The Secret to Selling a Home, revealed, Part 2; the conclusion.

 

What secrets were revealed in Part 1?

In case you missed Part 1, I began by revealing what steps we had gone through towards getting a home sold, once a homeowner decides to sell their home.

To summarize, the primary secrets were revealed during:

• Touring of the home to discover the home’s positive features and also discussing those features needing to be addressed, to make the home most appealing to prospective Buyers.

• Preparation of the home for the ultimate presentation to Buyers searching for a new home.
• The Photo Shoot, where high quality, mass quantity photos were taken.

• Listing of the home for sale, at the right price.

• Getting the home promptly under contract.

• Completion of the Buyer’s inspection, on time, without issue.

• And we waited for the Appraisal to be completed by Buyer’s Lender, which is where we begin here, in Part 2.

 

Now, that I brought you up to date, here’s where I’ll reveal the remaining secrets.

 

The Appraisal 

 

How many times have you heard the horror stories of appraisals? I don’t know what’s worse; waiting on inspection results or waiting on the appraised value.  Well, to answer that, as a Listing Agent, if you know the Seller’s home, after discussions with the Sellers, and after touring their home, you should likely be able to anticipate what to expect from the inspections, unless of course, there are any “hidden” issues discovered. Thank goodness in our inspection, there were no hidden issues. The same holds true with an Appraisal.  If a careful market analysis was completed of the Seller’s home and you priced the home accurately, you should be able to get within a fair range of the issued appraised value.  This isn’t foolproof, of course, yet generally, you should be on the mark if a proper analysis was completed and the Sellers accepts the recommended selling price.

 

The appraisal was ordered, completed and presented to Buyer’s Lender.  So what do you think?  Were we good to go?  Yes, we were!  The Buyers were able to continue with their purchase, not needing to say that the home didn’t appraise high enough for the purchase price that would require further negotiations with the Seller, therefore their Lender would continue the loan approval process at the initial agreed upon purchase price.  It had been a concern of the Buyer’s Agent too, as they were concerned it wouldn’t appraise when multiple offers and the Buyers’ offering price settling above list price.  I wasn’t concerned however, as I was confident in my recommended selling price.  This step revealed the secret that pricing a home accurately really does matter.

 

A Loan Commitment now keeps us waiting

 

A loan commitment is when the Buyer’s Lender commits to providing the Buyers with the financing to purchase the Seller’s home.  Typically, the commitment is provided with a few conditions attached to it, where the Buyers must provide additional documentation to provide the needed proof that the Lender is seeking in regards to Buyer specific items. A loan commitment should not be an area of concern, if you go back to Part 1 of the Secret to Selling a Home revealed, where a Buyer’s Pre Approval letter for financing is scrutinized for their ability to get a loan.  We didn’t accept a flimsy Pre Qualification letter that would put this step in great jeopardy had the Buyer’s financing not been gone over with a fine tooth comb.  So what’s the secret here? Know the importance of the Buyers ability to purchase the Seller’s home. (To dig in deeper to the differences of a Pre Qualification letter and a Pre Approval letter, take a look at my friend and Real Estate Agent professional Bill Gassett’s article on this very subject: Pre Qualification and Pre Approval differences ). Shortly thereafter, the Loan Commitment was then issued. We then move closer towards the closing date.

 

The Sellers had been packing their home and getting ready for moving day

 

The Sellers were on schedule and knew the importance of deadlines that are needed to be met according to the contract with an agreed upon closing date between them and the Buyers, as they do not want to risk being in default of the contract, so they were sure to follow the terms of the Real Estate purchase contract. They had a plan to pack & move, leaving behind a clean home to present to the Buyers!

 

The Title Company and/or Attorney’s office now processes closing to provide a clear Title for closing on time

 

The Title Company/Attorney examines property records through it’s title search process to verify ownership of property, in order to transfer the Title from the Sellers to Buyers. The Title search and city lien search processed, provide that the Title is clear with no liens and/or other issues attached to the property. The Sellers hadn’t completed any remodeling of their home, so permit issues were not a concern other than having an A/C replaced.  During the Title search process with the city of Coral Springs, the search revealed an open permit for an A/C inspection not having been completed and closed out.  These Sellers were the original owners, very meticulous and organized so this is the last thing that we would have thought would come up. Of course, for most Sellers, you don’t think to make sure the inspection was completed with the local city when the company you hired to complete the job said all was well with the installation of the A/C and they had nice cool air circulating their home! (Here in Southeast Florida when highs can reach the 90’s, air is not a luxury, but a must.) Lessons learned; make sure inspections are completed.

 

Now, the Sellers were required to have an A/C company come to their home to inspect  the installation of the A/C, have inspection and get the permit closed out within one weeks time frame. Time wasn’t on the Seller’s side, yet thank goodness, there were no issues with A/C, inspection was completed, permit was closed out and all was fine and we continued, as scheduled, to close.  The A/C inspection issue wasn’t a concern of the Buyers, so even if the A/C couldn’t get inspected prior to closing, the closing would have occurred, as scheduled.  The Buyers were not concerned, as the A/C was inspected during their home inspection and came out fine, as did the entire home. (This is typical when homeowners care for their home; inspections reveal nothing of major concern).  However, (I know, I’ve got to throw in a “however” or “but”) keep in mind, that all Buyers may not feel the same and there could have been a delay had the inspection of the A/C and it’s permit not gotten closed out prior to closing.  Prompt attention and cooperation by Sellers was the secret to this inspection not becoming an issue.

 

We made it to the closing table

The original closing date that had been set and agreed upon between Sellers and Buyers was met. The Buyers had completed their walk through of the home the night before and were pleased as punch, to see how lovely the home had been left. The worst part of the closing occurred when we had to wait a bit longer than normal for the Buyer’s Lender to provide funding to their mortgage loan; no funding, no key exchange. So all parties sat at the closing table, as we exchanged delightful conversation learning a bit more about each other with the Sellers feeling great about the Buyer’s offer that they had chosen, even when another offer had come in higher; it’s not always just about the money.

 

 

Now that’s how to get your home sold!

 

So there you have it, secrets revealed on how to sell a home. There is a right way and a wrong way and I took you through the steps, revealing how we can get it done right for everybody.

 

Written by Lynn Pineda, Real Estate Agent, with Keller Williams Realty.  Happily serving customers in Broward and Palm Beach counties from Coral Springs, Boca Raton to Miramar.

 

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