- Here is a glossary of Real Estate Terminology
- Main Home Seller’s Page
- Common Home Buyer Questions
Selling Your Home
Ask these and similar questions:
- What exactly will you do for me?
- How long have you been a real estate agent?
- How many homes have you personally sold (not team sales)?
- Can I see reviews from your past clients?
- How involved will you personally be with my sale (not team members)?
- What kind of communication can I expect during the selling process?
- When will you be available to answer Common Home Seller Questions?
- Do you have any experience with home staging and presentation?
- How will you prepare to sell my home?
- How do you decide the selling price?
- What are your terms and fees?
Equity is the value YOU own in your home. It’s the difference between what’s OWED and what the property is WORTH on the current market. If you have a house worth $300,000 and you owe the bank $200,000 your equity would be $100,000. Equity grows if the property value goes up or if the amount owed goes down. The key thing to remember, simple as it sounds, is that you “own” any increases in value. Equity in a home can be used as collateral for loans, such as a cash-out refinance to do home improvements. But a house is not a piggy bank. Home equity can become a key financial asset over time. Treat it wisely.
When you’re selling your Phoenix area home, the price you set is a critical evaluation factor in the interest you’ll receive from home buyers. That’s why you need a professional evaluation from an experienced realtor. We can provide you with an honest assessment for the sale of your home, based on several factors including:
- Market conditions and recent area sales
- Condition of your home
- Repairs or improvements
- Time frame needed for your sale
In real estate terms, market value is the price at which a particular house, in its current condition, will sell within 30 to 90 days.
- Limits buyers – Potential buyers may not view your home because it would be out of their price range.
- Limits showings – Realtors may be more reluctant to show your home.
- Used as leverage – Other realtors may use your home as a reason to look at homes that are realistically priced.
- Extended time on the market – When a home is on the market too long it may be perceived as defective. Buyers may wonder, “what’s wrong,” or “why hasn’t this sold?”
- Lower eventual price – An overpriced home, still on the market beyond the average selling time, will lead to a lower selling price anyway. To sell it, eventually you will have to reduce the price, sometimes even several times. In the end, you’ll probably get less than if it had been properly priced at the start.
- Wasted time and energy – A bank appraisal is required to finance a home. You can list as high as you want but your home has to appraise. A low appraisal will force you to reduce the price. Pricing to high will cause you to make additional mortgage payments, cause stress, and waste time.
This is one of the most Common Home Seller Questions we hear. Go here to find out:
Go to this post on our website for:
This is another of our Common Home Seller Questions. 85% of all house buyers begin their search on the internet. When selling your home you only have one chance to impress them. It’s a proven fact: listings with great pictures get much more attention than houses with average or poor pictures.
A random sampling of 650+ homes that “sold in under 7 days” revealed that 94% had 20+ professional (or at least very good) quality photos. Does this mean that by hiring us your home will sell in under 7 days? No, but don’t you think your chances will improve?Make sure your home stands apart from the competition on the MLS.
Kristina is an interior designer with 30 years experience. She gives free interior design advice to our clients. We also provide limited staging to optimize the spaces in your home. Then we send in our professional real estate photographer to take high quality, wide-angle pictures that create interest from buyers.
Real estate agents aren’t paid by the hour! They’re paid a percentage of the purchase price in a successful real estate transaction. Sellers always pay commissions, also known as Realtor compensation. One agent represents the sellers and another represents the buyers. The commission is typically split between them. In the US, real estate commissions are commonly 6% of the transaction, usually 3% and 3% when split.
No government or industry body sets commission rates. Legally, commission rates are negotiable. However, remember that agents only earn their commission on successful sales. Consider the results you expect as you evaluate the value you should put on the commission they earn.
Home size is one of the key figures used in comparisons. Lenders will require an appraisal which will verify the figures you used. Be accurate and keep records to make the most of your sale. But you may have different measurements to choose from, including builder, appraiser, tax records, and possibly owner records. Which one is right, and which one is best?
The official figure is the one in tax records – typically the county tax records. Any other figure must be documented by a builder’s floor plan, an appraisal, or an official floor plan prepared by a company for a fee. If your house has been remodeled and you’re planning to sell, you may want to confirm that the official record matches your actual house – and update if required. This is especially true if have have an addition that was not legally permitted and cleared by city inspection. Some cities may let you legally permit an addition after the fact if you have all the proper documents, including blue prints or detailed building plans.
Here are 5 key tips from our Common Home Seller Questions.
#1 Make your bed – Seriously. No one wants to see your crumpled sheets or your jammie pants on the floor next to bed, for that matter.
#2 Keep your home clean – Keep clutter off counters and shelves. No visible dirty dishes or clothes. You may not have much time to prepare when a Realtor is on the way to show your house to a prospective buyer. Save yourself the stress and keep everything in it’s proper place. Teach your kids the importance keeping up with their rooms.
#3 Warm it up – Baking bread or cookies, adding fresh flowers and colorful pillows and throws, and having soothing music in the background are touches used by professional stagers to make a place warm and inviting.
#4 Light it up – Light sells homes. Clean windows, inside and out. Light bulbs should all be working and curtains open.
#5 Go Away – Don’t hover. Be prepared to leave within 30 minutes if a prospective buyer wants to see your house. Buyers wont envision themselves buying if you’re around.
Also known as settlement and escrow, the closing is a meeting where property, money, title and liens are exchanged between all the parties involved. The closing agent typically conducts the meeting and answers Common Home Seller Questions. They’ll review the sales agreement to determine payments and credits due from both sides, and ensure that transaction costs like title and taxes are paid.
- Bring your driver’s license to verify your identity
- Review the settlement statement for seller charges and credits to insure accuracy
- Sign your deed, giving the buyer title to the house upon successful closing
After your signing appointment:
- Wait for the buyer to sign and for the lender to wire the buyer’s mortgage money to the closing agent
- Title is recorded at the county making the buyers the legal owner
- Your sales proceeds will be wired to your bank account after everything is official