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Selling a Home: SEEK Help
Some people-fewer today than in the past thank goodness, mainly because my industry is doing a better job of informing and educating clients-think about all a realtor does is stick up a sign and collect a commission.
Not hardly.
The first thing we do is sit down with you and explore or SEEK why you are selling, what you expect to get out of the transaction, when you need to close and move out, and where you are going as well as when you need to get there. This involves setting an asking price, and that is so important that we have devoted an entire block to the subject of Price. Please review it carefully. There is a somewhat complex and detailed method used universally by all real estate professionals, including appraisers, builders and developers, as well as realtors, which when completed provides an accurate picture of your home's worth, where it sits, in today's market. There's no guesswork about it, and we at TeamSold will always discourage you from accepting less than our research shows your property is worth, unless you have some very good reasons why you should. Our job is not to leave any of your hard-earned money on the table.
OK. It was a bit of a struggle, perhaps, and involved a little compromise all around, but we're over the Price hurdle. Now begins the real work. The first thing we do is measure to determine the square footage of your home. We do not-indeed cannot-rely upon any other source, including the builder's architectural plans or county tax records, to determine this figure. Next we ask you to complete a N.C. property disclosure statement which tells prospective buyers details about the property that might not otherwise be readily apparent. We then prepare a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) detailed description of your home, all the many good things about it, how to get there, and the conditions under which it may be shown. (If there are inside pets, for example, everybody who comes to your house will be alerted about that important fact. "Don't let the cat out!" is a common and well-understood refrain which the coordinators at out appointment center stress to agents making showing appointments.) This MLS listing is available instantly on line to all 4,000+ realtors throughout our area. It is their, and our, primary source for determining what properties are available at any given time, and matching them to the needs of our prospective buyers.
Then we sit down with you and map out a Marketing plan of action, and this, too, is so important we have devoted a separate section to it. How we expose your property to the real estate community and all its thousands of potential buyers is critical-through the MLS listing itself, of course; but also through such vehicles as open houses, realtor tours, advertising, websites, signage and the like. Please read and reflect upon the Marketing pages.
Next we do the necessary mechanical legwork to enable other agents to set appointments to show your property. Sometimes we will accompany them, sometimes only the buyers' agent will be there. But rest assured, there will always be a licensed agent on hand at all times whenever your house is being shown. We will also be poring over our own ever-growing and changing pool of buyers for just that perfect family who will immediately fall in love with your place.
Next, if we have done our job in the Price and Marketing departments, an offer or offers - always in writing and each with an appropriate earnest money
deposit-should start to come in. They involve numerous detailed documents, all of them critically important, and they deal in detail not only with price, although that is naturally the first line we focus on. Equally important, however,
are terms, down payment, timing of inspections, loan commitments and closing, loan preconditions, and a second look to make sure the people making the offer are financially qualified to close.
In the course of selling your home, it is entirely possible, indeed likely, that we may bring you offers that are entirely unacceptable to you-even insulting-in one or more of these categories. Understand that, by law we are required to present all offers up to the moment of recordation.
We will, after a full and careful discussion with you, respond to each offer as you direct. And then, generally, if the parties are reasonably close in their mutual expectations, we will hammer out the sometimes painful and occasionally even nit-picky details, both large and small. Many times this is a quick, friendly and easy-going process with both buyer and seller wanting to accommodate each other to the maximum extent possible. Often, however, the real estate agents on both sides are called upon to split what may look to the outside observer like hairs, but in reality are, or have become, major concerns for one party or the other. This can be agonizing for the seller when it occurs, but we are used to it. It's just another element of our job that we are trained to handle professionally, quietly, reasonably and to your ultimate satisfaction.
So, at last everybody has signed or initialed every page of the offer, yes, it's now a contract and both parties have agreed to do certain things upon successful completion will lead to closing. Now it's your realtor's job to make sure that the buyer and you follow through in a timely fashion on all their responsibilities. Typically, the first two for the buyer are a) obtaining a firm and final loan commitment that meets the terms specified in the contract, and
b) making sure the buyers' agent schedules the home inspections, which might include a structural, termite, radon, well and septic and (if there is to be one) a survey. This almost always entails a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, and we at TeamSold typically even make calls to the buyer's lender to make sure all is going well. (They can't reveal confidential information to us, but they can tell us if they are likely to make the loan.)
When all these preliminary ducks are in a row, and an exact date, time and place have been set for closing, your listing agent makes the first of many telephone, fax and email contacts with the closing attorney, and starts to review all the paperwork-of which there is a small mountain-for accuracy. Most closing attorneys in our area are knowledgeable and competent, but they are also overloaded. A lot of real estate is moving right now in North Carolina. And mistakes almost always accompany overwork. It's our job to catch and correct them.
Finally comes the day of closing (the day of celebration), and the buyers and their agent conduct the final walkthrough (this is generally a formality), after which we join them at the
closing attorney's office, where, once again, we carefully check the closing statement and deed for accuracy. You will no doubt have a check, often a substantial one, coming to you and it is our job to make sure the amount is correct and that you receive it (often we at TeamSold deliver it to you or your bank, if you want) promptly upon recordation.
Then, and only then, does our real estate firm get paid. We will receive our portion-minus the firm's share and less advertising and other expenses related to the transaction-in a few days. What we receive is invariably a lot less than most sellers imagine, and I do not say that by way of complaint. I love listing and selling real estate, the business has been very good to me and my family, rewarding us both financially and in other important ways. Real estate is my chosen vocation, I am proud that all our TeamSold members are very good at it, and I hope we all have many more years of healthy, prosperous and valuable service to offer to our growing community of clients.
Your confidence in us is what enables TeamSold to be as successful as we are, and we will always be deeply appreciative, humbled and thankful to all of you for that valuable and precious gift. May we always earn your continuing trust.
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