CENTURY 21 Northwest Realty

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Home Selling Process

The Home Selling Process A Guide for Everyone

So you’ve either found or are searching for a new home elsewhere and likely need to sell your current property to afford the next.

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of listing your home, holding open houses, and negotiating with potential buyers, you can take some preliminary steps to start your selling process on the right foot.

Home > The Home Selling Process: A Guide for Everyone

What should I do to my house before I sell it?

When you’re preparing to sell your house, you need to make a few adjustments to get it real estate market-ready:

Depersonalize

No one wants to walk into an open house and be surrounded by photos of the current homeowner’s family. They’re distracting and make it difficult for potential buyers to imagine themselves living there. So remember to take down those refrigerator photos and wedding displays to give people room to envision the space as their own.

Touch-ups and market appeal

When we’ve been living somewhere for a while, it’s easy to become acquainted with the paint chips and yellow kitchen walls; your potential buyers might disagree. Having your walls painted to neutral colors and slight wear-and-tear fixed can make a night and day difference in pulling in interest. Remember, people rely heavily on listing photos, and seeing that half wall-paper half-canary bedroom might be enough to make some scroll on.

Clean

You might be able to somewhat get away with it in the photos, but a messy house cannot be hidden from genuinely interested buyers. Being presentable for listing photos and open houses gives your home a higher chance of purchase. The goal is to make your house feel like a home to your potential buyers, and dirty tiling or neglected pools can be a huge turn-off.

How can you sell your house for more than it’s worth?

To sell your home for more than it’s worth, you’ll need a cash buyer. Mortgage lenders rarely loan more than the house’s worth. Because of this, the appraisal value must be at or below the home’s value. On the other hand, cash buyers don’t need a mortgage lender and therefore aren’t required to have the property appraised.

What factors does a home inspection include during home selling?

A home inspection called a Home Inspection Contingency looks at the interior and exterior of your home to conclude the functionality, quality, and safety of all its processes and amenities.

Exterior Home Inspection

  • Outer Walls: Check for damaged or missing siding, cracks, and soil levels.
  • Foundation: Usually indirect due to the foundation not being visible, check for cracks and settling.
  • Grading: Confirm that grading slopes away from the home to avoid water damage.
  • Garage or Carport: Confirm the functionality of door(s), proper framing ventilation, and ensure the water heater is far enough off the floor to minimize the risk of explosion from gasoline fumes.
  • Roof: Check for damaged or poor installation in shingles, vents, and gutters that risk water damage.

Interior Home Inspection

  • Plumbing: Check faucets, showers, and pipes for visible leaks and to test water pressure, identify the location of the home’s main water shutoff valve.
  • Electrical: Identify wiring type, test outlets, ensure there are functional ground fault circuit interrupters to protect from electric shocks, fire safety check of electrical panel and outlets.
  • Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC): Check the HVAC system to estimate the age and functionality of the furnace and air conditioning, and check for leaks in air ducts or asbestos in insulation.
  • Fire Hazards: Test smoke detectors.
  • Water Heater: Check the age, type, condition, and proper heater installment.
  • Laundry Room: Check proper ventilation.
  • Bathrooms: Check for visible leaks, properly installed toilets, and ventilation.
  • Kitchen Appliances: Functionality of kitchen appliances such as refrigerator, stove, microwave, etc.; in the case that they come with the home.

Along with the long list of items included in the inspection, some areas are overlooked, including:

  • The back of electrical panels
  • Inside chimneys, pipes, and sewer lines
  • Inside the walls’ drywall and insulation

The home inspection will mainly look at the foundations (prior to concrete pouring) and pre-drywall (structure and mechanics) – typically for new constructions. Once these are finished, a complete walk-through is performed to finalize the inspection.

What happens to your mortgage loan when you sell a house?

When you sell your house, the mortgage loan gets paid off by the title company at closing. If your house is sold for less than the amount of mortgage still owed, you’ll be responsible for paying the difference. But if your home is sold for more than your remaining mortgage amount, it becomes a profit. Many people use this money for the down payment of their new home.

How often do sellers pay closing costs?

When sellers pay for closing costs, it’s through seller concessions. These are the closing costs that the seller agrees to pay. Sellers can offer to pay for costs such as property taxes, attorney fees, or appraisal inspections.

Sellers will often agree to pay a portion of concessions towards closing costs as a financial incentive to buyers. For example, if a house has been on the market for a while and the seller needs it sold, adding covered closing costs can attract buyers and sweeten the deal.

How much equity should your home have before you sell?

At a minimum, it’s best to wait until you’ve gained enough equity in your current home to pay off the mortgage and closing costs. This gives you a financial cushion to offer seller concessions to interested buyers and avoid carrying further debt to your new house.

How to save money when selling your home

When it comes to selling your home, it’s easy to want to pour money into renovations, top-quality photography for listings, and a credible real estate agent; which are all important aspects of a home sale, but you also don’t want to spend yourself dry. There are several ways to efficiently sell your home while saving money.

Find a Credible, Experienced Real Estate Agent

Choose a realtor that’s local and offers top service. You can check out Century 21 Northwest’s real estate agents list to find an assortment of trained, personal professionals dedicated to servicing your housing needs.

Choose Wisely with Home Renovations and Add-Ons

Before throwing thousands of dollars towards perfecting your home, consider whether each project or add-on will increase the value of your home or offer investment returns. A diamond chandelier over the front staircase may give off a fairytale atmosphere, but will it add extra bucks to your selling price?

Offer Beneficial Seller Incentives

In cases of long-term listing, it may benefit you to pay for the closing costs of the home, but otherwise, it can end up being a financial burden. One way to offer a seller incentives without losing money can be agreeing to a slightly higher house price that covers closing costs. Another option could be offering furniture or appliances as add-ons to your home (refrigerator, oven, piano, sofa, etc.).

