What to Expect

Not sure what to expect when selling your home? We’ll walk you through each step of the process to ensure that you are comfortable and knowledgeable as we work to sell your home.

Understanding the Value of your home: Your realtor will provide you with a comparative market analysis. This is a list of homes in the area that have recently sold and are similar to your home. If possible, these homes will have the same architectural style, school district, similar number of bedrooms and bathrooms, similar square footage and updates. This will help you understand the value of your home. A Zestimate is not a good indication of the value of your home. It can be manipulated by you or the realtor to make it higher for any buyers who are looking. But a zestimate is only Zillows guess. Zillow has no way of taking many important issues of a home into consideration. They work with generalities only. They claim to be correct within 20% of the asking price. This means on a 100,000 home, they feel they are correct if it sells between 80,000 and 120,000. Realtors are much more qualified to take all the details into consideration.
When to sell your home:Spring has the advantage of warm weather, sunshine, blooming flowers and lots of buyers. Spring has the disadvantage of having many sellers coming on the market. Winter has the advantage of less competition and beautiful decorations. Winter has the disadvantage of trying to move your things through the snow and people tracking through your home. Discuss with your realtor, which is most beneficial to you.
Filling out paperwork with your Realtor: Following is a list of the basic paperwork you need to complete in order to have your Realtor list your house on the MLS.
1. Disclosure Regarding Real Estate Agency Relationships: This should be the first form you sign. It is a short explanation of different types of agency and the responsibilities involved with each. This is not a contract, Michigan Law requires your agent to discuss this information with you before any information is revealed by you.
2. Exclusive Listing Contract: This is a contract and it spells out the terms of your agreement with the agent, i.e., selling price, terms, property to be sold and responsibilities of all parties.
3. Sellers Disclosure Form: This is to be filled out by you, the homeowner. Everything blank should be filled in, even if something doesn’t apply to your property. The realtor is not legally allowed to help you with this. The buyer will be purchasing the home on the basis of this information. Should it be found to be incorrect, you may be responsible to pay for something at a later date.
4. Lead Based Paint Seller’s Disclosure and Responsibilities of Sellers Under Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act: Both of these forms are used to inform you as well as the buyer about the hazards of lead-based paint. If you have any knowledge or reports of lead base paint in the home, you will be required to share this information with the potential buyer.
5. Buyers Electronic signature Authorization: This form acknowledges that you agree to allow electronic signatures to be legally binding. to make electronic
6. Photo Release Form: House N Home Realty must give the MLS all rights to the pictures we put online. Therefore we require the homeowner to provide House N Home Realty all Rights to the pictures
7. Residential/Condo Listing Form: This is the form that contains all the information about your house that the Realtor will use to list your property online with the Multi List Service (MLS).
8. We need to go through all the paperwork we are expecting from our agents and make sure they are listed here
Discuss with your realtor, how to make your home look its best for showings.See form “Helping your home sell quickly”
1. Minimizing clutter
2. Staging your home
3. Depersonalizing your home.
4. Keeping the walk ways clear for showings
5. Valuables to be locked away for showings
6. Turning on lights before a showing
7. Smoking in the home
Viewings: Part of the discussion you will have with your Realtor concerns times your home can be viewed by the public.
These viewings may involve a lockbox being placed on your house. You choose how to be contacted regarding when a showing occurs You are able to set the times that you want to allow realtors to show your home. If you decide to stay home during the showing, it is important that you do not discuss anything with the realtor or buyer. Part of your realtors job is to protect you and to negotiate the best possible price for your home. By talking to a seasoned buyers agent, they may obtain information from you that will help them to negotiate a lower price. ie: Understanding your motivation to move will possibly help them to know if you are willing to lower the price or not. It is required that buyers are accompanied by a Realtor at all times. If someone knocks on your door and requests access without having scheduled a showing, do not let them in. Call your realtor immediately.
Multi List Service (MLS):When all the forms are signed and you’ve talked everything over with your Realtor, he/she will put the required information online with the MLS. This process can take a day or two because of all the information required. Once it’s entered your Realtor can e-mail a copy of what will be on the internet to you to approve before it goes live. Be careful to check over all the information for accuracy.
Advertising: Once your house goes live on the MLS, it will also be viewable on about 34 other sites. People will be scheduling viewings and most Realtors will leave notes about their viewing experience. This feedback sometimes helps you understand the market, if you need to do some fix ups or if the price you’ve set is too high.
Offers: When a buyer wants to buy your home, his realtor will help him to put together an offer. Their agent will submit the offer to your realtor. The offer will contain many details such as how much they are willing to pay for your home, how quickly they want to close, what type of financing or cash they will be using, what personal items they want to have included in the sale and any help they need with closing costs (sellers concessions). Your realtor will help you understand the terms of the offer. Pay close attention to the details. Every contract is unique. The terms and financing should be discussed in length with your realtor. House N Home Realty always recommends having a lawyer review any contract you are considering.
