I know what a big deal it is for you to sell your Palmdale or Lancaster, CA area home. It can be very emotional, and it is likely one of the biggest financial decisions you will make. I will be with you every step of the way to make sure the process is an enjoyable, profitable experience.
What should I expect of a real estate agent who is selling my home?
Your Palmdale real estate agent is your partner throughout the entire process of selling your home. They are your personal marketing expert. A real estate agent helping you to sell your home will first talk with you to go over a CMA or comparative market analysis of your home in order to show you how to properly price position your home in the competitive Palmdale or Lancaster real estate marketplace. Once you have agreed on a fair listing price and are happy with your potential net proceeds from the sale, your Realtor will then market your home in the best way for your particular property. Some homes could benefit from aerial photography or photographs with a fish eye lens. Other homes might be shown in their best light with a virtual tour, and other homes might be fine marketed with still photographs. A full marketing plan should be developed to promote your Palmdale or Lancaster, CA real estate to the widest audience possible. Submission of your listing to the MLS and other online real estate mega sites, possibly print advertising, and promoting your listing to other agents and brokers. If possible your Realtor should represent you at every showing. Once an offer or hopefully multiple offers come in on your property, your Realtor will help you negotiate the best price and terms, and help you get through the detailed closing process as quickly as possible.
What is an exclusive right to sell agreement?
An exclusive right to sell agreement for real estate is the most commonly used type of listing agreement. This is the initial agreement between the seller of the home and the listing Realtor and or broker. This agreement sets forth the terms of the agency agreement. The amount of time of the agreement (which is usually six months to one year), commission to be paid (six percent is standard which is split among all real estate transaction servicing parties), the asking price of the home or commercial property, and other selling terms such as marketing details. The reason the exclusive right to sell agreement is the most commonly used is because the other forms of real estate listing agreements would not facilitate a Realtor adding the property to the MLS. Entering your Palmdale property into the MLS is of paramount importance. Without broad internet visibility (which the MLS provides) you, the home seller limit your property’s exposure to a much smaller audience. Proper marketing is what real estate agents do, and without an exclusive right to sell agreement for your Palmdale real estate, no Realtor would be willing to incur the marketing expense of adding your property listing to the MLS or giving it the proper exposure elsewhere.
This is technically a bilateral executory contract, which is a promise for a promise. Your Palmdale, CA listing broker or Realtor promises to take the proper care in marketing your listed home or land, and you as the home or land seller agree to pay them a commission if they themselves sell your home, or another cooperating Palmdale real estate agent or broker does. Your Palmdale Realtor or Broker attracts buyers that might be represented by other real estate brokers or Realtors in Palmdale by proper marketing of the property. In this situation, your Palmdale Realtor has done their job in attracting a buyer for your home by adding your property to the MLS and or other forms or marketing, and the standard six percent commission is split between your selling agent and the buyers agent.
What is a reasonable market time to sell your home?
There is no straight answer to the question, “how long will it take to sell my home?” The best answer I can give is very general. If your home is listed at the proper asking price in the current competitive Palmdale real estate market, then it should sell from thirty to sixty days. This is very general of course. Market conditions are constantly fluctuating and there are slow seasons, such as the holiday season, when real estate buying and selling activity slows drastically. Summer seems to be the “hot” season and more homes are bought and sold in the summer than other times of the year. Other factors will help sell your home faster such as proper staging (if the home is vacant), and overall good presentation. Condition of the walls and paint, the curb appeal of the house and landscaping go a long way. As the best Palmdale Realtors, Keller Williams and I will help you to put your best foot forward when selling your home and get your home sold in the least amount of time possible. We know that often times you must sell your Palmdale home before you can buy another home. Whatever your reason for selling your Palmdale real estate we know that you want to sell it quickly and we can help you do that.
How can you get top dollar for your home?
I get asked by my listing clients often “how can I increase the value of my home?” My answer is usually the same. It’s unlikely that it would make financial sense to do any major repairs or remodeling to your home before sale. It’s well known that you don’t get the money that you put in back. You only see a small percentage of your return on investment when remodeling a kitchen or bathroom for example. It’s just not realistic to slow the process of selling your Palmdale home, because we are waiting on renovations which will not net you any profit.
There are some simple things you can do to increase the value of your home that will not break the bank, or slow the time to market of your home. I personally look at a minimum of ten houses per week in the Palmdale and Lancaster, CA real estate area. I can tell you from extensive knowledge of the market that you will get an overall “feel” of a property. Homes that show well sell fast. Houses that are in disrepair languish on the market and are discounted more than a fair amount. You get top dollar for your home by listening to me, your Palmdale Realtor and readying your house to enter the market in the best possible light. Priced right, with god curb appeal, and good overall “feel.”
Will staging your home help it sell for more money?
When I am asked “will staging my vacant home help me sell it for more?” I usually say yes. When my Palmdale and Lancaster, CA home sellers think of staging, they tend to think that only means bringing in furniture and accessories to an empty house, but that’s not always the case. Staging can be the rearranging or taking away of furniture in the house you currently live in and are selling before you move out. It is a well known fact that houses that are staged well sell faster and for more money than homes that are either empty or cluttered. The idea is that you want home buyers to imagine themselves living in the house. You can facilitate that by making it easy for them to picture themselves watching TV, entertaining, cooking and all the things that we all love doing in our houses.
