Which type of Seller are you?

Home Evaluation - “What’s our home worth, Dean?”

I genuinely don’t believe that an online fill-in-the-blanks-do-it-yourself evaluation form will give you a true market value of your home. An on-site-and-in-person visit is the professional way to do it. There are many factors involved when I evaluate your home, and it is of paramount importance that it hits the market at the proper price. A price that will instill buyers to want to view it immediately, and bring an offer to the table as soon as possible. Contact me when you’re interested in having me meet you – and your house!

One more thing – “Free” Home Evaluations. Most Realtors® do evaluations for free (including me), in the hopes that you’ll list your home with them. Including me! Contact me today: Reach Dean

Seller’s Steps

From the moment that I become your Realtor, to the day that you hand over the keys to your house to its new owner, there are many steps involved. Let me guide you through my Home Seller’s routine, which, really, is anything but.

Preliminary Paperwork

Before the physical fitness of your home is determined, there are a few required documents to be taken care of. I will discuss these with you during our first few communications. You’ll initial and sign them where required, then we’ll get down to the task at hand, selling your home!

Pre-Sale Preparation – Is your home Market Ready or a Fixer Upper?

I don’t think I need to tell you that first impressions count! Especially when a Buyer is walking through your home. They don’t want to see that leaky kitchen faucet, those small cracks in the dining room wall that you’ve been meaning to fix for a while, or the two loose steps going downstairs to the rec room. Small things matter, and bigger things matter even more; and they will differentiate your home from being labeled as “Market Ready” or as a “Fixer Upper”. Be prepared to see a significant difference between the selling prices of the two labels. We’ll discuss tactics to achieve the best listing price possible, including my recommendations to you, in order to help you prepare your home for the market. This prep work is just that, work. It may take a week, a month, or even longer. Don’t worry though; any of these timewise scenarios have viable solutions that I will advise you on. Once we’ve decided on our pre-sale strategy, and have completed the preparations, the next step is to put your house for sale on the real estate market.

Pre-Sale Particulars

The details and specifications of your home, such as the number of bedrooms in it, the home’s square footage, or the age of its shingles, all become a part of the listing’s information that Buyers will want to see, so we need to be precise when disclosing these items. These facts are acquired by a thorough visual inspection of your home, as we walk through it. I’ll be measuring rooms, documenting items, and taking photos, as well as asking you questions about your house that only you know the answer to. Any homeowner, who is a good historical record-keeper of all renovation work that’s been completed on the house, including invoices, is always an instant friend of mine! Any documents or surveys that you have relating to the property, including your recent property tax bill, will be looked at during this step also. Just so you’re aware, this part of the process can sometimes be a bit time consuming, so we’ll schedule accordingly.

Pricing Your Home Correctly

After assessing your home in person, I take all of that information and compare your property’s attributes to other similar homes that have recently sold in your neighbourhood. Then I take a look at the properties that are currently for sale in close proximity to yours, because those particular houses happen to be our nearest competition, so to speak. Buyers who are looking at these particular homes, may be interested in moving to your area of town, so we need to compete on a level playing field.

Setting the correct market price of your property will not only generate more people wanting to view it as soon as it hits the market, but can also inspire offers to be made on it sooner than later. And ultimately, that’s what we want, offers! Home Evaluation

The Unveiling

Once we’ve set the price that we think will create the most interest, and all of the details of your home have been documented, including your approval of all photos, your home goes to market on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system. Not only will buyers in Sudbury see it, but anyone across Canada who is looking for a home in our fair city, will also have access to view it online. Technology has given the real estate industry a tool like it’s never seen before. Searching for homes online, makes the world a lot smaller for Buyers, but makes it bigger for Sellers, both excellent results! Good work, Internet! I use all social media that’s available to me, as well as other forms of advertising to promote the sale of your home. Of course, I’ll place a “For Sale” sign in front of your home for all to view. Open Houses are also a way to showcase your home when it first hits the market, and if you’d like me to host one, I will gladly do that for you. Remember, I’m working for you; no request is ever too small, or too big. But did you happen to notice that I said, “If you’d like me to host one”? Read on.

