Seller's Guide

HAZELBAKER & RANEK GUIDE TO SELLING A HOME 

We understand the value of well-designed and well built homes. If you have a property you are thinking of selling, we'd love to help. 

1. Research

Understand why you're selling

What do you want to accomplish with the sale of your home – has your family grown and you need a little more room? want to have more land in the desert and mountain views? Do you need to sell it as soon as possible to facilitate a move to a new city or area? Once we understand your needs, we can better guide you in the next steps. For example, if you need to sell quickly, you might want to price your home lower than if your goal is to price according to market value, or find the right Buyer for your home. 

Determine selling price

Knowing how to price your home is one of the most important parts of the selling process. When you set a fair price in the beginning, you’ll get the most interest from other real estate agents and prospective buyers. Overpricing your home could lead to reduced interest, and underpricing leads to receiving less than what your home is worth. Working with a real estate agent is the best way to determine the right selling price for your home. An agent with experience can determine what other comparable homes are selling for, evaluate the current market, and may even suggest a home appraisal.

Start Preparations

If you’ve kept your home in showroom condition since you’ve lived in it, you’re in the minority of homeowners. Once we have settled on a price for your home, it’s time to start getting it ready to be shown to potential buyers. We will evaluate the home and let you know if a small investment in a fixture and finish update will gain a greater return in the purchase price, and will use our connections to the construction trades to help coordinate and organize the work needed. In contrast we can also advise the best way to sell a property “as-is” to avoid incurring a cost to fix up something if there is no budget to do so. Sellers are tasked with minimizing clutter, depersonalizing the space so that buyers can envision themselves in the space, making any small repairs, and doing a deep clean to make sure their home is in pristine condition.

2. Develop a marketing strategy

We can extend our long-time working relationships with architectural photographers in town, as well as, new and vintage furniture companies that offer staging services. We can offer our design sensibilities to help get the just the right look or the best shots to make sure your home gets marketed in a way that shows its full potential and attracts the right buyer.

We understand the elements that make your home desirable - whether that is the pristine interiors, great natural light, neighborhood & walkability or location – we work with you to maximize your home’s value by accentuating these features in your listing.

3. On the market

Evaluate Offers

Receiving an offer is an exciting part of the process, but it doesn’t mean the journey is over. We will evaluate each offer with you and make sure the party making the offer is prequalified or pre-approved by a mortgage lender and that their offer terms are acceptable. If the offer is too low, you can make a counter-offer or offer other ways to bridge the gap, such as covering some or all of the closing costs, making repairs, adjusting the move-in date, or leaving some appliances or fixtures for the new buyer.

Accept an Offer

Once we deem the offer is acceptable, we will review the proposed contract to make sure it’s all in order and includes the necessary components such as deposit amount, down payment, financing, inspection rights and repair allowances, contingencies, settlement date, and a list of fees and who will pay them. When both parties have agreed to the term, a final contract will be prepared by us and delivered to the Buyer’s Agent.

Get Ready to Close

You have accepted an offer and are now very close to the end of your selling journey. But first, you and the buyer must make a list of what needs to be done before closing. In some cases, your home may need to be formally inspected, surveyed, and appraised. In other cases, major or minor repairs will need to be made before the house can close. We will head up efforts to develop and execute this list, get each action item paid for by the correct party, and make sure everything is in order by the closing date. A few days before the closing date, we will call the company closing the transaction to make sure everything is ready to go. If you haven’t done so already, you also need to make arrangements to move out of the home so the new buyer can take possession.

Close

You’ve reached the last and most exciting step in the seller’s process. When you close on a home you are selling, you are legally transferring ownership of the property to the new buyer. We will meet with the company closing the transaction to sign the final paperwork and go over any issues that have not yet been taken care of. During this time, you will also handle final details such as canceling utilities, cable, trash services, changing the name on accounts that the new owner is retaining and ensuring the new owner has instructions for all appliances that will remain in the home.