Sell

SELLING YOUR HOME

Preparing your property to be presented at its best at the right price with both focused social media & personal direct marketing while having a super responsive expert agent who prices it right and anticipates what buyers want ahead of time is the key to getting you top dollar in the fastest time.

Here is my selling strategy :

PREPARE THE HOUSE

Painting, repairs, declutter, yard cleanup, storing. They all play a key part in giving the best possible first impression to buyers as soon as they pull to the driveway.

Hundreds spent sprucing up your property can translate to thousands more dollars on your bottom line.

If together we feel the house needs staging, I have Charleston’s top interior designer on my speed dial. We can have your house looking like it should be featured in Charleston Magazine.

We can help with suggestions and also recommend & coordinate the contractors to handle it all for you.

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY

It seems redundant to have to state that professional photography is the only way to go, but every single day I see terrible iPhone photos being using to market houses. It is essential and has been my standard for years now.

I always schedule photos to be taken on sunny days, if we have to wait for the weather to clear up a few days, we will, it’s worth the wait to present your house in the best possible light.

If your house is on the water, we’ll check the tide charts to capture it at its best. If you have night lights that are spectacular, we’ll come back in the evening and capture those photos too.

DRONES & VIDEOS

If an aerial view will help sell your property, we’ll get the drone out too and capture those special views. YouTube is a fantastic medium for marketing your house and nothing get clicks like gorgeous drone shots over the water, golf course and whatever it is that makes your property unique.

HOMES ARE FILLED WITH STORIES, LET’S USE THEM

I’m an engineer and love facts, but when it comes to selling a house and convincing buyers that this can be their new home, a story filled with emotion is going to beat data every time. That is why my marketing is full of stories.

Stories are relatable and leaves people wanting more. It’s one thing to see a backyard fire pit, but another to hear the stories created around the fire pit. Buyers start imagining what it would be like to create their own stories in your house.

When you use storytelling to help sell a house, people are more likely to assign a higher value to the house than they would to a property listing that contains only basic facts. Emotion sells !

TELL THE BUYERS WHY YOU LOVE YOUR HOUSE

Who knows your house better than you do. Before we list, I’ll ask you what you love about the house, anything you did to the home, what you’ll miss when you move, the area, your neighbors, your tips on local places. I call this the Seller Notes.

It helps with the story side of the marketing mentioned above and gives you a chance to share your love for your home beyond just the bricks and mortar.

This is an excellent example of what I mean, you can feel how much this seller loves her house and makes buyers want it too. Click Here to see this example

ANTICIPATING BUYERS QUESTIONS

When any buyer is really interested in your house, they start asking questions, lots of them ! Things like how much is your insurance, what flood zone are you in, what’s your average electric bill, what are the schools, what internet provider do you use. 99.99% of agents don’t have this information ready (in my experience!) and lose valuable time trying to gather it all at the most crucial time, when buyers are excited about your house. Buyers may be looking at other houses too while waiting for a response. Before we list, I’ll ask you for a list of information that buyers commonly ask for so that no time is lost when time is of the essence. I call this sheet the Buyers FAQ Sheet

PREPARING YOU WITH SAMPLE CONTRACTS

When offers come in for your house, they are legal documents, which by nature are complex and sometimes confusing. When you get an offer, it’s a little stressful already without having to view some legal document for the first time, so before we even list the house, I show you sample offers similar to what an offer on your house will look like. We review them, I explain the contingencies, the clauses, the what-ifs of the contract and answer your questions. By doing all this up front, you have lots of time to familiarize yourself with the documents so that when a real offer comes in, you are comfortable with them. I started doing this a couple of years ago and wish I’d been doing it since the first house I sold. It makes a HUGE difference for folks when a real offer comes in.

PRICING CORRECTLY

Pricing is absolutely crucial. We can do all the preparation & marketing steps already mentioned, but ultimately pricing is the most important part of getting you top dollar. This is especially important now that the market is easing and the urgency buyers have felt in recent years is not there anymore so it’s vital to be accurately priced house to get offers.

My outlook on this is crystal clear - Price the house correctly to begin with.

The old “well let’s price it high and see what happens, we can always drop the price” is guaranteed to do one thing…..get you less money and take longer to sell. Happens every single time.

