Step 1 to Selling Your Home: Find a Realtor

Well, you found us, so that is a good step in the right direction!  Over 50 families a year trust The Rich Ayers Team to sell their home! Many home owners start the selling process by looking at sites such as Realtor.com, Zillow, Redfin or Trulia to see what similar properties have recently sold for in their neighborhood in an effort to determine the current value of their home.  That’s fine and understandable, but keep in mind:

The sites aren’t 100% accurate as listings which were never listed in the MLS such as pocket listings or For Sale By Owners will be missing. 

• The information on the online sites is often out of date or not accurate. Unfortunately, most Realtors are not good about updating this information regularly.  Therefore, a property might show that it’s still Active on Zillow, even though it sold a year ago or longer!.  
• When professional appraisers conduct an appraisal they only take into account homes that have sold in a particular neighborhood within the last 180 days. It’s not possible to sort the data by date on the online sites so it’s difficult to only look for properties which have sold recently.   

We recommend creating a Real-Time Market Report on MovetoCapeCoral.com for your subdivision or part of town.

Initial Phone Screening

During the initial phone screening, find out if the Realtor knows your neighborhood and if they’ve ever helped a client buy or sell property in your neighborhood.  Ask about their experience.  If your gut reaction says this person might be a good fit, ask them to do a CMA on your home and set up a time to meet with them in person.  Be prepared for the Realtor to ask questions about your home, how much you owe on your mortgage and if any repairs are needed as they need this information to do an accurate CMA.

Meet In Person and Review the CMA

When you meet with the Realtor in person, ask them our Interview questions for hiring a Realtor (click here). Go over the CMA (click here for tips on reading a CMA).   Also ask the Realtor:

• What they think your home is worth.
• The Average Days on Market for your city/subdivision.
• To prepare an Estimated Net Sheet. (If the Realtor doesn’t know this, move on!)
  • The Net Sheet will show you how much you will walk away with at closing based on your sales price minus all the closing costs related to the transaction.
• Most importantly, be honest with each Realtor. If you need to sell your home for a certain amount of money or in a certain time frame, tell them!  Only when Realtors have a complete picture can they came up with the best strategy to fit your situation.  Lastly, trust your gut.

Sign the paperwork

Once you’ve picked a Realtor, expect to sign a listing agreement (click here for an example of a listing agreement and disclosures) authorizing that Realtor to represent you.  That starts the ball rolling to get your home on the market.

If you have any questions, contact us at [email protected](dot)com or (239) 420-9011.

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