I had carved out a nice long career working for a handful of companies in one industry, moving the family a couple of times to follow the career path. Things were good. Until…
In a burst of incredibly bad timing, the company I worked for was sold to a major competitor who promptly shut down our [...]
The house had only been for sale about three weeks when the first offer came in. The offer was considerably less than our asking price, but it came on the weekend of our first open house where two other couples indicated interest – one expressed intent to make an offer. Our agent told them to get with it if they wanted to make an offer because they weren’t going to be first in.
When you want to sell a house, everybody wants to know about your listing or asking price. Set it too high and you can scare off folks who are looking in a lower price range. You want to see what comparable houses in the area have recently sold for (known as “comps”) and you want to know what houses in the are are currently listed for.
If you choose to engage a real estate agent to help you sell your property, they have a stack of paperwork for you.
Real estate laws vary from state to state. Apart from the legal issues in following state laws, making proper disclosures, and having offers and counter offers in writing, there is much more to the actual selling. Marketing your house is where agents earn their commission. If you are going to use an agent, selecting that agent is important.
There are choices to be made in preparing a house to be sold. Your financial situation and time constraints will impact the decision making. You can try to sell it fast, but probably at a discount, or you can fix it up to try to get top dollar. Fixes that won’t help the selling price, but will help the sale happen sooner may still be worthwhile if you need to quit carrying the expense of the house.
Even folks who don’t invest in real estate can face selling a residence. This series will discuss preparing the house for sale, selecting an agent vs selling it yourself, setting an asking price, mineral rights, marketing and showing the house, negotiations, and the closing.