How to get the best price when selling your house?

To get the best price for your home, you need to make sure it looks like it’s worth the price at which it’s listed. This means making it appear brand new, clean, and attractive. Convince your buyers that they’re getting their money’s worth with your home. 

Correspondingly, make sure you know your home’s worth to avoid lowball offers. A thorough home value assessment will give you the best knowledge of its worth but do your research. Look up nearby houses for sale to see what they’re going for. If you have added amenities like a pool or remodeled kitchen, then look for the difference in prices between other homes in the neighborhood with pools or added renovations versus the ones without.

How much can you borrow from your existing home mortgage as a 2nd mortgage?

Generally, you can borrow up to 85 percent of the current value of your home subtracted by your current mortgage amount. 

An easy equation to figure this out is: 

(current home value x 0.85) – remaining mortgage amount = Second mortgage borrow amount 

E.g., ($300,000 x 0.85) – $200,000 = $55,000

Sell Your Home Fast Programs

How can I sell my house fast?

There are several ways to get your house on and off the market quickly, but choosing the right option will be based on the real estate, location, and money you need to get from your home’s sale. At Century 21 Northwest, we offer a Seller’s Assistance Program to aid in all situations and help you find the best solution for your situation.

When you go with a faster selling option, you have to be okay with getting less money out of it. You’re exchanging the best financial gain for timeliness. Don’t let this be a discouragement if you’re in a situation where timeliness is a must and not an option; you can still use tips and tricks to get the most out of your home’s value. For a more in-depth look at how to sell your house fast, please check out the C21 guide.

Hire A Real Estate Expert

Choose a realtor who knows the market and your home’s value, has plenty of experience in the field, and has a database of interested buyers ready to purchase. With a top-notch realtor, you can have your home prepped for sale, listed, and under contract in 72 hours or less. It’s common for cash offers to be obtained for total retail value on your house’s first day on the market, closing the sale as few as ten days later.

Auction Your Home

If you’re imagining a mob of people gathering while an auctioneer runs off numbers at the speed of light, think again. Auctions can be done through quick and easy websites like Auction.com, Conciergeauctions.com, and Williamsauctions.com. Many auction sites specialize in selling distressed homes, but some work specifically with luxurious, high-end homes, like Concierge Auctions.

When you do an auction, the company will generally take a fee of 10% of the sales price. To begin the process, they will market your house to a pool of buyers for a specific period (usually 30 days) to build interest. Next, they will hold a live and virtual bidding where the highest bidder who exceeds the minimum acceptable bid will purchase and close on the home.

Sell to An Investor

Investors are similar to iBuyers in that they are looking to make a profit, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be a useful tool in certain situations. Long-term investors are more likely to offer you more for your home than one searching for quick cash on a flip sale. A significant difference between investors and iBuyers is that an investor often offers you the ability to rent your house back for some time. Hence, you have the flexibility to make arrangements as you move to the next stage in life. A real estate expert can usually give you connections to top investors.

Short Sale

A scenario where a short sale is most appropriate is when your property value is no longer worth more than what’s due on the mortgage. In this case, the buyer needs to be a third party so that the proceeds go directly to your lender. In this situation, your lender must agree to forgive the difference of the house note since the proceeds they receive are less than the outstanding debt. 

Another challenging situation where a short sale can loosen the tension is if your property is at risk of foreclosure by the bank. You’ll need a licensed realtor experienced in short selling to short sell your house. The realtor will list your property at a price lower than the market value to ensure an immediate offer, negotiate with the lender on your behalf to get them to accept the short sale for your house and postpone the foreclosure. Proof of financial hardship and the inability to pay your mortgage’s remaining balance typically makes the bank willing to proceed with the sale. Despite being called a “short sale,” the process can be somewhat lengthy but once finished, it also offers a lot of relief from stress and financial burden.

Consider An IBuyer

iBuyers are high-tech marketing companies that offer a cash real estate transaction in a quick and flexible closing window. The company pays cash for your home, and when you move out, they will market and sell it for more money. 

It’s important to know that these companies work in their own favor rather than yours. They’re likened to house-flippers who won’t give you the maximum price for your home. Sometimes they’ll offer you over the market value, but then nickel and dime you on repairs. You can benefit from the quick sale, but they will ultimately be making the most out of the exchange.

Sell Your Home Fast Program vs. iBuyers 

What is an iBuyer or iBuying?

When you use an iBuyer, you sell your home for a set cash price to a high-tech marketing company called an iBuyer. The iBuyer offers a quick cash transaction within a flexible closing window. Once you move out,  the iBuyer will market your house and sell it for more money than they bought it for from you.

Should you sell your house to an iBuyer?

Although they might be a quick option for selling your house, iBuyers won’t get you as nearly much money selling your home as will a certified, trusted real estate agent. 

Sell Your Home Fast Programs

You might think working with an agent takes too much time for your situation, but Century 21 agents offer Sell Your Home Fast programs that will not only help you get your home sold quickly while respecting its market value when finding you the right buyer.

Some of our Sell Your Home Fast programs include:

  • Century 21 Instant Offer
  • Century 21 Investor Sale
  • Century 21 Lightening Listing

Let us help you sell your home fast and for the right price!

Are you ready to sell your home?

Selling your home can be a difficult process, but it’s much better when you have an agent. A good agent will not only walk you through this process, but they will take care of most of the heavy lifting. When you’re ready to sell your home, make sure to contact CENTURY21 Northwest and try out our instant home evaluation tool to see what your home could be worth.

Free Home Evaluation. Find out how much your home is worth today

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