Open Houses

There are some that will argue that Open Houses are a thing of the past; that it’s a way for Realtors to add prospective buyers to their client list; or that it’s a way for the general public to simply drop in and snoop around. Heck, I’ve talked to people at Open Houses, who’ve told me that they’re not looking to buy at all, but that it’s become their Sunday afternoon hobby. Yes, really! So, I’ll leave that up to you to decide whether or not you’d like me to host a showcase for those types of “Browsers”.

Seriously Now

Serious buyers will view your home in this way: Their Realtor will have sent them our fresh-to-the-market listing via email; they’ll then take a look at it online, and will ask their Realtor if they can view it. He or she will then contact me to schedule an appointment; I’ll call you to approve it, and confirm back to them that they’re good to go. When the buyers arrive at their scheduled time, their Realtor will always accompany them inside the house. In most cases, we will have what’s called a “lockbox” on the door, with a key inside of it, for them to enter the house. When they’re finished, they’ll lock up, and the Realtor will provide us with their client’s feedback on the house, usually within 24 hours. In the case of an unrepresented buyer who contacts me directly, I will personally accompany them for the viewing. You can rest assured that any buyer entering your home will be with an approved professional.

Neato!

Having your home up for sale will require you to step it up a notch when it comes to keeping it clean and tidy; you should always try to be ready on a sometimes-short-notice basis. But for the most part, viewings are scheduled, so you’ll have time to straighten things up to prepare for their visit. During the typical one-hour block of time they’ll be there, you’ll leave your home with the confidence that they’re viewing it in pristine condition.

Offers

When an offer on your house comes in to us, it may be presented in person by the buyer’s Realtor, or submitted electronically to us, via email. In either case, we then go over it together, in private, to discuss the offer and its conditions. Of course, the price of the offer is the first issue at hand, but if there are any conditions to it, and there usually are, we’ll examine them also, as we go through it carefully. Sometimes there is more than one offer on the table for us to look at also. In either instance, we’ll take our time to consider our options in front of us, and respond by accepting, declining, or counter-offering back to the buyer(s). In all offers, there are time-sensitive deadlines for both the seller and the buyer to be aware of, and the expedience in which they are responded to, is of the utmost importance. In real estate, no two offers are alike, each with their own intricacies, and I’ll guide you through the process one step at a time.

Accepted Offer

Once both parties are in general agreement to the terms of the offer, there is usually what’s called a “conditional period” of approximately one week, in order to allow either party the time to meet the conditions of the offer. During this time frame, if required, the buyer will be allowed to enter the house again for such things as a home inspection or insurance appraisal, based on the offer’s conditions. Again, a Realtor or other approved person will always accompany anyone entering your home for these purposes.

Conditions Met? Or Not Yet?

Once the conditions have been fulfilled within the allotted time, a formal notice is signed by both parties and we’re on our way to completing the deal. On the other hand, if an issue arises during the conditional period, whereby, let’s say the buyer is unable to meet one of their conditions, they’ll either have to back out of the deal, or we’ll come up with an agreeable alternative solution to keep it moving forward.

Closing Steps

Once a deal has been reached, and officially completed, there are still more boxes to check off your list before celebrating the sale of your home. Yes, you need to move out soon! One item to take care of is the hiring of a moving company, plus contacting any services or utility companies, making sure to allow for sufficient time before the Closing Date. If you don’t have a lawyer yet, you’ll need to procure the services of one also.

Dean’s Routines? Well….

These Seller’s Steps are for you to see how my selling procedure takes place in a general sense of the word, and how I work with you, and for you, in selling your home. But it’s not always this cut and dried, and I can honestly tell you that each home sale can differ greatly, from one to another. Many other circumstances can arise, and usually do. Such is the business of real estate. Great excitement, high drama, extreme suspense, and sometimes a bit of comedic relief make for a wonderful novel, but the parallels of that novel, to selling a home, are sometimes uncannily similar. I promise you that I will strive for an always-happy ending to your home-selling story.

Dean’s Keen

Let’s face it, there are many Realtors® in the area, and I thank you for considering me to be the one working for you. It will be my privilege to represent you as a Home Buyer or Seller, and you can count on me to serve you in a professional and efficient manner – before, during, and after your real estate purchase or sale.  Here are a few of my satisfied clients: Dean’s Beaming