I’m an engineer, a stats nerd, have a mathematics degree and have been investing my own money in the Charleston market for twenty years, so I know what a house is worth. Together we’ll come up with an asking price that is just right.

That doesn’t mean you’re leaving money on the table or giving it away, it means you’re pricing it near the actual market value. This will get more showings, a quicker offer and a higher price.

MARKETING

All the steps above have been about getting ready to list. It’s extensive and a lot of work, but now it’s time to let the world know that your house is for sale.

I break the marketing down into 3 sections. Social media marketing, email marketing and good old fashioned relationship marketing.

Social Media

Love it or hate it, it’s where people are and the Facebooks/Instagrams etc make their money from advertising so they have nailed down how to do it.

Facebook is my go to, your house is going to be seen by at least 10,000 people on FB. Those professional photos, drones, videos, stories and your dedicated website all look stunning and will attract lots of clicks.

You have a part to play too in sharing on all your local neighborhood FB groups, who better to spread the word to than people who already love where you live.

Email Marketing

I have access to every agent in town and can focus on those who specifically work, sell and have buyers looking your area. It’s not just a plain old email either, it’s very carefully designed and curated with all the details from the email subject line being crafted to get people to open it, to including content without any branding on it so that other realtors can share openly with their clients without worrying that they are promoting a competitor

Old Fashioned Relationship Marketing

I’ve been in this business a long time, have developed lots of strong relationships with other agents and I have a good reputation. In an industry filled with inexperienced part time agents, top producing agents like working with other top agents who they trust, so when I call to them about your house, they’ll answer the phone and listen to why they should tell their clients about your house.

FEED THE AGENTS WITH INFORMATION

When it’s time for showings, agents will request a showing, once you approve the showing, the agent showing the house gets an automated email confirming it with no details other than address and price. Now most agents will be showing 5+ houses to their clients at a time and don’t properly research all the houses before they show them. They are literally flying blind when they get to your house, trying to read the stats about it, while also trying to unlock the door.

I do their prep work for them and personally contact the agent before the showing and send them all the marketing materials, including :

Your Sellers Notes sheet about why you love your house
The Buyers FAQ sheet with ALL the information buyers ask
Links to your videos/drone that they can share with their clients before the showing
Even small details like where the lockbox is (you don’t know how much time I have spent trying to find lockboxes at houses) to which is the route to guide their clients through your house.

AFTER THE SHOWING

The agents get an automated survey to fill out as soon as they leave your house, most fill it out, some don’t. I’ll always call them and get more information out them over the phone than just a few rushed types lines.

COMMUNICATION

Lack of communication is the number one complaint about their realtors when people are surveyed. I can assure you that will not be a complaint you’ll have.

We’ll establish what is your preferred method, whether that’s phone calls, text or email. I always call my sellers once a week to talk in person (usually on Tuesdays) but as things happen, I’ll be letting you know via email/text.

I try to anticipate everything ahead of time, but if there’s anything bothering or concerning you or you have any questions at any time during the selling process, call me.

Whatever it is, we’ll get it resolved.

Here are the exact steps that we follow for listing every house

STEP 1 : THE LISTING PROCESS

PREPARING TO GO LIVE WITH YOUR LISTING

We’ll meet at your property to walk through it and you can point out any special features, additions or anything else that is important. I’ll give some recommendations on what can be done to help present your home in the best way.
After that meeting, I’ll prepare a valuation of the property for you
If you are happy to proceed, then you’ll sign the listing agreement
If it’s needed, will arrange for a stager to come prepare the house
Schedule the photographer plus videos/drone to come to your house
If we are doing a pre-listing inspection, will get that scheduled.
Order & install your custom For Sale sign
You prepare the house for photos and showings
Put a lockbox on your house (I’ll need a key from you for this)
You will fill out the the Seller Notes questionnaire. This could be a video too if we decide that’s better
You’ll also answer the Buyer FAQs questions and email me the files noted in the FAQ
You’ll fill out the property disclosure documents and lead based paint if applicable
Develop your personalized website with its own domain
We’ll review sample copies of the contracts that buyers use in their offers and we can review them. This give you time to review in a no stress environment, so that once the real offers come in, you’re already familiar with the contract.
Prepare the listing on the MLS system, ready to be sent out to 200+ real estate sites
Prepare marketing material including the Seller Notes & Buyer FAQs to send to agents who request a showing, so they are well prepared to show your house before they get there
Send out pre-listing teaser emails about your house to area agents
Call agents who focus in your area & offer a preview to their clients
Develop social media ad campaigns for release on Go Live Day
Send out email marketing campaign to local agents
Your house is ready to go live on the MLS and the showings begin

