We, as a team, need to get your property ready for pictures. We will give you advice on how to make your house picture perfect. Pictures will be scheduled. On the day of the shoot, please make sure that all the lights are on, window treatments are open, dishes are out of the sink, soaps are out of the showers and pets are secure. We may move a few things around as needed and will do our best to put things back where they were. We are generally at the house for about an hour.

When we are ready to list, we will send you a proof of the MLS listing sheet for you to review. If everything looks ok, we will need you to send us an email giving us permission to activate the listing. A lockbox will be installed and a sign will go up in the yard.

Once the home is on the market, you will be receiving text messages to confirm showing appointments. It’s ok if appointments overlap. We will make sure that all parties are aware and everything runs smoothly.

You and your pets should be out of the house for showings. If you decide to stay home, the only thing buyers will remember about your house is that you were there. We want them to imagine your home as their future palace which is hard to achieve if you are telling them stories about all your favorite memories. We will send out feedback notifications to each agent who shows the house and relay that information to you in a timely manner.

We may want to host a private broker tour or a public open house, or both. These are not mandatory. Broker’s Open Houses are held on Tuesdays or Wednesdays from 9:30am - 12:45pm depending on where you live. This gives brokers a chance to preview the property for potential clients and also gives us feedback on our listing price. Public open houses are usually for a 2 hour window on Sundays. We will host an open house on the first Sunday of the listing and about once per month thereafter.

Once we receive an offer, we will send you a copy so that we can start the negotiation process. Even if the offer is really, really bad, we still have to send it to you because it’s the law! Negotiations between the two parties are done verbally until agreement is reached. Then the buyers will send over a final draft of the contract with all the changes initialed.

After you have accepted an offer, we will send a copy of the executed contract signed by all parties to your attorney and collect the initial installment of the buyer’s earnest money. Don’t worry - we have attorneys to recommend if
you don’t have one. It’s super helpful if you hire an attorney that specializes in real estate transactions. You can expect to pay between $650 - $850. The attorney only gets paid if the transaction closes.

Do NOT tell your friends what you got for the house!! It’s nobody’s business until the transaction closes. We do our best to help keep deals together, but in the event that your deal should fall apart, you don’t want to lose your leverage in future negotiations.

Within 5 business days of the executed contract, the buyers will schedule a general home inspection we will confirm the day and time with you. It is recommended that you are not home for the inspection. It is also common for buyers to order Radon tests, chimney and sewer inspections. Depending on what they find, they may want to schedule additional inspections or contractors to come through the house.

After the inspection(s), the buyers will review the contract and inspection results with their attorney.

Their attorney will then send a contract modification letter to your attorney. This letter will outline the buyer’s requests for changes to the contract, questions about the house, and inspection item/repair requests.

Your attorney will contact you to review these requests. It can sometimes feel like you’re negotiating all over again and that’s normal. Your attorney and I will guide you through which requests are typical in our market and which ones are bogus.

**THIS IS THE MOST STRESSFUL PART OF THE ENTIRE PROCESS!!

Once you’ve come to agreement and the attorney review period is completed, the buyer will deposit any additional earnest money that’s required. The buyer’s lender will order the appraisal and contact me, the listing agent, to meet
them at the property to conduct the appraisal. We will provide them with a copy of the contract, survey of the home (if available) and any comparable properties that help justify the purchase price. Hopefully the properties appraises! If it doesn’t, you will work with your attorney and me to see if the buyers will be willing to bring more money to closing or negotiate a new sale price.

After the appraisal, nothing happens until right before closing. During this time is when you should complete any required repairs to the home as agreed upon in the attorney modification letter. This is also a good time to start packing and hiring movers. Ask us if you would like recommendations for movers.

The buyers will do a final walkthrough of the property either the day before or the morning of the closing. You will need to be completely moved out in advance of the walkthrough. The purpose of the final walkthrough is to make sure that all repairs are completed and the house is otherwise in the same condition it was in when they made the offer. All the utilities will need to remain on and the house should be broom clean. It’s also common (and much
appreciated) to have the house professionally cleaned.

It may seem like a daunting process, but we are here with you every step of the way with loads of advice and lists of professionals to assist you through the process. We’ve got years of experience and hundreds of transactions under our belts. We’ve got you covered!

It is important to turn off your utilities the day after closing. We have had horror stories that the utilities were turned off and the buyers could not conduct the final walkthrough and closing got delayed. Don’t let that happen to you!

Sellers typically do not need to be present at the closing. It is common practice to pre sign documents with your attorney ahead of time.

Don’t forget to tell all your friends about the great experience you just had. We greatly appreciate online reviews and testimonials and will send you a link to make it easier. There is no better compliment than a client referral.