The Truth About Real Estate Selling
Selling real estate is usually not a complicated process if you know what you are doing. Hiring a professional realtor to help you is a wise choice. This is the realtorís area of expertise and with such a person you are usually in excellent hands.
First of all the realtor will meet with you to familiarize him or herself with the property to be sold, and then sit down with you to discuss the details. You may be asked to produce the contract you had when you purchased the property and the realtor can look up other pertinent details. Maybe you have a survey, which might be useful to prospective buyers.
If you decide to go ahead and list the property with the realtor, he or she will walk through the rooms and advise you how to show the property to its best advantage. This could mean advice on painting walls, getting rid of clutter or maybe simply re-arranging the furniture. Most of us have too much furniture and a prospective buyer likes it when the place is less cluttered ñ somehow the buyer can then imagine how it would be with their furniture in the home and their clothes in the closet ñ which makes it a step closer to being sold. It is often useful to simply put excess furniture, clothes, kitchen items, etc. into storage while the house is on the market. Less is definitely more in this case. The realtor absolutely knows what prospective buyers are looking for.
The realtor will also check out properties in the area that are similar to your own. This way he or she can come up with a market price for your property. You can also tell the realtor the benefits of living in the area ñ maybe the schools are excellent, for example. The experienced realtor will generally have a good idea of the area anyhow and the benefits of living there.
The realtor will then list the property on the MLS system so other realtors can check into it online and if they have interested clients, make an appointment with your realtor or his or her brokerage company. To this end, your realtor will put a lockbox somewhere outside the front entrance with the house key in it. This is protected by a number which is only given out to other realtors who make appointments to see the property.
The realtor can also have open houses ñ usually for two to three hours on a Saturday or Sunday. He or she will come to your property, possibly with some flowers or cookies for visitors and will spend the time talking to prospective buyers and telling them the advantages of the property and the area. For example, how long it will take to get to the next transit stop, or how far the local school is, etc.
The realtor will also collect offers and show them to you and give you her advice. If you decide to go ahead with a buyer, the realtor will also go through the contract with you, take the deposit check and also give you advice about local lawyers in case you havenít got any.
