Our Home Sellers Guide
Are you selling your home in Johnson County or the surrounding KC Metro area?
Combining eXp Realty’s highly regarded real estate brand with local market knowledge and with our significant marketing expertise, we’re able to provide a sales and marketing solution that is the envy of other REALTORS® in the industry.
With a strong history of real estate success, The Ketzner Homes Team has the experience, marketing and financial advice you need to manage your real estate portfolio.
FREE GUIDE TO SELLING YOUR HOUSE
When you’re ready to put your house on the market, you’re going to want straightforward information and professional advice before you get started. The information below is geared towards helping you the home seller, understand the ins and outs of selling a house, from your initial home evaluation to closing day.
It’s vital to get an up-to-date assessment of the value of your home, and what it could sell for in the current market conditions.
We have real estate agents that are happy to visit and take a look at your home, and also research comparable sales in your neighbourhood to assess what your home could potentially sell for.
It’s important to determine when it be most convenient for get your home listed for sale. You need to get a handle of what will the market be doing at the time you’re ready to move.
By planning ahead and having a general idea of when you’d like to list your home, you can begin the planning process. Choosing a date to list your home also helps motivate you to get started with the other steps to listing your home.
The listing agreement outlines the price you will be asking for your home, and other pertinent details surrounding the listing.
The agreement will outline when the home be listed, which features it has, and anything included in the sale (e.g. appliances, light fixtures, window coverings, appliances).
You’ll also agree upon the commission fee for your and the buyer’s real estate agent. All of these factors will be determined with your agent and put into writing.
Now is the time to get your home in the best condition and ready to be listed. Consider your home a commodity that needs to be sold, and you want this product to look good and be in good repair.
The home will need a thorough cleaning and the clutter will have to be put away. The better your home appears when you present it to potential buyers, the more likely it will be that you get a good offer.
You may even consider hiring a professional staging company to get your home looking its best.
Your agent will explain the major benefits of taking professional photos and video of the house and property.
These pictures and videos will showcase the home’s best features and will be placed in all the marketing we do for our clients.
Before we book the photoshoot, you’ll want to make sure all your personal items are tucked away and don’t appear in any of the photos. This will help potential buyers to more easily envision themselves living in the house and not be distracted by personal items that belong to another family.
Items you can put away are articles of clothing, family pictures, personal knick-knacks and children’s toys. It’s also wise to clear away pet toys, litter boxes and even pet beds. All of these types of items can be a distraction to buyers.
We want to announce to the neighborhood and passers-by that your home is for sale. Our for sale sign will be put on your front yard, and a lockbox will be installed on the front door.
You will need to provide a key that can be kept in the lockbox to be used during showings. The lockbox will securely store the key that will be used by agents whose clients found your home listing and would like to view it.
On the day that your home is listed for sale, you may start to receive showing-requests from our office. You will be contacted every time an agent from any brokerage requests to show your home to their buyers.
You will be required to leave the home during the showing, but you have the option to accept the request or decline it if the time doesn’t work for you.
The buyer’s agent will enter your home during their appointment using the key in the lockbox, and then close everything up and lock the door when they leave.
Your agent may suggest that you consider hosting an Open House at your property so potential buyers can come and take a look through the home with no obligations.
An Open House is a great opportunity to get a lot of people to view your home all at once and can really help build up interest in the property.
Sometimes during an Open House, you will find that curious neighbours will show up in addition to buyers. They are usually just trying to get a feel for the type of properties that are available in your area.
Nevertheless, an Open House is a great way to show off your home and there’s a chance that you could find a potential buyer this way.
After every home showing, we will reach out to the agent who showed your home for buyer feedback. The goal is to find out what the buyers thought of the property, the price, and if they had any comments or concerns about the house.
Once we receive any feedback we will pass the information on to you as soon as we receive it.
It’s very important to know what buyers are thinking concerning your home. This feedback can help you in so many ways.
If you get negative feedback, it can help you optimize your showings so future buyers don’t have the same negative experience.
If the feedback is positive, you know you’re doing something right and can remain hopeful that someone will put in an offer soon.
Overall, buyer feedback is a great way to address any concerns that multiple people may have about your home, or if the price needs to be adjusted.
