The dirty little secret is that the truth is, there are but only so many methods that can be used to sell a house. Regardless of what real estate agents that want your business may tell you, we all pretty much do the same things.
This lets your neighbors and anyone else that happens to drive by know that your home is for sale and that you are represented by a professional agent.
All licenced real estate agents have access to the area's local multiple listing service. This let's other agents know that your home is for sale.
These are usually advertised for a week or so in advance and they allow passers by and people that are already active in the market to see your home up close and personal.
There is one more remaining aspect to selling a property and that is in the marketing. This is the one facet of home sales that varies wildly from one agent to the next, we recognize that and as such concentrate the bulk of our efforts in this area.
Most traditional marketing strategies fall under one of four categories: print, broadcast, direct mail, and telephone. Broadcast and telephone do not apply to our field, however; print and direct mail always have and these aspects are not lost to us here at the ring the doorbell team just because the internet exists.
For all intents and purposes, non-traditional real estate marketing essentially means the internet. While this is merely one outlet to be utilized, it's the big one!
Since marketing is the difference maker and what we feel distinguishes us from the other guy, we fully exhaust every available outlet. While we take nothing off the table in terms of the different marketing avenues, we do employ pinpoint marketing as opposed to the shotgun method.
Every property marketed by us has an interactive 3D tour of it created by Homescan of Virginia LLC that is rendered and hosted by Matterport®. These tools are the state of the art in real estate marketing and can be used wherever digital marketing is used.
While most people nowadays use the internet to at least begin their home search, there is still a considerable segment of the population that doesn't so much as have an email address. You don't have to be tech savvy to buy a home and as such we incorporate this demographic into our marketing strategy by including more traditional methods of advertising in our strategy.
During your travels, have you ever noticed those rectangular boxes with numbers and a flag on the side? Those aren't just a semblance of a bygone era like phone booths or ashtrays in the mall. In fact, they still work! We incorporate an aggressive direct mail campaign to help compliment our other efforts.
From flyers and brochures to door hangers and promotional give-away products, we leave no stone unturned when it comes to print. Often overlooked nowadays, these methods are time tested and once you come to accept that there are but only so many outlets at our disposal to effectively advertise in, we refuse to exclude any facet!
If you've been in a grocery store or Chinese takeout in the past 30 years you've seen this book. With over 6 million magazines across North America every month, The Real Estate Book is one of the largest circulated magazines in North America. Every home that we market receives advertisement in this book.
We utilize all of the major real estate outlets on the internet. When you list your home with the ring the doorbell team, it will be visible on every major real estate related website from the MLS to Craigslist. Regardless of where people may search for homes online, yours will be among them!
This is where the majority of home searches begin nowadays. We recognize this and accordingly we utilize them all. Whether it's Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, Redfin or any of the others, we're using it to increase exposure on your home.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest... the list gets longer by the day it seems. You might not be keeping up but we are. Despite whatever the new flavor of the month may be, you can rest assured that we're utilizing it to your best advantage!
There are many factors to consider when attempting to sell your home. In fact it can be quite expensive to do so and you should prepare yourself for about a 10% hit on average, here's a breakdown:
At the closing of a home sale, the buyer will pay the property taxes that are due from the date of closing until the end of the tax year. Assuming the seller has already paid for the entire year in advance, the buyer will simply hand over his or her prorated share.
Your county treasurer will prorate your property taxes, based on when the sale closes. Because property taxes are paid in arrears, you will owe a portion of this year’s tax when you sell your home. The closing agent, which could be a bank, an abstract company or an attorney, will call the county treasurer and find out how much you will owe in property taxes as of the date of closing. This amount will be subtracted from your proceeds.
Transfer taxes apply when transferring the title of a piece of real estate from one person to another. Transfer tax can be assessed at the state, county, and municipal levels. The amount you pay depends on where the sale takes place and Virginia has a state deed tax of 25 cents per $100 of property value up to $10 million. Some cities and counties collect local deed tax equal to one-third of the state tax. Additional state transfer tax of 50 cents per $500 of property value is usually paid by the seller.
The proceeds of your home sale will be used to pay off your mortgage, but it’s likely that the payoff amount on your mortgage statement is a little less than what you actually owe.
You’ll likely have to add prorated interest you’ve accrued to the total balance. Additionally, your lender may penalize you if you have a prepayment penalty associated with your mortgage.