STEP 2 LIVE ON THE MLS

WHAT HAPPENS ONCE YOUR HOME IS ON THE MARKET

Once I hit “Go Live” on your listing in the MLS, it will get syndicated out to more than 200 real estate websites, all the major ones you know like Zillow and lots of smaller more specialized ones to
I’ll send you a link to it so you can review and make sure you’re happy with everything
I’ve already done a lot of the marketing buzz before it’s listed, but now it’s live, I’ll do another round
Show requests will come in from a centralized appointment center called Showing Time. They’ll call/text/email (whichever is your preference) and say “Agent Jones would like to show your house between 1-2pm on Tuesday, do you approve this showing request ?”
Once you approve their showing, the agent will get an email with showing instructions, including any alarm information.
I will also send them your Seller Notes & Buyer FAQs
Agents will gain access to your house via a lockbox which I put at your property. This box is only accessible with an access card that agents have and it keeps a log of what time it’s opened and closed.
Agents will show the house, generally leave a business card on the counter so you know they’ve been there.
Once they leave the house, they’ll get an email from my system asking for their feedback on the property. If they don’t respond within 24 hours, they’ll get a follow up email. Most agents do give feedback the next day. If they don’t or give limited feedback, I’ll call them and get more information.
Don’t take the feedback personally, we all have different tastes.
With this feedback, we are looking for patterns, so if one person says they don’t like something in your house, it’s ok. If three people say the same thing, then we’ll do something about it and improve the showing experience for future showings.
We also ask their opinion of the price, so it’s very valuable information.
Once a week, I will send you a detailed report with all the showings and their feedback.
We’ll talk at least once a week too over the phone, will likely text/email frequently too. We’ll be on each other’s speed dial during this whole process
Once an offer comes in, then we’ll meet to review it. Remember that you’ll already have seen sample copies of the offer contracts so you’ll have some familiarity with them
If the offer isn’t good enough, then we’ll come up with a counter offer and send it back to the buyer’s agent
Negotiations can take hours or sometimes stretch out a couple of days. Usually once they start though, we can reach an agreement relatively quickly.
Nothing is finally officially ratified until both parties have signed/initialed/dated and delivered the contract. This is very important to know. Either party can walk away from negotiations if this point has not been reached
Once we reach a fully ratified agreement, then it’s on the next phase

STEP 3 RECEIVING AN OFFER

WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN YOU GET AN OFFER

The offer usually comes on standard “Agreement to Buy & Sell Real Estate” contract that all agents use. It is 8 pages long with 31 different sections and covers anything and everything that could happen. Some of the sections may seem obvious but remember they’ve been put there because it has happened in the past. The main items that we’ll be looking to see what the buyer is offering are :

Who is the buyer
The price they are offering
What type of financing will they be using
Is it a cash offer
How much money are they putting down
Do they have a house to sell first
What date do they want to close on
Are they asking for any items in the house
Are they asking for closing costs ?
Do they want a “due diligence period” or “contingent upon inspection”
Are they asking for a home warranty
Is it contingent upon appraisal (it will be if they are getting a loan)
Have they added an addendum to the standard contract and if so, what is on it.
Who is their real estate agent

These are the main blanks that the potential buyer fills in and that, as a seller, you are concerned with. Every one of the items (except who is the buyer) is negotiable when you respond to the offer and every one of the items has a number of implications. Let’s look at each one now

WHO IS THE BUYER ?

Knowing who the buyer is can help you with how you respond to their offer. It's the day of internet stalking, we can find out so much about everyone online these days, so as soon as the offer comes in, I’ll be trying to find out as much as I can about the buyer(s). Are they investors, do they own other properties, are they moving to Charleston, where do they work.

