Home Sellers Guide

Tips for Southern Oregon Home Sellers

 

Deciding to Sell

When you have decided to sell your property, it’s important to have a clear understanding of your motivation and a time frame for the selling process. The following information can offer insights on how to prepare and what to expect when you work with your PW Team Realtors, Penny Dunlap and Whitney Paulsen.

 

What to Think About

Here are some things to think about before you start the process of selling your home.

 

Why do you want to sell your property?

Do you intend to simply find a larger property, or do you plan to relocate to another neighborhood, school district,
city or state? Homes are sold for a variety of reasons and knowing your intentions for selling will make it easier to determine the most appropriate option for your specified financial, lifestyle, and real estate goals.

Timing plans to sell

It’s important to immediately establish your time frame for selling. For example, if you are required to sell quickly,
the process can be expedited by giving you a complete market analysis and action plan to achieve your short-term goals. If you have time on your side, together we’ll review the current market conditions and determine the most favorable time to sell.

Understanding current market conditions

As experienced realtors, we offer the confidence, expertise and negotiation skills to guide you with the most favorable
market prices and terms for your property. We are committed to keeping you up-to-date with the marketplace and prices, financing, terms and conditions of competing properties. We can guide you on how to price your property and when to sell.

Finance optimization

You’ll want to put serious consideration into your current financial situation and envision what your future plans
entail. We specialize in guiding clients in seeing the big picture, estimate potential proceeds of selling your property, and help with plans for the future. We will ensure that you can take control of your finances and use them your advantage.

Evaluating property value

Without a professional real estate agent, most independent property sellers tend to overestimate the value of their
property when selling on their own. Home sellers can avoid the pitfalls, headaches and unforeseen consequences of pricing their own property. When you work with us as your listing agents, we’ll keep you abreast the current market conditions, home values and property value that will get your home sold.

Preparing Your Home to Sell

In order to create a lasting impact on potential buyers, there are a number of things that you can do.

Curb appeal

Curb appeal creates a major first impression when people drive up to your home. Keep your landscape in order by pruning, mowing the lawn, picking up leaves. Add creative touches to your landscaping, such as colorful annuals, nice outdoor furnishings, a fresh coat of paint. You’ll want to make a positive and immediate impact on passers-by and potential buyers interested in your listing.

Property repairs

Simple upgrades such as washing the windows, replacing worn linoleum, putting in a new sink go a long way in giving
buyers a positive first impression. Fresh paint will instantly brighten up the property. Avoid garish colors, go with a neutral palette such as white or beige.

Remember, people viewing your home are envisioning what it would be like for them to live there, so remember to see things through the buyer’s eyes.

Staging and cleanliness

Keep your property uncluttered, clean-smelling and well lit. Pay attention to details by putting away clutter and
knick-knacks. Replace a worn bedspread with a new one, place a vase of fresh flowers near the entryway, have your carpets cleaned. Having sold many properties in Southern Oregon, we can give you recommendations and will review your property before it is listed for sale in order to guide you on property staging and improvements.

Disclosures and inspections

As your real estate representatives, we are very familiar with the procedures involved in legal disclosures. It is
our job to prepare a well-developed and thorough disclosure statement that is beneficial to both you and the buyer. We will suggest home improvement measures that will work to your best advantage before placing your property on the market.

Showtime

Presenting your property to potential buyers will be taken care by your PW Realtor Team, on your behalf. It’s best
if you are not in the home when it is being shown, since buyers feel more comfortable discussing the property with the agent alone. With our knowledge and experience, we will know what information will be most useful in representing your interests when speaking with prospective buyers.

Accepting an offer

There is a popular misconception that you need to be aware of: the higher the price, the better the offer. Frankly, the price is not always right and not always the determining factor when accepting an offer. For one thing, the initial offer is usually not final and can change. Plus, there are a number of terms and conditions that may influence the final outcome of a price, including appraisals and home inspections. You can trust us as your real estate professionals to help you thoroughly evaluate every proposal without compromising your marketing position.

