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A How To Guide For Selling Your Home Fast
How can ForSaleByOwner.com help sell my home fast?
It's simple. When a seller chooses on selling a home without a real estate agent, they significantly benefit from the elimination of the agents commission. Because you're not paying the traditional high cost of a selling commission, you can now afford to price your home more aggressively. The lower the price, the more likely it will sell fast. You will still walk away with thousands in savings, but you'll just be doing it faster.
The required steps to selling your property or home without an expensive real estate broker is much easier than most people think. Nevertheless, it will require some modest work on the part of the seller. You'll be doing a lot of things that a real estate agent might normally do, but you'll later discover the work to be conveniently minimal.
Your home's presentation is everything when you desire for a fast and easy selling process. Home buyers are attracted to clean, spacious and attractive homes. Your goal is to impress each and every one of the prospective buyers. You should perform some basic maintenance to ensure your home is in ideal selling condition. Some of the more important areas to check when selling your home include:
- Flooring
- Plumbing fixtures
- Lighting fixtures Heating and ventilation systems
- Doors and windows
- Interior paint
- Exterior paint
- Outdoor drainage systems
- Driveway and walkway (for cracks)
- Outdoor watering systems
- Roof
- Home Improvements
Make reasonable cosmetic improvements to better increase your ability to sell the home.
- Make the entryway to your home as inviting as possible.
- Consider even planting flowers in the front yard for a memorable appearance.
- Remove any items that might potentially take away a room's natural appearance.
- Touch up both the kitchen and bathrooms to help increase the home's value.
- Make sure the home's interior and exterior paint is in good condition.
- Make sure your address numbers are clearly legible to prospective buyers driving by. Repair if needed.
- Check the working condition of all electrical features such as your home's doorbell, lights, and garage door.
Price your home effectively
It's imperative to set a realistic selling price. If you want your home to sell in a fast fashion, carefully set the price fairly and you'll most likely sell faster than anticipated.
- Get an appraisal of your home.
- Compare and evaluate home sales prices of comparable homes in your area.
- Know precisely when it's a buyer's or a seller's market.
- Settle on a appropriate selling price.
- Advertise/Market Your Home
- Obtain the necessary purchase contract forms, and if possible have an attorney professionally review all documents. (click here for free real estate forms)
- Be willing to provide an "Open House" for prospective home buyers.
- Try to pre-qualify all prospective buyers.
- Carefully negotiate with all serious buyers and avoid getting emotional with offers you consider low.
- Consider listing in the Real Estate Agent's multiple listing service also known as the "MLS". Get a real estate lawyer
Even though it's an additional expense, it's highly recommended to hire a lawyer to protect your interests throughout the entire transaction. An experienced real estate lawyer can help you evaluate complicated offers (those with a variety of conditions), act as an escrow agent to hold the down payment, evaluate complex mortgages and/or leases with options to buy, review contracts and handle your home's closing process. They can also tell you what things, by law, you must disclose to buyers prior to a sale and can also help you avoid inadvertently discriminating against any potential buyers.
In some areas, title companies will handle all aspects of the transaction and have in-house legal departments that can assist you with legal issues that may arise. To locate a title company in your area, click here.
Unless you're significantly experienced in the home selling process, having a real estate lawyer at your side provides peace-of-mind. You know you've got someone looking out for your interests, not just the buyers. To locate a lawyer in your area, click here.
Closing
When you happily reach the point of closing all that's left with is finishing a small amount of paperwork.
- Sign your escrow instructions.
- Carefully choose an escrow company or lawyer to help administer the closing.
- Deliver the legally required disclosure documents to the buyer.
- Pass required inspections.
- Receive loan commitment letter from buyer.
- Obtain title report through the Escrow Company or closing real estate agent.
- Make arrangements to pay off the existing mortgage(s).
- Pay the closing fees.
- Review tax implications.
- Celebrate your home purchase!
