We take a holistic approach with our clients and consider every detail of buying or selling a home and how it will affect our client’s lives. Buying and selling homes tends to be one of the largest financial transactions of a person’s life. Finances aside, choosing to sell or purchase a home affects a person’s health and lifestyle as well.
Here is a checklist for selling your home we think you may find helpful:
1. Pricing your home to sell.
Home sale prices directly correlate with days on the market in our current market conditions. When a home is on the market for more than 30-60 days (generally in the $500,000 and below range), buyers perceive that there is a problem with your home and your offers will tend to get lower and lower with time.
2. Home Inspection Issues.
We can identify potential inspection issues for you when walking through your home and consult with you on repairs so that your sale will not fall through based on inspections. You might also consider getting a pre-listing home inspection to avoid complications during your sale as there are things we will not be able to see.
3. Home Warranty Coverage.
Some homeowners get frustrated by a home warranty because they assume they can hire anyone they want to make a repair and that if something is broken or old they can simply have the item replaced by the warranty policy. Home warranties offer important protection from unexpected repair bills, but they won’t usually be enough to replace an item that has worn out, had pre-existing problems, or were improperly maintained.
4. Seller Disclosures.
These disclosures provide a wide range of information. Overall the basic premise of the disclosure is to have the seller explain any known material or legal defects with the property. Some of the items to expect in the disclosures are the seller’s knowledge of any zoning or legal violations on the property, legal actions affecting the property, location within a Greenbelt, damage to the roof, past-due utility payments (ones that affect title), problems with culinary water, damaged sewer or septic tanks, damaged heating and cooling devices, etc.
5. Fraud.
In Utah, lying on a seller’s disclosure in a way that induces a homebuyer to purchase your home is a fraud. For instance, if you were to say that you’ve never repaired leaks in the basement, but in fact have patched an area that’s now hidden by boxes, that would be a lie. Don’t do it. Fill out the seller’s disclosures, and fill them out honestly.
6. Fraudulent Nondisclosure.
Fraudulent nondisclosure involves failing to disclose a material defect. For example, if you were to incorrectly claim that you never noticed any leakage in the basement at all, that would be a nondisclosure.
7. Staging.
Before listing your home it is important to have your home looking its best. Staged homes sell an average of 17% faster than homes that are not. There are many statistics to be found from many sources but staged homes also appear to sell for 1-5% more than a home that is not staged. We work with many different staging companies so we can tailor staging services to each unique home’s needs.
8. Marketing.
We achieve high list-to-sale ratios and very low days on market in contrast with other brokers. We excel in evaluating homes, making them better with staging, advising of needed repairs and setting the right price to get the best outcome for our sellers. We set realistic expectations based on anticipating repairs needed after a buyer’s home inspection, preventing most of the typical drama that comes up during a sales transaction.
9. Showings.
Sellers should be aware that same-day and even last-minute requests for showings are common, so a seller with a ‘24 hour notice to show’ stipulation often cuts himself out of a good chunk of the buying market. The only standard lag time that should be necessary is when you must give ample notice to a tenant. In Utah the standard is 24 hours notice. Once a house gets tagged as difficult to show by agents, you won’t receive as many calls to show it.
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