Selling yor home: Presented by The North Woods Group.
Thinking about selling your property?
It’s hard to anticipate every step of the home selling process, and to know what to look for in an agent. Here is a play-by-play sketch of what you should expect from your agent and the process itself:.
Step 1 – Hire a REALTOR®
An important part of selling your home is finding qualified and professional representation. While it is a great first step to hire a licensed Realtor, and even better first step is to hire a member of The North Woods Group. Selling a property is a complex process that involves a prized financial asset. In order to reap the greatest financial benefit from the sale of your property, hire a realtor whose extensive training has prepared them to generate the best possible results on your behalf. The members of the North Woods Group have literally decades of experience in our mountain real estate market. Working as a group, The North Woods Group has the benefit of the complimentary skills found throughout its members – from a professional photographer, to a past contractor, to a web master, to a full time marketing specialist, we are able to bring our skills together to ensure that each transaction is met with the utmost professionalism and expertise.
While it is tempting to sell your home on your own, or to find discounted representation that can save you a realtor’s fee, a survey done by the National Association of Realtors found that 82% of real estate sales result from realtors’ contact with previous clients, referrals, and other sources. Additionally, NAR concluded that most homes sell for approximately 5% more and about 17% days faster when sold through a realtor.
The members of The North Woods Group have a firm grasp on all of the current legal, environmental, and regulatory real estate requirements. We will be able to pass on the current regulations to you, so that you understand every step of the process and why it’s done that way. Finally, with our market knowledge and experience, we are extremely competent when the time comes for pricing, negotiating & assessing proposals, and developing offers and counteroffers. Throughout your entire transaction, we will be able to navigate through your dealings with appraisals, inspections and legally binding agreements in a competent and professional manner.
Step 2 – Price your property correctly
A correctly priced property generates an excitement that takes maximum advantage of realtors’ and buyers’ attention during the first four weeks of a listing. That it why it is truly important to price your property “on the money” from the beginning.
An advantage to working with The North Woods Group is the market knowledge that only comes with the decades of experience that we have. Also, as a team, we are able to get qualified advice and opinions from each other to confirm that your property’s price is where it should be.
To establish the best listing price, we start by considering the current market inventory, the properties that are going into escrow, and their prices. Our understanding of recent sales enables us determine where the market is in respect to what buyers are willing to pay. Also, the ability to understand what constitutes a more “difficult” listing enables us to determine factors which might aid or prevent the swift sale of your property.
We price to the competition
As the price of a home rises relative to the competition, our research shows:
- If the asking price is close to perceived market value, your house has a 95% chance of selling
- If the asking price is 5% over perceived market value, your house has a 50% chance of selling
- If the asking price is 10% over perceived market value, your house has a 30% chance of selling
A house priced high will get fewer showings but a competitor’s house, if it is priced too high, will help to sell your home. Be aware, though, because this works both ways!
Sometimes, especially in the last few years, this business can be like “day trading”. The market has had it’s share of slight increases to huge increases, but it’s important to always keep sight of reality. It is essential to work with an experienced realtor who knows the trends, most recent escrows and sales, and how to compare those properties with yours. Once of the most common statements we hear from buyers is, “Why is that house priced so much higher?” The correct response is, “one can put any price they want on a property. Be sure to work with an agent who’s first interest is to serve you best, not just get your listing!”.
Working with a member of the North Woods Group ensures that your best interests are always at heart. We will not take a listing where the asking price is inappropriate. We want to list your house so that it sells in a timely manner, and at a price that’s within your reasonable expectations. We try to always anticipate what the market will do, to the best of our ability, and price accordingly. And, the added bonus of a group of experience realtors allows us to get advice and guidance from each other when pricing – making it more likely to find the most “market-friendly” price for your property!
Step 3 - Prepare your Property
The North Woods Group knows what it takes to make a property look its best. Before your home is even on the market, we will do a complete room by room walk-through of your property. Special inside tips will make your home its most marketable, with the reward coming in the form of a better sales price.
The goal to strive for when preparing your property to be listed is to make every potential buyer feel like a welcomed guest. We work closely with you to determine how best to “de-personalize” your home so that potential buyers can more easily picture their belongings and their families in the property.We will help to identify the areas that need to be modified. This includes repairing known items that need fixing, staging your home to be its most attractive, and creating curb appeal.
Minimize your time and money by tackling only the necessary projects. When preparing your home to sell, it may feel like every room could use a face-lift, but you don’t want to spend that much extra money and time – and you don’t need to. Now is the rime to tackle those smaller projects that will increase your home’s selling potential. The “little” things mean a lot… repainting, fixing a creaky door, even cleaning out a cluttered closet or garage – these are all relatively easy tasks to do, and they will make a huge impact on potential buyer’s first impressions.
Make your home spotless, and keep it that way. Before you begin showing your home, you’ll want to do a complete clean, from top to bottom. The fairly inexpensive costs of professionally cleaning your carpets, fully dusting your home, removing all clutter from rooms, thoroughly cleaning windows, even replacing old screens will all be rewarded with a larger pay off when your home does sell. Keep all counters as free of items as possible and repair faucets and caulking around sinks, tubs and showers. Make your kitchen and baths sparkle. A clean home does sell and can be a good assurance that it has been a well-maintained house, and will be a worthwhile purchase.
A little bit of landscaping can go a long way. Could your flowers out front use a little sprucing up? Are your trees and shrubs overgrown or in need of some pruning? This is the time to do it. Get rid of old pine needles and leaves, and replace the dead plants and weeds with colorful flowering varieties. Potted plants on the front step add color to your home’s façade. Even without a green thumb, a little effort goes a long way in increasing your home’s curb appeal.
