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Selling your home should not be a stressful.  Choosing the right agent is your first step to ensuring that the investment of your home pays off.   Select an agent by the services they offer and their experience. Keep in mind you are paying a commission for their services.  Having an experienced agent allows you to focus on your move while the agent manages your home sale.

Getting the highest price
Your qualified and experienced agent should:

• Complete a comparative market analysis that will compare your home’s value to that of your neighbors.
• Compile a comprehensive plan detailing all the efforts they will employ to sell your home, including the Internet and local media.
• Present your home to as many qualified buyers as possible getting your home maximum exposure.
• Help you stage your home and generate curb appeal to ensure you get the highest price.
• Assist with obtaining offers and help you in negotiating the best deal as smoothly as possible.
• Help you find your next home and answer all of your questions about the local market area, including schools, neighborhoods, the local economy, and more.

Recent Home Sales
What are homes selling for on your street? Find out what other neighborhood homes are selling for.  You can begin this research on your own as well and listen to the advice of your agent.  Just don’t forget that in the end you are in charge of your home’s listing price.

Getting the Highest Price for Your Home
The difference between people stopping to take a flyer or driving by can be determined home’s curb appeal.  Here are a few questions to ask when looking to improve curb appeal: What is the first impression that is given from the outside of the home and yard? What are the best exterior features and how can those be enhanced?  What are the worst exterior features the home or lot? How can those features be reduced or improved upon?

Curb Appeal Tips:  Apply a fresh paint job to the exterior of the home, purchase an attractive front door, stain your deck or patio, remove or trim excess foliage and take good care of the yard in general. Buyers doing a drive by will also try to sneak a peak of the rear of the home. Make sure to include the rear view in your curb appeal if it is visible from the street.

In addition to curb appeal, staging your home is important.  Many buyers will stay in your home longer if it’s staged appropriately. The major goal is making your house look like their next home. It may sound like a simple theory but there are a few steps you may overlook. Review our guide to making your house become a home.

Staging your home tips: Making sure there is plenty of light will make the buyer feel at home. To achieve this, pull back curtains, change light bulbs and add lighting where you see fit. Some sellers use relaxing music or a pleasant sent to attract the senses of potential home buyers. Eliminate clutter and de-personalize your home. Adjust your furniture to make rooms look spacious and welcoming. Make small home improvements such as cleaning windows, buying new carpet, or painting out-dated rooms.

Closing Costs to Expect:

• Title insurance fees depend on the sales price of the home.
• Broker’s commission is a full-service fee and will cost between 3% to 6%.
• Local property transfer tax, country transfer tax, state transfer tax, and state capital gains tax are the charges that you’ll pay for the privilege of selling your home. Credit to the buyer of unpaid real estate taxes for the prior or current year are variable and depend on when you close and when your taxes are due.
• FHA fees and costs are all fees are now negotiable between an FHA buyer and seller.
• Home inspections fees are in some circumstances paid for by the seller and include pest, radon and other inspections.
• Miscellaneous fees can accrue from correcting problems noticed during the home inspection.