Seller's Guide
Putting your home on the market can be a stressful process, especially when you don’t know what to expect. Fortunately, with the help of experienced agents like us and this easy to follow guide, you can smoothly complete the process. Following these steps will help you prepare so you can get organized and sell your home for the best price possible.​​​​​​​
What do you want to accomplish with the sale of your home? Do you want to make a certain amount of money that you can put toward a larger or nicer home? Do you need to sell it as soon as possible to facilitate a move to a new city or area? Once you understand your needs, you can better craft your offer. For example, if you need to sell quickly, you might want to price your home lower than if your goal is to make a certain profit margin. Make sure you convey these needs to us so we can adjust your selling price accordingly.
Knowing how to price your home is one of the most important parts of the selling process. When you set a fair price in the beginning, you’ll get the most interest from other real estate agents and prospective buyers. Overpricing your home could lead to reduced interest, and underpricing leads to receiving less than what your home is worth. Working with real estate agents like us is the best way to determine the right selling price for your home. An agent with knowledge and experience can determine what other comparable homes are selling for and evaluate the current market.
If you’ve kept your home in showroom condition since you’ve lived in it, you’re in the minority of homeowners. Once you price your home, it’s time to start getting it ready to be shown to potential buyers. This includes getting rid of clutter, depersonalizing the space so that buyers can envision themselves in the space, making any small repairs, and doing a deep clean to make sure your home is in pristine condition. You might want to refresh your property with a coat of paint and repair any holes, cracks or water damage. If the property is unfurnished you might want to stage it or virtually stage it.
It is important to develop a marketing strategy that is perfect for advertising your home. This involves listing the home and then driving the right people to that listing through social media campaigns, agent-to-agent referrals, traditional media, or SEO advertising. Our team creates a marketing campaign that aims to get the most possible traffic to your listing in the first three weeks after becoming a client.
Receiving an offer is an exciting part of the process, but it doesn’t mean the journey is over. We will evaluate each offer and make sure the party making the offer is prequalified or pre-approved by a mortgage lender and that their offer is acceptable to you. If you are selling a coop or a condo we will make sure that the buyers can meet the board requirements. If the offer is too low, you can make a counter-offer or offer other ways to bridge the gap, such as covering some or all of the closing costs, making repairs, adjusting the move-in date, or leaving some appliances or fixtures for the new buyer.
Once we deem the offer acceptable, we will prepare a deal sheet with all the necessary components of the deal such as contract price, deposit amount, down payment and financing, inspection rights, contingencies and closing date.. The deal sheet gets sent to the seller’s attorney and the buyer’s attorney. The seller’s attorney will send out the contract.
You have accepted an offer and are now very close to the end of your selling journey. If you are selling a coop or a condo the buyer will need to do a Board Package and will have to be approved. We will work with the buyer’s broker to ensure the Board Package is perfect and submitted in a timely fashion. While this is happening, you and the buyer must make a list of what needs to be done before closing. In some cases, your home may need to be formally inspected, surveyed, and appraised. In other cases, major or minor repairs will need to be made before the house can close. We will head up efforts to develop and execute this list, get each action item paid for by the correct party, and make sure everything is in order by the closing date. The seller will need to make arrangements for the move-out and to have the property cleaned. Right before closing, we will arrange for the buyer to do a walk-through of the property.
You’ve reached the last step in the seller’s process. When you close on a home you are selling, you are legally transferring ownership of the property to the new buyer. During this time, you will also need to handle final details such as canceling utilities, cable, and lawn or trash services, changing the name on accounts that the new owner is retaining and ensuring the new owner has instructions for all appliances that will remain in the home. You will also have to make sure that keys for the property will be available at the closing.
Once you have sold your home, you’re free to take the next step on your journey. Whether this is relocating to a new city, moving into a larger home, or downsizing and enjoying your life as empty-nesters, knowing all your selling responsibilities have been taken care of will help you achieve peace of mind for your new path.
At Blacker & Reed, we bring innovative marketing ideas, experienced negotiation skills, and bespoke client service. We go to any lengths to find the perfect fit for our clients. If you're buying or selling a luxury home in Midtown, the Upper East Side, or Downtown Manhattan, we'd be honored to work together.