If a buyer wants to submit an offer on your home, you’ll be the first to know. Your agent will go over all the details of the buyer’s offer with you, and you will ultimately decide if you want to accept the offer as-is or if you want to negotiate a little further.
During this period your real estate agent will work with you to negotiate a price with the buyer’s agent ensuring that your best interests are met.
Your agent will continue to keep you in the loop about any incoming offers, and work with the buyer’s agent to come to an agreement.
Your buyer may have made what’s called a conditional offer on your home. A conditional offer means there’s a little bit of work to do before the home can be officially sold to the buyer.
There may be a home inspection condition, which means you will have to allow them to get a home inspection done.
There could be a financing condition where you will have to let them finalize their financing details first.
Those are the top two conditions that usually come in, but at times there are other conditions they seek information about. They include:
- condo status certificate verification by lawyer
- adequate rural water supply and contaminant testing
- due diligence on land serviced by utilities
- sale of property by the purchaser
When offers come in with conditions, we will inform you of any of them and about what is required of you.
During this waiting period the home is only considered conditionally sold and you are still allowed to accept showings from other buyers if you choose to.
Once all of your buyer’s conditions have been fulfilled, the deal is considered firm, and we will put a sold sign on your front lawn!
To prepare for closing day, you can start packing up your home and getting the property ready for its new owners.
Prior to closing day, you’ll need to make an appointment at your lawyer’s office to sign all final paperwork and ensure everything is ready to go.
At this meeting, you will also need to bring a copy of your house keys so they can give them to the new owners on closing day.
Your new home buyers may be entitled to a final walk-though of the property before closing day. This is a chance for them to take measurements, snap any photographs or just reacquaint themselves with the property before moving in.
Many buyers have various reasons for wanting a final walk-through so we ask that you be as accommodating as possible as a courtesy to your buyers.
Our TEAM OF JOHNSON COUNTY AND SURROUNDING KC METRO REALTORS are here to help. We have the expertise to make sure your home is sold quickly and at the best price. Feel free to get in touch with us with any of your questions and to set a time for us to come and evaluate your home.
Items in this document are subject to a contract agreement, which depends on real estate package agreed upon.
The Asking Price
Establishing your asking price
The amount you actually spent for home upgrades is worth mentioning in the listing information, but their reflection in the selling price can be somewhat distorted. The new carpet, paint, or deck you added may increase the value (and shorten the time your home is for sale) but don’t expect to be reimbursed dollar for dollar for those renovations. As design trends change you may also find that certain renovations are either more or less desirable (Do you remember shag?)
It is standard practice for a seller to ask real estate agents to visit and evaluate their home. Ask for a comparative market analysis showing the selling prices of similar homes in the neighbourhood, those currently on the market and those that didn’t sell. A CMA presented by an experienced agent can provide a realistic price estimate of your home. Remember however that CMAs are not set in stone. Some agents under-value your home in hopes of creating demand. Others will flatter you with over-inflated estimates in order to get your listing but later suggest a price reduction. You may want to get a number of CMAs and augment it with your own investigative work.
When homes in your area have open houses take a look. Use this opportunity to compare your home to “the competition” in terms of price, location, square footage, and amenities. Once you look at several listings you should be able to make an educated guess as to the market value of different aspects of your home. If you are months away from actually listing your home, visiting open houses may also help you discover which renovations could be profitable and appeal to today’s consumers.
Real estate is one of the most secure investments you can make, however, prices can rise and fall independent of the quality of the individual properties. If you attempt to sell your home when the market dips you’ll find you may have to lower the price below your expectations. Interest rates, the state of the economy and the local job market should be considered before you put your home on the market. The time between price peaks varies due to local and national market influences. These characteristics will assist you in determining if there are any market timing opportunities.
Finally, consider your own needs when setting your price. Are you in a hurry to sell? If so, you may want to knock one or two percent off the market value. Is there a minimum amount you can afford to accept? If you have the luxury of time you have more leverage. Keep in mind, however, that a house that is on the market too long or has a large price reduction at some point, may be viewed as “damaged” or “stale goods”. Your best strategy may be to establish a fair asking price from the start. Most buyers will make an offer lower than the listed price in a bid to see how low you’ll go. However, those who have researched the market will be willing to meet you near your terms.