Test drive your home. When was the last time you checked that all of the outlets work? Are there any burned out light bulbs? Do your plumbing and heating systems work properly? Are all of your appliances in good working order? Put yourself in the shoes of a potential buyer and look to see that everything that should work, does.
Stage your home to create the most space. Aside from simply removing clutter from small spaces, look to your bigger rooms to see that they couldn’t appear even larger. Could a fresh coat of lighter paint help to make your rooms appear larger? Could rearranging your furniture open up the room? Storing unnecessary items and furniture during the showing process of your home will end up adding not just space to your home, but also potential dollars to your sold price.
Turn your home into a model home. To truly achieve that crisp, clean look, try to look at your home as a model home. This means that your home should be a clean palette, making it as easy as possible for potential buyers to see themselves in it. Sometimes this may mean that your favorite personal touches will have to be put away, but remember that in the long run, this can help you to sell your home not only sooner, but also for a potentially higher price.
Step 4 - Market Your Property
With a member of The North Woods Group as your listing professional, your home already has access to hundreds of qualified buyers – our past clients! So much of our business deals with past clients and referrals, that your home is immediately marketed to our data base, and also throughout our office. Keller Williams Boice Realty is the number one real estate firm in Truckee and over 65% of our business is based upon referrals by satisfied clients!
The real estate industry’s most effective marketing tool is the REALTOR® Multiple Listing Service. We use this service to inform all members of the Tahoe Sierra Board of REALTORS® of the availability and the particulars of your property along with any features that make it unique and desirable.
We believe the next most effective marketing tool is the internet, and The North Woods Group is at a high advantage when it comes to this. The vast majority of our clients are second home buyers who live a distance from Truckee. Many of today’s buyers are internet savvy and look at web sites to familiarize themselves with the second home market in Truckee and Tahoe Donner ™. We have the area’s most popular real estate website, that gets the most hits per day, and comes up the most times on Google’s search engine – www.TahoeDonnerHomes.com (www.TDHomes.com) and we also advertise on www.TahoeResortHomes,com,. As a result, buyers come to us highly informed of properties like yours, and are ready to review the homes that they have selected prior to their visit.
We facilitate the use of printed advertising and we will work with you to schedule these as appropriate in various avenues such as flyers, local newspapers, and premium resort magazines. The North Woods Group currently has a 2 page spread in Premiere Homes (circulation of 12,500+ per month), the back page of Northwoods Magazine (circulation of 14,000+ per month), a half-page ad in the Tahoe Donner™ News (circulation to all of Tahoe Donner ™ or 6,500+ per month), and a space on the back page of the Sierra Sun’s Mountain Homes Real Estate insert (circulation of 14,200+ per week). We place your home on the weekly Realtor Tour of homes and heavily promote your property within our office so that all realtors can get a first hand look at your property. With colorful flyers, professional advertising, and a popular website, your property gets top notch marketing exposure.
Step 5 – Negotiate the Offer
First, it is best to know exactly what your objectives are before you get to the negotiating process. Look at what you expect to make after all of the fees, inspections, etc. Consider what your bottom line is on the price and determine the supporting reasons for not going below that price. A good realtor will be a great person to bounce this price off of to see if it is truly realistic in the current market. Being honest with yourself and your realtor from the beginning will help you determine your pricing focus throughout the negotiation process.
Once you’ve received your offer, your agent’s experience really shows its true colors. Listen to your agent’s professional opinion regarding pricing and the offer. Keep in mind that most buyers will want to negotiate, regardless of how well your home is priced. Don’t take the original offer personally if it is glaringly below your asking price. Remember that, in the end, this is a business matter for all parties involved.
When you work with a member of The North Woods Group, you will always have all the details of the offer explained to you, and we will always advocate your interests during the negotiation process to the buyer and their agent, and provide you with our objective and professional opinion. The entire North Woods Group is an additional source of counsel, should the situation require it.
Step 6 – Accepting the Offer and Closing the Deal
Once an offer is accepted, the closing process begins. This is one of the more complex and time intensive elements of selling your home and it takes the experience and professionalism of The North Woods Group to make this process run correctly and smoothly. We coordinate not only with the title and escrow company, but also with the buyer’s lender, the various inspectors required by the contract or local ordinances, all repair contractors and the buyer’s agent. We also are continually informing both you and the buyer of all disclosures, addendums, and events and obtaining all necessary signatures.
As the escrow process draws closer to the close, we will keep you apprised of the many items that we coordinate. Some of these items are. Ascertaining that buyer’s various securities, such as the initial down payment, are properly deposited
- Receiving buyer’s Loan Approval
- Reviewing the preliminary Title Reports for accuracy and any red flags
- Providing any necessary association documents to buyer
- Assisting with all inspections the buyer requests such as pest, home and sewer inspections.
- Making sure all documents are ordered and accurately completed
- Meeting all deadlines to eliminate contingency stipulations
- Scheduling and coordinating all agreements to repairs
- Reviewing closing documents to ensure accuracy
- Ensuring all utilities are switched over to the buyer’s name
- Having keys available for the buyer
- Making sure you receive your check
A quality real estate transaction also means that we practice discretion to protect your privacy. The facts of the transaction are only revealed to those who need to know in order to successfully complete the sale of your home. (Although, once a transaction is recorded with the county office, information becomes a matter of public record.) When you work with a member of The North Woods Group, you are assured of a quality transaction and a professional working relationship.
Questions? Call Pete at (530)550-0187 or (800)593-3535.