As great Realtors in Palmdale and Lancaster, CA my team at Keller Williams and I can help you add or take things away to help stage your house best for a quick profitable sale. For example, if you collect figurines, and they’re all over the house and it looks like the show “Hoarders” I would try to convince you to box those figurines up and give the house a cleaner look. Feng Shue (if I am spelling that correctly) is not just some ancient Chinese useless concept. A good flow throughout the house, proper positioning of furniture and accessories will give your home a better feel and buyers are aware of it whether they are conscious of it or not.
It is not always appropriate or in the marketing budget to stage an empty house with any or all the furniture that would make your empty house look lived in, but we will recommend staging if we think it is necessary.
How do I prepare my home for an open house?
The question of “how do I prepare my home from an open house?” only comes up when my Palmdale or Lancaster area home sellers are still living in the house. If your house is empty of course you don’t have to do a thing, leave everything to us at Keller Williams, your trusted Palmdale Realtors. If you are still living in your house while it is on the market, I suggest a basic checklist of things for you the home seller to do, before I take it a step further, and work my Realtor magic. If you can hide any family pictures it helps to make the home look less like “someone else’s house” in a buyers eyes, which is good because we want them thinking of it as theirs. I would want for you to hide any of your valuables, such as jewelry, or anything that might go missing. I will take one family at a time through your home and keep track of kids and everyone as best I can, but and ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure, so hide those things of value. If you can give the house a thorough cleaning it certainly helps. We might want to consider bringing in a cleaning crew just before the open house. I’ve used these cleaning crews before and they are a great value. If you don’t mind me bringing in a Glade plug-in or something to give the house a good scent, I always like to do that. It’s best if you can then leave the house (with your pets if you have any) for a few hours, and let me do my job. I will be well prepared to answer any questions regarding the house, and will have marketing materials to give to everyone that comes to buy.
When is the best time of year to sell my house?
I don’t get this question much but once in a while someone asks “what’s the best time of year to sell my house?” I think that you shouldn’t stand on ceremony. Once you’ve made the decision to sell your Palmdale real estate, well that’s the best time to sell your house. In a perfect world, where you can afford to pay your property taxes until that “perfect” time of year to sell your house then I would suggest you sell the property in Spring or Summer. Spring is a time of new beginnings, and people are making life changes, and that includes their real estate. If a buyers family includes children that are in school, they would likely want to move before the school year starts. Since this isn’t a perfect world though, sell the house as soon as you are ready. The market might be up or down a little bit but we don’t have a crystal ball so sell your house whenever it is right for you and leave the rest up to the cosmos.
Where do home buyers go to start their real estate search?
I’ve read that about ninety-five percent of Palmdale, CA home buyers start their home search on the internet. The answer to the question “where do home buyers start to look form homes?” Online. I am an internet marketing expert, and that’s probably how you came across this text and my website. I can advertise your home online as well as it can be done, and not all Palmdale, CA real estate agents are created equal. I have a marketing degree and background in marketing information systems. My team at Keller Williams and I can do a better job of exposing your listed property beyond the MLS to all prospective buyers and get your home sold faster, for more money than the competition.
What are real estate closing costs and how much are they?
Closing costs vary depending on what type of property you have. I always prepare a net sheet for my Palmdale and Lancaster real estate seller clients so that you will know what you will net from the sale of your real estate. Generally speaking, take your gross sale price and subtract the standard six percent marketing fee that is divided among real estate agents and their brokerages. Additionally subtract such things as title reports, any fees associated with paying off your existing mortgage on your property if you have one. Palmdale, CA and Lancaster, CA happen to be on and near the San Andreas Fault Line so additional reports and maps must be given to the buyer of the property. Flood map reports and the list goes on, but don’t let the closing costs overwhelm you. In the grand scheme of the sale of your Palmdal home the closing costs are worth it.
What is a home inspection? What does a home inspector do? How much does home inspection cost?
So I will answer these questions one at a time, “how much does a home inspection usually cost?” A home inspection usually costs about five hundred dollars. If that sounds expensive to you, don’t worry the home buyer is usually the one who pays for the home inspection. Buyers tell me all the time that “five hundred dollars sounds expensive.” These home inspectors earn every cent of their money in my opinion. It’s like the old joke “why are divorces so expensive?” Because they’re worth it! “What does a home inspector do?” My answer is what does a home inspector not do? Home inspectors look in every nook and cranny of a home, they check out the roof, in the attic, the plumbing, appliances, and each and every single part of the home. They look for termites, make sure the pool isn’t leaking, if there is a pool. “What is a home inspection?” It is insurance for all parties in the real estate transaction that there will be fewer lawsuits and problems arise after the successful closing of your real estate transaction.
This question is one that comes up a lot. My seller clients want to know “do we have to move out immediately after we sell our house?” I wish there were a shorter answer to this question but to sum it up, no. Palmdale real estate transactions are complicated and so are people’s lives. You as a home seller can’t wait for the perfect time to put your home on the market. You list the property for sale, then if it sells, and you aren’t ready to move, you negotiate as part of the sale the terms or your relocation date. I often see my Palmdale home sellers stay in their house a few months after the successful closing and sale of their property so their kids can finish the school year or many other reasons. I can help you negotiate terms that make your real estate transaction go smoothly and keep all parties involved happy. You might wan to pay rent for a few months, with a definite move out date, when you are able to move into your new house or whatever the case. The moral of the story here is don’t get “paralysis by analysis” and not sell your house because the moon and the stars aren’t lining up just right for you right now. Let’s get your house sold and we will figure out the details as we go along.
Solid information thanks.