Real Estate Sales: The Basics

Written by Genevieve Concannon
Published on August 16th, 2010
Categorized under: Home Selling Advice

Here is your snapshot of the real estate sales process

Is it your first time? Has it been a while? We’ll be gentle. Here is a very, very simplified step by step of what goes into the a home sale.

Interview real estate professionals to find the person you are the most comfortable and confident in to handle your real estate transaction. See if using an EcoBroker would be right for you.
Prepare your home for sale: deep cleaning, improvements as needed, etc.
Talk to your real estate professional about what you should or shouldn’t do when preparing your home for sale.
Once a real estate professional is selected, the process of arriving at a selling price starts.
The seller will decide on a price based on the comparative market analysis (CMA) that the Realtor provides.
The Realtor will list the property on the MLS and make the listing “active.”
A lockbox should go on the door to provide access to the home to real estate professionals showing and previewing properties.
Interested parties will begin to see the home for sale through their search and ask to schedule a showing of the property.
The actively listed property will be shown to interested buyers.
A buyer is interested in the home (maybe even multiple buyers are interested)!
The buyer will offer a purchase priced based on what they think the property is worth.
The seller’s Realtor (Listing Agent) will present any and all offers to the seller with guidance as to which contracts represent the seller’s best interest.
The seller accepts an offer or “counter offers.” If the seller accepts the full offer with no contingencies, skip to #15.
If there is a counter offer, negotiations ensue.
An agreement may or may not be met… there may be a counter offer or several counter offers between the buyer and seller.
If both parties can not agree, there is no contract.
If both parties agree to the contract and all contingencies, the contract is ratified.
The ratified contract will go through any contingencies, i.e. a general home inspection, a termite inspection, financing procurement, etc by the dates specified in the contract.
Once all contingencies are settled and complete, the contract should go to settlement with the Title company.
The title company will pull title, request a land survey and work in conjunction with the lender (if it is not a cash offer).
When all of the title documents are in order, you will go to closing.
At closing, title will be exchanged, and keys will be given to the new owner, pending no other arrangements have been made.
Congratulations! You’ve sold your house. Now you just need to move!

So, what the heck is your Realtor doing for you while all of this is happening?

In essence, your real estate professional is managing your transaction.

Your Realtor is handling all communications on your behalf with the other parties’ agent.
Your Realtor is communicating and facilitating inspections.
Your Realtor is communicating with the lender to ensure all required documents are procured.
Your Realtor is ensuring that your best interests are being kept in mind.
Your Realtor is providing you with feedback and updates about the process and any next steps.

Remember that no home sale is ever the same; Things can change and so do steps in the process… Something else that sellers need to remember is that there is no time line as to how long a sale should take. No one can estimate how long a property will be “on the market.” Having a real estate professional that you trust on your side through the entire process is the a huge benefit for such a large and important transaction.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010 at 1:32 pm and is filed under Home Selling Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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