Home Selling Process
Home Selling Process
Step 1: Select an Agent
The Agent you select to list your house will represent you and have a fiduciary responsibility to look out for your best interests. Select an Agent to work with based on their level of knowledge in your market area, business acumen, professionalism, and attentiveness. Do not simply select the Agent because they suggest a high market value for your house.
Step 2: Determine the Value of Your House
The most common mistake made by home sellers is to overprice the house. Studies have demonstrated that homeowners that initially overprice their home typically end up selling for less money than they would have had they priced their house more realistically at the beginning of the listing term.
Gloria will prepare a comprehensive comparative market analysis in an effort to “triangulate” around the proper price point. The price point collectively determined by you and the Sales Associate will take into consideration the most recently sold properties, current market supply, and the anticipated concession you will make when negotiating with a buyer.
Step 3: Ready Your House for Photos and Showings
Prepare your house to be shown by cleaning, de-cluttering and improving overall curb appeal. When you market your house with Gloria Benaroch, she will provide you a complimentary consultation with one of Property Staging Professionals. The objective of the consultation is for you to have a concise list of those items that we recommend addressing prior to the marketing of the property. This room-by-room analysis by a Staging Consultant will serve as your road map to maximizing the appeal of your property.
Step 4: Start the Marketing Process
Gloria will outline a comprehensive marketing plan which will include both web and print-based marketing tactics. Since more than 90% of home buyers begin their search on the internet, heavy emphasis is placed on internet marketing as each of our listings appear on over 50 national and international web sites.
At the beginning of the listing period, Gloria will also utilize several tactics intended to capture the attention of the local real estate agents. One such tactic is to open your house up for a special “Realtor-only” preview. The purpose of the Broker Open House is to expose the house to Realtors so that they are well-versed in discussing it with their buyer clients.
Step 5: Show Your House
As your house is shown by Agents to their buyer clients, Gloria will continuously provide feedback to you from each of the Agents that have shown your house. Feedback is important as it helps us collectively understand what the typical buyer objections are, and to determine how we might address those objections in the future.
Step 6: Negotiation process
When an offer is received on your house, Gloria will review all of the key terms of the offer with you, including offer price, mortgage amount, closing date, as well as any unusual contingencies that may be included in the offer.
It is generally a good idea to respond quickly (within 8 hours) to any offer. In a buyer’s market, Sellers are strongly encouraged to provide a counter-offer, even if the buyer’s initial offer is perceived to be very low.
Providing a counter-offer goes a long way toward making the buyer feel comfortable that you will be reasonable to work with throughout the process. Gloria can provide suggestions as to the amount of the counter-offer, but the decision is ultimately up to you.
Do not be discouraged if the negotiation process includes multiple iterations of counter-offers as this is very common in the today’s market.
Step 7: Contract to Closing
Immediately after accepting an offer from a buyer, your real estate attorney will guide you through the “Attorney Review” process. During this 3-business day period, either party may terminate the contract with no questions asked and with no penalty.
After Attorney Review is completed, the buyer will have their home inspection performed. Visit the Home Inspection page for an understanding of this process.
Gloria will guide you through any processes required by your township or municipality in preparation for closing. These typically include an inspection of your smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and fire extinguisher. Additionally, if your house is served by well water, you will need to have the water tested by a certified New Jersey laboratory. Gloria can provide you the names of companies that can perform the test for you.
Step 8: Conduct inspection after Attorney Review
On the day of closing, the buyer will perform a final walk through to review the condition of the house and to ensure any items that were to be repaired as a result of the house inspection have been addressed.
As the Seller, you are not required to attend the closing. If you choose, you may provide Power of Attorney to your legal counsel to handle the closing.
Gloria will attend both the final walk through and the closing to ensure any issues that are identified are handled appropriately and expeditiously