Ethical negotiation

We take ethical responsibility very seriously in fairly negotiating contractual terms. Our goal is to come to a win-win
agreement that is beneficial to all parties involved. It’s possible that you will need to deal with multiple offers before determining and offer that is acceptable by you. We will guarantee a thorough and objective assessment of each offer to help you make the right decision.

Initial agreement and deposit

An effective agreement is a legal arrangement between a potential purchaser and the property’s seller. Laws vary from state to state, but in order to be a legally, binding agreement, the agreement may require consideration. This consideration (initial and additional deposit) is to be held in the closing agent’s escrow account pending the fulfillment of conditions or contingencies in the effective agreement.

Written records

We will assist you in drafting all the paperwork for your sale and make sure that you have copies of everything.
For the sake of clarity, it will be extremely useful to transcribe all verbal agreements including counter-offers and addendums and convert them to written agreements to be signed by both parties.

Stick to the schedule

Now that you have chosen your offer, you and the buyer will be given a timeline to mark every stage in the process of closing the real estate contract. Meeting the requirements on time ensures a smoother flow of negotiations and also ensures that each party involved is not in breach of their agreements. During the process we will keep you constantly updated so you will be prepared.

Property inspection and appraisal

Most buyers will have the property inspected by a licensed property inspector within the time frame that was agreed
upon in the effective contract to purchase. Some buyers will have several different inspectors inspect the property, if they wish to obtain professional opinions from inspectors who specialize in a specific area (i.e. roof, HVAC, structure). If the agreement is conditional upon financing, then the property will be appraised by a licensed appraiser to determine the value for the lending institution via third party. This is done so that the lending institution can confirm their investment in your property is accurate.

A buyer of a commercial property may also have a complete environmental audit performed and/or soil test, if required by the lending institution.

The closing agent

Either a title company or an attorney will be selected as the closing agent, whose job is to examine and insure clear title to real estate. After researching the complete recorded history of your property, they. will certify that 1) your title is free and clear of encumbrances (i.e. mortgages, leases, or restrictions, liens) by the date of closing; and 2) all new encumbrances are duly included in the title.

Contingencies

A contingency is a condition that must be met before a contract becomes legally binding. For instance, a buyer will usually include a contingency stating that their contract is binding only when there is a satisfactory home inspection report from a qualified inspector.

Before completing his or her purchase of your property, the buyer goes over every aspect of the property, as provided for by purchase agreements and any applicable addendums. These include:

  • Obtaining financing and insurance
  • Reviewing all pertinent documents, such as preliminary title reports and disclosure documents and Escrow
Inspections and appraisals

Inspecting the property. The buyer has the right to determine the condition of your property by subjecting it to a wide range of inspections, such as roof, termite/pest, chimney/fireplace, property boundary, survey, well, septic, pool/spa, arborist, mold, lead based paint, HVAC, etc.

Depending on the outcome of these inspections, one of two things may happen:

1. Either each milestone is successfully accomplished, and the contingencies will be removed, bringing you one step
closer to the closing; or

2. The buyer, after reviewing the property and the papers, requests a renegotiation of the terms of contract (usually the price).

This is when your PW Realtor Team, as professional listing agents can make a real difference in the outcome of the
transaction. Having dealt with various property sales in the past, we promise our professional expertise and total commitment to every customer, no matter what their situation is. We’ll respond objectively and fairly to the buyer when a renegotiation is required,
while conducting business with your best interest in mind.

Loan approval and appraisal

We suggest that you accept buyers who have a lender’s pre-approval, approval letter, or written loan commitment,
which is a better guarantee of loan approval than a pre-qualification or no documentation from a lending institute. Expect an appraiser from the lender’s company to review your property and verify that the sales price is appropriate.


Testimonial

“Penny and Whitney are so helpful. They go the extra mile to help whenever they can to get the job done. They are very knowledgeable about Southern Oregon and it shows!”

D. Krein

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