The Selling Process

Selling your house is one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll make in your lifetime. Considering that the average person moves about once every 7 years, it can be unreasonable to expect people to be familiar with the maze of complex steps and legal issues that can arise. That’s where we come in. Your Partners Real Estate Agent is committed to spending enough time with you to make sure all of your questions are answered before the house goes on the market, while it’s on the market, and while it’s under contract. We’ll take a look at your goals and dreams and then we’ll build a plan together that will provide the best chance to achieve them. Our goal is to make sure you’re a satisfied customer.

More about The Selling Process

We take a comprehensive approach to the sales process. Finding the right buyer often requires that proper staging, marketing, and timing all align. The real estate marketplace can be a competitive one. Our goal is to make your home stand out. To this end, we will be responsible for the marketing activities necessary to sell your house. This includes the creation of a comprehensive marketing plan designed to showcase your property to the right buyers.

Furthermore, many home sales occur as a result of internal networking between real estate professionals to pair buyers and sellers. Here at Partners Real Estate, our dedicated team has collectively over 75+ years in real estate, and deeply connected within this local community, giving your property optimal exposure.

General Tips for Preparing Your Home

First impressions matter! The correct staging of your home can go a long way toward achieving a successful sale at the highest price. Even minor alterations can have a major impact. Here are a few general guidelines that can help transform your home and ensure you to get top-dollar.

• Start from the outside: A well-kept lawn can help secure a strong first-impression for your home. A day or two of yard work can mean a world of difference in the buyers mind. A clean lawn and well-groomed landscape will help bring in prospective buyers from the beginning.
• The front door welcomes the prospect: Doorways and entrances are usually the first thing a visitor sees inside of your home. Step outside your front door and take an objective view. A fresh coat of paint or scrubbing your door clean will be well worth the effort invested. A seasonal door decoration can instantly give your home a warm, inviting feel.
• Highlight your home: Ample lighting will project a feeling of warmth to the potential buyers. Clean windows will also help illuminate walls and ceilings.
• Clean kitchens and sparkling bathrooms help sell homes: Be sure these rooms are gleaming! Counter tops should be clean and free of clutter. Repair caulking in bathtubs and showers. Fixtures should always be polished. Putting out fresh towels is a nice touch.
• A place for everything: Make sure beds are made and clothing is put away. Neat, well-organized closets show that there is ample storage space. Straightening newspapers, magazines or other “homey clutter” will help improve your homes image to buyers.
• Check for repairs: Minor flaws in your home suggest neglect to the prospect. Be sure to clean and check major appliances. If a potential buyer can find a minor defect in a house, he or she will often assume there are more serious underlying issues.
• Last, relax and have fun! Once a showing is scheduled, try to make plans for lunch or to visit a friend. Having homeowners milling around will often make prospect buyers feel uncomfortable and hurry through a showing. So, relax, and let us do our job to showcase your beautiful home.

Have a question not answered here? Ask us!  
Call Partners at 810-220-7653

Why Use an Agent

PARTNERS REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS – WHY USE AN AGENT

The selling process generally begins with a determination of a reasonable asking price. Your Partners Real Estate Agent or REALTOR® can give you up-to-date information on what is happening in the marketplace and the price, financing, terms and condition of competing properties. These are key factors in getting your property sold at the best price, quickly and with minimum hassle.

Marketing
The next step is a marketing plan. Often, your Partners Agent can recommend repairs or cosmetic work that will significantly enhance the salability of the property. Marketing includes the exposure of your property to other real estate agents and the public. In many markets across the country, over 50% of real estate sales are cooperative sales; that is, a real estate agent other than yours brings in the buyer. Your Partners Agent acts as the marketing coordinator, disbursing information about your property to other real estate agents through a Multiple Listing Service or other cooperative marketing networks, open houses for agents, etc. The REALTOR® Code of Ethics requires REALTORS® to utilize these cooperative relationships when they benefit their clients.

Advertising is part of marketing. The choice of media and frequency of advertising depends a lot on the property and specific market. For example, in some areas, newspaper advertising generates phone calls to the real estate office but statistically has minimum effectiveness in selling a specific property. Overexposure of a property in any media may give a buyer the impression the property is distressed or the seller is desperate. Your Partners real estate agent will know when, where and how to advertise your property. There is a misconception that advertising sells real estate. The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® studies show that 82% of real estate sales are the result of agent contacts through previous clients, referrals, friends, family and personal contacts.

Security
When a property is marketed with an agent’s help, you do not have to allow strangers into your home. Agents will generally pre-screen and accompany qualified prospects through your property.

Negotiating
The negotiation process deals with much the same issues for both buyers and sellers, as noted above under the buying process. Your agent can help you objectively evaluate every buyer’s proposal without compromising your marketing position. This initial agreement is only the beginning of a process of appraisals, inspections and financing — a lot of possible pitfalls. Your agent can help you write a legally binding, win-win agreement that will be more likely to make it through the process.

Monitoring, renegotiating and closing
Between the initial sales agreement and closing (or settlement), questions may arise. For example, unexpected repairs are required to obtain financing or a cloud in the title is discovered. The required paperwork alone is overwhelming for most sellers. Your agent is the best person to objectively help you resolve these issues and move the transaction to closing (or settlement).

Why use a REALTOR®?
All real estate licensees are not the same. Only real estate licensees who are members of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® are properly called REALTORS®. They proudly display the REALTOR “®” logo on the business card or other marketing and sales literature. REALTORS® are committed to treat all parties to a transaction honestly. REALTORS® subscribe to a strict code of ethics and are expected to maintain a higher level of knowledge of the process of buying and selling real estate. An independent survey reports that 84% of home buyers would use the same REALTOR® again.

You be the judge
Real estate transactions involve one of the biggest financial investments most people experience in their lifetime. Transactions today usually exceed $100,000. If you had a $100,000 income tax problem, would you attempt to deal with it without the help of a CPA? If you had a $100,000 legal question, would you deal with it without the help of an attorney? Considering the small upside cost and the large downside risk, it would be foolish to consider a deal in real estate without the professional assistance of a REALTOR®!