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Seven Important
Questions to Ask Before Selling
If you are a thinking about selling real estate
in Columbus or Central Ohio, you might be thinking this is a great time
to sell. You are 100 percent correct.
Unless you overprice your home, in most
communities there is an abundant supply of prospective buyers who can
afford to purchase during this second-best home sales season (spring is
traditionally the best time to sell a home when the largest number of
prospective real estate buyers are in the market).
Should you sell your real estate alone and save the sales commission? After you decide to sell your house or condominium, the next issue is whether to list it for sale with a professional real estate agent. Here are the seven key questions real estate sellers should answer before deciding: Can I correctly set the asking price for my home alone?
Unless you are a professional appraiser with
access to up-to-date recent home sale prices of nearby residences like
yours, you probably don't know how much your home is really worth. Most
do-it-yourself home sellers either overprice or under-price their
residences.
If a home is overpriced, it will languish on the
market unsold. Home buyers, and their real estate agents, know when a
home is overpriced based on recent sales prices of similar neighborhood
homes.
If a home is under-priced, below the market value
of nearby home sales prices, the home will sell fantastically fast.
Often, the seller doesn't realize thousands of profit dollars were left
on the table by under-pricing his/her home.
The easy solution for home sellers is to interview
at least three successful realty agents who sell homes in your vicinity.
Even if you think you can sell your home alone, the agents you interview
won't mind.
The reason is they know at least 80 percent of
do-it-yourself home sellers decide to list with a professional agent
after 30 to 60 days. Chances are you will list your home for sale with
one of the Columbus or Central Ohio Real Estate agents you interviewed.
Ask each agent you interview lots of questions.
Write them down in advance so you don't forget what you want to know. As
part of his/her listing presentation, each agent should give you a
written CMA (comparative market analysis). The CMA form shows recent
sales prices of nearby homes like yours, asking prices of neighborhood
homes now listed for sale (your competition), and even asking prices of
recently expired listings that didn't sell.
Each agent will also give you their opinion of
your home's market value, based on their CMA. This is valuable
information, especially if you try to sell your home alone.
Can I successfully market my Columbus or Central Ohio home alone?
Most "for sale by owner" home sellers attempt to
market their residences by placing newspaper ads, holding weekend open
houses, and posting a "For Sale" lawn sign. Some tech-savvy home sellers
even create websites for their homes and list them on "for sale by
owner" websites.
But these efforts are usually not enough to reach
all prospective home buyers in the market. The reason is, according to a
recent survey by the National Association of Realtors, over 70 percent
of today's prospective home buyers begin their quest on the Internet.
Unless your home is listed for sale with a member
of the Columbus Ohio MLS (multiple listing service), you will be cutting
yourself off from 70 percent of prospective buyers for your home.
Can I prepare a legally binding sales agreement and comply with the home sale defect disclosure laws?
As part of their listing presentations, most real
estate agents explain all the written disclosures required by state,
federal and local laws. For example, where I live if I sell my home I
must provide a certification my sewer line to the street doesn't leak.
In addition, when selling Columbus Ohio real
estate there is the all-important requirement of preparing a legally
binding sales agreement. Perhaps you know a local real estate attorney
who can prepare these vital documents for you. Please be very wary of
buying these forms at local stationery stores, as they may not be
up-to-date to comply with the latest disclosure requirements to keep the
real estate seller out of a lawsuit in Columbus or Central Ohio.
Will I be able to help my buyer obtain a mortgage?
Most home buyers need to obtain a new mortgage to
afford to purchase your home. Can you explain FHA, VA, PMI (private
mortgage insurance) and conventional mortgage alternatives?
Unless you are very fortunate to receive a
purchase offer from a buyer who is pre-approved (not just pre-qualified)
for a home mortgage, even if the purchase offer is acceptable, the sale
isn't a "sure thing" until the buyer obtains mortgage approval.
What contingency clauses in the sales contract are normal?
Experienced real estate agents recommend their
home buyers include contingency clauses in their purchase offers for (a)
mortgage finance approval and (b) a professional home inspection. This
is normal.
But your home buyer might insist on additional
contingencies, such as for sale of their current home. How will you
respond to such a purchase offer contingency? Are you willing to take
your home off the market while your buyer tries to sell their present
residence?
Who will handle the home sale closing details?
As a do-it-yourself home seller, have you arranged
for an attorney, title insurance company, escrow firm, or mortgage
lender to handle the details of the title transfer? Who will hold the
buyer's good faith or earnest money deposit?
Additional home sale closing issues include who
will pay the closing settlement costs, which party will pay for the
title insurance, and who pays the recording and title transfer fees?
There will probably be additional issues, such as pro-rated property
taxes.
Will the buyer expect a price reduction because you are saving the sales commission?
Additional issues which are likely to arise
include the issues of a price reduction if no sales commission is paid
and if the seller will pay half of a customary sales commission to the
home buyer's agent.
If the home seller refuses to pay half the
customary sales commission to the buyer's agent, that buyer's agent
might refuse to even show your home to their prospective buyer.
Summary
These seven questions are likely to arise if you
decide to sell real estate without a professional real estate agent.
Because of the difficulty selling a home without expert help, most
do-it-yourself home sellers decide to list their residences for sale
with one of the agents interviewed within 30 to 60 days after trying to
sell alone. That's a big reason why more than 80 percent of resale homes
in Columbus Ohio are sold with the help of a professional real estate
agent.
Base content copied from Inman News |
