of them. If all offers are close, you can also give all parties the opportunity to come up in price. Your agent will discuss all scenarios with you.
Once I have a firm sale, what are the next steps?
Congratulations! You’ve sold your first place! Now what?
Just like when you first bought your home, you will need a real estate lawyer or notary to handle all the financial stuff. This includes ensuring your old mortgage is properly discharged and that all payments you are responsible for have been made (property taxes, strata fees, and so on).
Your lawyer or notary will do a statement of adjustments for you. For example, if you sell your place at the end of November, but you’ve already paid your property taxes for the year, the buyers will be responsible to pay for the month of December, and you will be credited for that month on your statement of adjustments.
Your lawyer or notary will disburse the money from the sale and ensure you receive the net proceeds.
If you are in a strata property, you will need to notify the property manager. Most strata corporations have a move-out fee. You will also need to notify your home insurance provider, cable, internet, hydro, and so on, and forward your mail.
What are the final costs of selling?
Costs of selling include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Lawyer or notary fees
- Costs of clearing title (which can include paying a mortgage penalty to your bank)
- Real estate commissions (plus GST)
- Cost of movers or move-out fees, if applicable.
Now that you’ve sold your first place, you’ve got one under your belt and hopefully had a positive experience from start to finish. You will never be a first-time seller again. Congratulations!
