STEPS TO SELLING YOUR HOME
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Choose a listing agent.
Choose a realtor who comes highly recommended, has great consumer reviews, testimonials and ratings, works well with you and will prioritize your best interests. With $100 million+ in real estate transactions and over 125 5-star reviews on HAR, the Kyla Linn Group is committed to providing best in class service to our clients.
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Meet with your realtor.
During initial discussions, we will evaluate comparable homes in the area and establish parameters for market value. You must know your goals, as this will play a large part in determining the initial asking price.
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Understand your closing costs.
As your real estate advisors, we will review with you in detail what you can expect to pay in closing costs to make sure you fully understand your financial obligations before determining the asking price for your property
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Finalize listing contract.
Once we have determined an initial asking price and the length of your listing contract, we will sign all the listing documents and get ready to start marketing your home!
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Prepare your home for market.
This could include a number of things, but the process entails decluttering, depersonalizing, and making improvements and/or updates. As your real estate advisors, we will guide you in making smart decisions to increase the value of your home to potential buyers. For some of these items, you may want to utilize the Compass Concierge Program, which fronts the costs of preparing your home for resale. The funds are paid back interest free at closing. Click here to read more about Compass Concierge.
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Review marketing strategy.
We will prepare a comprehensive marketing plan to sell your home as quickly and as profitably as possible with your specific goals in mind. We will discuss staging, floorplans, photography, advertising, and marketing collateral so that you know exactly what we are doing to get your home sold. To learn more about how our marketing approach sets us apart and provides unparalleled value to our clients, click here.
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Fill out Seller’s Disclosure.
The Seller’s Disclosure is a required document for home resale in which you disclose everything you know about the home’s condition to potential buyers. This document must be filled out to the best of your knowledge. As your realtors, we will help you to determine what is necessary to disclose to ensure you are well protected from complaints after the sale.
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Launch your listing on Compass Coming Soon.
Only Compass agents have access to this one of a kind database that gives you an opportunity to market your listing prior to accumulating days on the Multiple Listing Service. This will let our Compass clients and agents know in advance of your home officially going on the market that it will be coming to MLS soon. This allows us to test the market or potentially sell your home before it hits the market formally and starts to accrue days on market. To learn more about how Compass Coming Soon helps us sells your home faster and for more money, click here.
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Complete any staging, updates and/or renovations.
We want to make sure all necessary projects are completed before formally listing your property on the Multiple Listing Service. Your home should be ready to show to potential buyers from Day 1 on the MLS.
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Photograph your home.
The Kyla Linn Group uses only professional photographers who focus on photographing real estate to shoot our listings. These individuals are practiced at presenting homes in the best possible way. An experienced real estate photographer knows how to leverage angles and frame references to create eye-catching photographs that entice potential buyers to click on your listing. For more tips on photos + staging, click here.
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List your home formally with the Multiple Listing Service.
We will process all of the necessary paperwork to get your home on the MLS. Your listing will now be live publicly for all to see. It will include the professional photographs of your home along with descriptions and all relevant details including square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, neighborhood statistics, school zones, etc.
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Install signage + implement marketing campaign.
We will put signage in front of your home if allowed by your neighborhood to make sure it is easy for buyers to find. Then it is time to get to work implementing our marketing plan, including both print and digital advertising and collateral, targeted mailers, and email campaigns.
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Begin to show your home.
Depending on your situation, the home will either be “Accompanied Only”, “By Appointment Only on Supra or Lockbox”, or “Go and Show”. We will work with you to determine the best option for your situation. For instance, if you live in the home, you definitely want the showings by appointment, but you may also want them accompanied by your agent. If the home is vacant and our goal is to show as much as possible, you would want to choose “Go and Show”.
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Hold open houses.
As your real estate agents, we will hold open house events at the home as frequently as needed and allowed by you and your neighborhood. This is a great opportunity to get a lot of potential buyers in your listing in a short amount of time. Open houses also allow us to review prospective buyers’ and agents’ feedback on the home, including pricing and value.
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Stay in contact.
At the Kyla Linn Group, we hold ourselves to a high standard of customer service, so you can be sure that we will be in constant contact with you throughout the process. We will touch base with you frequently to notify you of any feedback we may be receiving. It is very important to be reactive to the market, so we will review feedback, statistics and price regularly to see if we are where we want to be in terms of market presence.
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Review all offers.
Once we receive an offer, we will review all points of the offer and prepare a response to the potential buyers. This may be a quick process or a lengthy one depending on the complexity of the buyer's offer and what needs to be negotiated. Either way, trust that we have lived through nearly every possible scenario, so we will guide you to make sure the process goes smoothly. Most contracts contain an option period, in which the buyer pays a negotiated amount for a negotiated number of days to do inspections and due diligence on the home. The buyer can cancel the contract at any time during the option period without recourse.
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Accept an offer + execute the contract.
Once an offer has been accepted and the contract is “executed”, the option fee is paid to the seller and the earnest money is delivered to the title company, all of which are decided upon during the contract negotiations. The earnest money is a deposit from the buyer held by the title company until closing as a sign of good faith intensions to fully execute the contract. It is credited back to the buyer at closing unless the buyer defaults on the contract, in which case the seller may be able to collect it as damages. The option fee pays for the option period, and is not refundable, but can be credited to the buyer at closing. In addition, the contract may contain additional amendments or contingencies. These vary depending on the situation, and we will guide you through the specifics of your transaction. One of the most common contingencies is dependent on third party financing. This protects the buyers in the event that they are unable to secure financing for the property.
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The option period begins.
During the option period, the buyer will perform inspections on the home. We will guide you in negotiating with the buyers on any repairs or credits that arise from these inspections. In addition, the title company will provide a survey on the property and give a commitment to provide title insurance at closing. This protects the buyer from any defects in the title or chain of ownership. The buyers will have the opportunity to object to any findings on the survey or encumbrances on the title during this period. The buyers also have the right to terminate the contract if the buyer and seller do not come to an agreement over repairs.
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Prepare for closing.
Once the option period is over, all contingencies of the contract have been dropped, and we have a commitment for clear title, the sale can move forward to closing. If the sale is cash, it is usually a shorter period of time to closing than if it is financed. If there is a mortgage company involved, there will usually be a period of at least 30 days from execution of contract to closing. Separate from (but simultaneously to) the buyer’s option period, this length of time allows for the bank to approve the buyer for financing, obtain a survey for the property, and to perform their own inspections or appraisal of the property.
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Close the sale.
Closing occurs on a negotiated day per the sales contract and normally takes place at a title company. The buyer and seller may close separately or together. The buyer usually takes possession of the home once the loan has been closed and funded. In most cases, this happens the day of closing. It is possible for a seller to negotiate a “leaseback” from the buyer if you need extra time to pack and move. If this is something you require, we will work with the buyer’s agent to negotiate this on your behalf well in advance of closing.
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CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE SOLD YOUR HOME!
You have likely sold your home faster and for more money by choosing to use the Kyla Linn Group. Click here to learn more about the Compass Advantage and how we are able to bring value to our clients and give them a competitive edge when selling their home.