Why Use a REALTOR?
Your REALTOR® knows the current real
estate market and has access to data on
comparable homes in your neighborhood to
help you set a price. How does your
property compare with others currently
offered for sale? What can you do to
make your home more attractive to
potential buyers? Your REALTOR® will
offer suggestions to help your home
sell.
An agent is bound by certain legal
obligations. Traditionally, these
common-law obligations are to: Put the
client's interests above anyone else's;
keep the client's information
confidential; obey the client's lawful
instructions; report to the client
anything that would be useful; and
account to the client for any money
involved.
Spread the News
You can't sell your house until buyers
know it's available. Your REALTOR® will
help by listing the house on
computerized services, putting up
signage and connecting you with
qualified buyers. In addition, you may
choose to market your home by running
ads in your local paper, advertising on
the Web or asking for additional
marketing suggestions from your
REALTOR®.
Get Ready, Get Set
When you put your house on the market,
you want to be sure your house is in
good condition and looks attractive to
buyers. Doing any necessary repairs
helps add to the attractiveness of your
home and can substantially add to the
price you can ask. Once you're ready,
your REALTOR® will list the house. She
will bring you buyers and work together
with you to get your house sold.
Showing Off
Holding Open Houses, letting your
REALTOR® show the house as much as
possible and staying flexible are
important to selling your home. It may
seem inconvenient to have people viewing
your house right when you want to wash
the dog or sit around in your nightgown,
but it's very necessary. Just remind
yourself that soon it won't be your
house anymore. You're moving on and your
job right now is to make your house
available so that your REALTOR® can let
as many potential buyers as possible
look at it. Your REALTOR®'s job is to
narrow down the people who are
interested in the house, to bring you
plenty of prospective buyers and to
point out the features your house
offers. Soon enough, you will have an
offer on your house.
Get It in Writing
All offers, counter-offers and contracts
have to be made in writing. Verbal
agreements are not legally binding. Once
a buyer makes an offer for your house,
you can accept it outright or make a
counter offer. Your counter offer
indicates that you are willing to
negotiate, but that your terms haven't
been met by the first offer. The process
of offers and counter offers may go back
and forth a few times until you and the
buyer (or typically your attorney and
the buyer's attorney) agree on terms.
While you're negotiating you can still
accept offers from other buyers. You
have no legal obligation to anyone until
you agree in writing to their offer.
When you consider any offer, you need to
figure out what your actual profit will
be on the amount proposed. You have to
deduct your current mortgage balance,
the legal fees for the transactions and
anything else you'll be responsible for,
like termite inspections, unpaid taxes
on your property, etc. If the offer
meets your expectations, you're ready to
make a deal.
Once you settle on an offer, the buyer
is now legally obligated to purchase
your house. There are some standard
contingencies though. Typically, these
include issues like the buyer not being
able to get financing, or the house
failing inspection. These contingencies
protect both you and the buyer.
Closing the Deal
Your buyers have their mortgage
financing approved, the house has been
inspected and your attorneys have worked
out the details. Now all you have to do
is read everything carefully and sign on
the dotted line. That's what the closing
is. At the closing you are actually
transferring ownership of your house to
the buyer. Now you're done with selling
your current home. If you've been
looking for a new house at the same
time, you'll want to have your closings
close together so that the buyers can
take possession and you can move to your
new home.
