Step #1: Hire the correct Real Estate Listing Agent
This is where we come in. By hiring the South Philly Team, you can be assured that we will provide a dynamic sales and pricing strategy, create an effective real estate marketing plan, seek out home buyers whose criteria fit a home like yours, negotiate the highest price for your home and provide guidance through the selling process from the beginning to the end.
Step #2: Get a Professional Home Inspection
Home buyers should know that it is important to get a home inspection before making an offer. Did you know that it is equally important for sellers as well? It is important because you do not want any surprises once your home is under contract. The home inspection will cost a few hundred dollars, however this is money well spent because it will identify any major issues with your home. That way, you will be able to address and fix the issues prior to having your home listed for sale. This will save you time and money down the road.
Step #3: Make Necessary Repairs, Clean and Declutter Your Home
If any problems came to light after having your home inspected, it is best to address the issues and make the necessary repairs. If you do not make the repairs, we will more than likely have to price the property below market value to account for the problems or list the property at a normal price but offer the buyer a credit to fix the issue. In conjunction with making the repairs, you should start the process to make your home presentable by getting rid of any clutter and deep cleaning. Your home needs to look in the best shape possible in order for potential buyers to feel welcome and also make them feel that your home is “move in ready”. This in turn could ultimately produce multiple offers from home buyers. The more offers you receive, the higher your chances of getting the highest price possible for the sale of your home.
Step #4: Develop Marketing Materials (Photography, Video, Description, Brochure)
A major component of our job is to create an effective real estate marketing plan in order to get your home in front of as many eyes as possible. We have amazing relationships with professional photographers, videographers and graphic designers. By harnessing these relationships, we will ensure that you have the best interior/exterior photographs, clear video to create 3D renderings, captivating print materials and a detailed description of your home and what it has to offer.
Step #5: Place Your Home For Sale on the Bright MLS (Multiple Listing Service)
Once we have developed all of the marketing materials, the next step is to get your home listed on the Bright MLS, which stands for Multiple Listing Service. The MLS is a central database of homes for sale that span across all of Pennsylvania. Once your home is listed on the MLS, your home will automatically populate to all of the other real estate websites on the internet including Zillow, Redfin, Trulia and Realtor.com, etc. This increases the exposure of your home to thousands of Philadelphia home buyers. Once a home is listed on the MLS, you as a home seller are open for business!
Step #6: Social Media Marketing
After we make your home officially for sale, we will take the promotion of your home listing up a notch and utilize our social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and Instagram) by running targeted ad campaigns.
Step #7: Hold an Open House and Private Showings
Our marketing strategies have been deployed. Now what?!? Now is the time that potential buyers will start reaching out and want to come and view your property in person. For those that we are able to capture from our marketing campaign, we can invite those that are interested to come and view your home via a private appointment. These are serious buyers who will most like make an offer to purchase your home. For those we are unable to capture, we can host a traditional open house. Open houses will attract casual buyers who may turn into serious buyers.
Step #8: Adjust as Necessary
After your home is on the market for a week, we expect 5-10 showing requests in addition to the causal buyers who come through the open house. If we do not reach our target of 5-10 showing requests, we will need to go back to the drawing board and make adjustments to our marketing strategy. There are a number of reasons that we may not be receiving the amount of showing requests that we desire (the home may not be priced accurately, the home doesn’t show well in the photographs or our social media campaigns were not targeted correctly). Whatever the reason, we are here to facilitate an honest conversation regarding how we can improve the odds of getting more home buyers through your door.
Step #9: Offer Acceptance, Home Buyer Home Inspection and Attorney Review
You received an offer on your home! Excellent! As your representatives throughout the home selling process, we will work with you on not only analyzing it, we will also work to negotiate the most amount of money and come to the best terms for you as a home seller. Our aim is to always produce multiple home buyers/multiple offers so we have an array of options and the best shot at getting you the most money for your home.
If multiple offers come in, some things to consider:
Purchase Price: how much is the home buyer offering for your home?
Earnest Money: this is the initial deposit to show a good faith effort in purchasing the home. How much earnest money is the home buyer offering to put down on the home?
Closing Cost Credit: is the home buyer asking for a closing cost credit?
Closing Date: does this date work with your timeline?
Mortgage Contingency
Is the home buyer paying cash?
Is the home buyer taking out a mortgage? If so, how much money is the buyer willing to put on a down payment?
What is the home buyer’s interest rate cap?
Is the home buyer offering to take your home “as is”?
Home Sale Contingency: does the home buyer have a home sale contingency? Does the home buyer need to sell their home before they can secure payment to purchase your home?
Home Inspection
Once the offer is accepted, it will be on the home buyer to schedule an inspection of your home. An inspector will visit your home, go over all the nooks and crannies, then provide a report of their findings. Depending on the what is discovered during the inspection will dictate the next steps: it could be nothing, it could be minor repairs or something major that is required to move forward. As previously mentioned, it is recommended to have a home inspection prior to listing your home so there are no surprises. Either way, we will work with you to figure out the best path forward.
Attorney Review
Based on the findings in the inspection report, there will be another round of negotiations once an attorney reviews the items. An attorney will also set additional terms in the offer contract from the home buyer. We have relationships with a number of real estate attorneys in the Philadelphia area. If seeking an attorney is what you would like, we would be happy to refer you.
Step #10: Closing
The attorney review is now complete. Next step – head to the closing table. At the closing table, we will finalize all of the details of the transaction and your move. It is not required for you to be at the closing table. Your real estate attorney will provide you will all of the closing documents prior to closing. They will make sure that all of the paperwork is executed by you and ensure that the title of your home is passed onto the home buyer. After closing, if money is still owed on your property, your real estate attorney will work with you on getting your loan paid off.
Congratulations! You have successfully listed your home for sale!!