Multiple Offers:If more than one offer comes in, you must decide whether to ask for the buyers highest and best or pick from the existing offers. Typical terms used to compare offers are price offered, financing, inspection contingencies, terms for a low appraisal, days to close, sellers concessions and other terms that may be unique to their offer.
Inspection: Once an offer has been accepted, the purchaser may have an inspection period of 7-10 days to have any inspections done on the property. The inspectors will need full access to the attic, sewer clean outs, all storage spaces, basement walls and general grounds. There are many types of inspections that the buyer may decide to have done.
1. General home inspection: Some obvious things they will check will be the electrical, plumbing, windows, furnace, hot water heater, appliances, structural integrity, mold, evidence of previous standing water, roof, efficiency of gutter system, concrete cracks, trip hazards, peeling paint, functioning windows, rodent or bug infestations, smoke detectors, fire hazards, handrails and much more.
2. Sewer inspection: Running a camera through the sewer to detect deficiencies such as roots, blockages and broken or crumbling lines.
3. Radon test: Radon is an inert gas released during the decay of uranium-238 below your home. Foundation openings such as crawl spaces, cracks or sump pumps are common areas for radon to enter the home. It can collect and be dangerous to anyone exposed to it. It is a common cause of lung cancer. The inspector will want to leave a canister for at least two days. Do not tamper with these canisters. The inspector will need to come back to pick them up. The Radon level results will be sent to the buyer. If a high level of radon is detected, the installation of a radon remediating system will be recommended. The buyer may want you to have it installed before close, lower the price approximately 1000.00 or decide they will take care of it after closing.
4. Air quality test: Some buyers may feel it is important to test the amount of mold or pollutants in the air of the home. This test will be done and sent away for results.
5. Mold: If a suspicious fungus is found, the buyer may want it tested to see if it is something potentially dangerous
After the inspections and yet still during the inspection period, the purchaser will take one of the following courses of action;
1. no change in terms of the purchase agreement
2. a request to have some items fixed or remediated
3. request to renegotiate the price
4. a combination of b & c
5. state they are no longer interested in buying the home and will be let out of the contract causing it to be null and void
Appraisal:The appraiser is hired by the mortgage company to confirm the house value. This is why cash offers are better than offers that require a mortgage. Most appraisals take 1-2 weeks to obtain results, FHA and VA can take a bit longer because of their rules and regs.
Once the appraised value is received, the selling agent will notify you that:
1. it is sufficient according to the contract and you can move to close
2. it’s below the offered price and the buyer would like to:
  1. Bring the difference between the appraised value and the offer price to closing in addition to the down payment and other closing costs.
  2. Renegotiate the offer price or maybe ask for some concessions.
  3. Call the deal null and void and receive their EMD back.
3. FHA and VA appraisals are a bit different. These appraisers are looking for safety hazards that need to be repaired before they will okay the insurance on a mortgage. Some may require repairs prior to close. An FHA and VA purchase agreement should always include the FHA/VA Addendum. This addendum addresses the appraised value and who will pay for what if repairs are required, i.e., are there any concessions, will the seller or buyer pay for repairs first, the dollar amount if repairs are required.
4. The VA Addendum always requires a pest inspection that can only be paid by the seller of the property. The veteran may never pay for this inspection or re-inspection.
Transfer Utilities: A week before the scheduled closing, call all utility companies (electric, water (delete) and gas) Tell them you will be selling the house and the buyer will be calling in to put them in their name. Please do not have them shut off. There are multiple fees to turn back on Call the water company a week before closing to schedule a final water read as close to the date of closing as possible. Typically the title company will withhold 300.00 to cover the bill of the final water meter reading. When you receive it, send it to the title company and they will pay it and send you the balance of the 300.00 they have withheld. Your realtor may do this for you.
Closing Documents:
These are the documents you will be required to sign in order to sell your home. You will typically receive it electronically a few days before close. It is best to read these papers and ask your realtor any questions concerning the package Again, House N Home Realty always recommends you have a lawyer review any contracts or paperwork you may be signing.
Pre Closing:Most purchase agreements state that the seller will leave the home “broom clean” for the new buyer. Do not presume that the new buyer will want you to leave anything in the home. If you have these types of things, talk to your realtor. Your realtor will be able to find out from the buyers, if they are interested in any of the items you are willing to leave.
Final Walk Through:Buyers may want to walk through the home sometime within 24 hours prior to closing. This will confirm that the home is in the same condition it was in when they submitted their offer. If they find any damage or differences, your agent will be contacted and will then discuss the situation with you.
Closing: Your realtor will discuss with you where and when the closing will take place. You will always need to bring your state issued identification and sometimes proof of home insurance. The closing documents will list anything additional you’ll be required to bring. You will typically meet at either the selling agents office, buyers agent office or title company. closing will usually take about an hour or two. A representative from the title company will be there to process all the documents and explain what each document is for. . Your realtor or your realtors representative will be there with you.
Post closing:If your home was claimed as your primary residence, you will be required to go to the city assessors office to relinquish this status. The new home owners may need to claim the home as their primary residence. It is best to do this asap because it is easy to forget.
Congratulations! You have successfully sold your home.

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