Sell your home

Selling your home is a big decision. Your home is your most valuable asset, and this market presents "unfair" competition - an abundance of Short Sales and REO's (bank-owned properties) usually discounted 10%-20%. The process will involve wear-n-tear on you and your family, under the best of circumstances.

In this buyer's-market, it takes experience to sell your property. We have sold hundreds of homes since the market correction and can help you:

• Understand the market and price your home to sell
• Understand the buyer’s mindset and borrower's challenges
• Choose & negotiate the offer with the best price, terms and best chance of closing.

To help across to the solid ground of "SOLD", and moving on with your life, here are some things/questions to consider:

1. What I can get for my house?

• It depends on what similar homes have sold for in your market area in the last 6 months, and the price range of your current competition. 6 months is the maximum timeframe appraisers can use when valuing your home.
• We can run a Comparative Market Analysis for you.

2. Should I invest money in fixing it up?

• It depends what you're competing with and what buyers are looking for in your area. Invite us over to evaluate your home, and discuss the things you are thinking of fixing.

3. What will it cost me to sell?

• If you are doing a Short Sale, NOTHING -- all your costs will be paid for by your lender. (A short sale is selling for less than you owe the bank)
• If you are lucky enough to have equity, standard costs are roughly 8% of the sales price.
• Approximately 3% for closing costs (property tax, city/county transfer tax, title insurance, escrow fees, HOA fees; termite, NHD, retrofit & city reports).
• 2.5% commission for the buyer's agent
• 2.5% commission for your listing agent

4. Negotiable Costs: Buyer Concessions

• These items are negotiable, but are usually paid for by the seller:
• Termite work - tenting, woodwork, spot treatment
• Home warranty – $350-$450 depending on coverage. It is a good idea to get a home warranty for your buyer, so that they won't be calling you after closing if something breaks.
• Government required retrofit work – depends on what your city requires (ex. smoke detectors, low-flow toilets, earthquake gas shut-off valves)
• Some sellers opt to pay for some of the buyer's closing costs, or buy down the buyer's interest rate, in order to get the deal done. Buyer's closing costs are about 3%-4% of the purchase price.

5. The best offer is not always the highest offer

Factors to consider when evaluating/countering an offer:
•  Net price – after all the costs and concessions
•  Cost of buyer concessions
•  Time to close – the longer it takes, the more things can go wrong. Typical time periods are 30-45days for conventional loans, 30-60 days for FHA loans.
•  Inspection contingency period – 10 days is enough time
•  Loan contingency period – 25-30 days is realistic
•  Buyer's motivation – we interview the agent and make sure the buyer is serious and will stick around
•  Buyer's loan qualification - we talk to the lender and make sure the buyer is strong
•  Buyer's proof of funds - bank statements showing they have the down payment and closing costs

7. Buyer's stick-to-it-iveness

•  In Standard Sales, 80%+ of the buyers are able to close.

•  In Short sales, only 20% close with the original buyer. Short sales are often so drawn out that the buyer finds something better, has second thoughts, or just gets tired of waiting and moves on. No worries, we just put the property back on the market after we get a lender-approved sales price and close with a new buyer. Once the price is approved, it doesn't take as long to approve a new buyer.

•  Keep in mind, California makes it very difficult for the seller to keep the earnest money deposit of a cancelled buyer.