If you’re thinking about selling your home, it’s likely there are a few things you could do to enhance the appeal of your place and maybe raise its value. If you’ve been putting off sprucing up the exterior of your property, painting the inside, repairing a staircase or a leaky faucet, now’s the time to make those changes.
Also, if the buyer’s home inspector finds problems, such as a leaky roof or bad plumbing, you might have to pay to fix those, as well.
Big repairs can set you back financially, so be prepared for them before you decide to sell, especially if you expect a problem with your home passing inspection.
In Virginia it is customary that the seller carve out a 6% (of the final sales price) commission for both agents to split. This will likely be one of the biggest expenses in selling your home.
If you plan to move out before you sell your home, you’ll want to continue to pay for water and electricity. A home without air conditioning/heat and lighting can be very difficult to show to buyers.
The settlement or closing attorney ensures that all legal requirements are satisfied by both the buyer and the seller. During the real estate closing, the attorney will study the title records. Unpaid mortgages, liens, prior conveyances, and easements will be identified and dealt with before the transaction occurs.
While this is a necessary step in the closing process, it may also prove to be the most prudent move on your part. A settlement attorney will protect against what is referred to clouded title, this is where there are liens and/or other claims on the property that you are likely not even aware of and trust me when I say you don't want to have to deal with! Plan on spending $300-$500 on average for this service.
A concession means you’ve agreed to pay certain costs for the buyer, usually as a means of sweetening the deal so the buyer is more likely to close. For example, they might ask for help with inspection fees, processing fees, or other costs. A buyer might ask for a concession if they don’t have enough cash to cover their closing costs or if the home is older and they want to preserve cash to make updates. Buyers can also use concessions as a bargaining tool in a buyer’s market, or to offset the cost of having to make a higher offer to compete in a seller’s market.
The amount a buyer can request is limited by their loan type. Conventional loans adhering to Fannie Mae guidelines allow for concessions of up to 3%, 6% and 9%, based on the size of the buyer’s down payment. For FHA and VA loans, which are backed by the Federal Housing Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs, respectively, concessions are capped at 6% and 4%, according to The Mortgage Reports.
Closing costs are usually lower for the seller because there are fewer fees involved. Typically, the main costs you’ll pay include the closing fee, which is paid to the closing agent, property taxes, your attorney’s fee, recording fees, a transfer tax, and any costs associated with paying off your original mortgage.
These fees are negotiable but it is common for the seller to contribute a portion (usually around 3% of the final sales price) in closing cost assistance. So while you may not be on the hook for closing costs, it's still a good idea to be prepared for the possibility!
While your homeowners insurance usually covers the structural aspects of your home in the event of damages caused by fire or certain types of natural disasters, a home warranty has a different scope. Home warranties can cover repair and/or replacement costs for kitchen appliances and the washer and dryer, as well as the electrical, plumbing, and heating and air systems.
You can offer to purchase a warranty to cover the home leading up to closing, so the buyer knows they’re not facing repair costs as soon as they sign. Or, you could offer to pay for a year or two of warranty coverage after closing. A buyer warranty can cost between $300 and $600, according to Realtor.com. It’s a nice perk to offer buyers, but it’s not a requirement.
There can be a transition period between selling your current home and moving into a new one. If you’ve already closed on a new place, you might pay ownership costs for two homes simultaneously. That can include both mortgages, utility costs, HOA fees, property taxes and homeowners insurance.
If you haven’t closed on the new home or you’re still searching for the right one, you’ll need to budget for temporary living arrangements. You’ll also need to pay to have your furniture and other belongings stored until you can settle permanently. The average monthly cost of self-service storage ranges from around $66 to $135, based on the size of the unit. Keep in mind, in this scenario you may need to move twice, which aside from being time-consuming, can also be very expensive!
The outside of your home can be almost as important as the inside when it comes to selling. Curb appeal can entice buyers, particularly those who shop online and rely on photos to compare homes. Landscape maintenance covers things like mulching, pruning shrubs and planting flowers; standard lawn care covers weeding and fertilizing.
At the very least you need to plan on having the lawn mowed for the extent of the sale. The sale process can take several months or even more depending on how firmly you stick to your guns in terms of price. The lawn must look good at least until the contract is signed, so if your property has one go ahead and add this to the list.