Selling your home is often an emotional and stressful process. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly, but there are pitfalls that can happen in the process. Preparing ahead of time is the best way to keep your home sale from getting derailed. Let’s look at some things that can go wrong and how to avoid them.
1. You list your home and it doesn’t sell right away. A delay in getting your home under contract can come from many factors. The market may have slowed or your home may need work. It’s important to realistically look at current timeframes, and also consider the positives and negatives about your home. What will create buyer appeal and what will turn buyers away? Some of these things can be addressed before you sell. Other things have to be reflected in the price.
2. You end up having to make a price reduction. This happens when a home is overpriced to begin with. It’s imperative to understand what is happening in the housing market. What are homes currently selling for, not what they sold for three months ago. It’s also important to know your competition and how your house stacks up against other listings. Pricing your home is one of the most important steps in the process. A home with a price reduction often ends up selling for even less.
3. Something major shows up in the home inspection. Yes, home inspections are back. With the housing market normalizing, buyers are not usually waiving home inspections anymore. Of course, all kinds of little things will be pointed out by the inspector (this is their job). But something major you didn’t know about could show up. This then becomes a negotiation point with repairs or money back, or could even allow the buyer to back out. If you have concerns about your home, you may want to consider a pre-list inspection.
4. The buyer’s financing falls through. The buyer’s financing can fall through for many reasons – they make a bad financial decision, lose a job, etc. It’s important that your real estate agent vets the buyer before you accept the offer. The buyer’s lender should be contacted to find out what documents have been reviewed and how financially solid the buyer is to purchase your home. Unexpected things can happen, but vetting the buyer first often avoids this deal breaker.
5. You can’t close on time. Delays can happen – repairs aren’t completed on time, the buyer’s lender is behind on underwriting, something came up in the title search that has to be dealt with, etc. You probably have a lot of plans already like your moving company set up, your next home purchase, days off and so on. Your realtor and the buyer’s realtor need to work together carefully to deal with any issues that crop up during the transaction and keep things moving forward.
If you’re getting ready to sell your home, work with a real estate professional to have your home evaluated and to stay on top of the process from beginning to end. With an investment this big, you need an expert to guide you through.
Check out the video: https://youtu.be/RCb2mU-IBjs
By Launch Kits