I’ll ask their agent about them too, who often spill more details than they should about their clients !

The more we know, the more we can understand their motivation, their approximate income, their past real estate history, how much they love your house or if they’re looking at others. A lot of it is guess work, we’ll never know their true budget etc, but every detail helps

2. THE PRICE THEY ARE OFFERING

Well the is the obvious one, how much are they offering. Remember this is a first offer, so don’t get offended if it’s low. I see it happen all the time, everyone thinks they are master negotiators and come in low. I always say an offer is like serving in a tennis match, they’re just putting the ball in your side of the court and seeing what you come back with.

Now if the offer is good and solid, within what you think is reasonable for the house, then it’s ok to accept it. You don’t have to be stubborn and say “I’m not accepting their first offer, let’s try to squeeze another thousand or two out of them”. Remember until both sides have fully signed the contract, either side can walk away, so the risk of countering back on a good offer that you have received is that they can walk away, they could be looking at other houses. Once you sign their offer and deliver it back to them, then it’s an official contract. I’ve seen more than one seller regret not just signing the offer.

3. WHAT TYPE OF FINANCING WILL THEY BE USING

This is such an important detail because it will dictate a lot of how the next month goes until closing. If you get multiple offers, the type of financing needs to weigh in on your decision which offer to accept.

A conventional loan is the best of the loans, it’s relatively straight forward, means the buyers are generally well qualified and while the banks do their due diligence on the buyers, there shouldn’t be many hiccups.

VA/FHA/Rehab loans are a little trickier. They still happen and I’ve done many deals with them but the lenders are stricter with their parameters, there’s more boxes to tick and they can sometimes require the house to be in a certain (good) condition.

Portfolio loans are not uncommon in Charleston, especially downtown. Don’t be put off by these, I actually like them because it’s real local bankers who live and know Charleston making the decisions, they are not dictated by Fannie Mae guidelines.

This is very important to know : Unlike the other contingencies on a contract which have a deadline after X number of days, the financing contingency remains in place until closing. If for any reason, the bank says we cannot finance this buyer, then the buyer can use this contingency to get their earnest money back. I had a buyer get diagnosed with a very serious illness, lose their job and therefore were unable to get a loan, this happened two days before closing.

4. HOW MUCH MONEY ARE THEY PUTTING DOWN

This can range from 0% down to 50+% down.

0% are not as common these days, ‘doctor loans’ or VA loans can be 100% financed. FHA loans can be 3.5% down. As a general rule, you’d like to see more money down because it means the buyers are more financially secure. If someone is putting down a small amount of money and Murphy’s Law strikes and their car needs a new transmission the week after you sign a contract, that could mean they suddenly don’t qualify for a loan and the deal falls apart.

If a buyer is putting down 20%, it’s good for them because they avoid PMI and good for you because if they’ve got $50-100k saved up for that level of downpayment, they should be in good shape for a loan.

There are exceptions to all above of course.

5. IS IT A CASH OFFER ?

This is what any seller loves to see, a cash offer. A cash offer can close early, remove some of the contingencies that a bank require such as inspections and appraisal. The cash buyer can still include these, but they can be negotiable, rather than actually required.

The biggest issue with a cash buyer is that they often come at a lower offer price than someone getting a mortgage. Cash is king and the folks offering cash know that.

6. DO THEY HAVE A HOUSE TO SELL FIRST ?

If they do, you’re about to get into a relationship with a third party who you don’t know ! Here’s the scenario, your house is House A, your buyer’s house they are selling is House B. They can’t buy House A until House B sells. Now you can control who you accept an offer from on your house, but you can’t control the contract on House B or more importantly their buyers, let’s call them Buyers C are. Everything involved in the sale of your house now involves you, your buyers and Buyers C. Just last year I had a deal where everything was going very smoothly until two days before closing Buyers C just simply changed their mind and decided they didn’t want to buy House B, which mean House A couldn’t close. Nightmare scenario !! We got it sorted in the end, but it’s an example of what can happen and since it’s a contingency, it’s a valid reason for a party to cancel the contract without recourse.

Summary : Ideally you hope your buyers don’t have a house to sell first. It does happen a lot though.

7. WHAT DATE DO THEY WANT TO CLOSE ON ?

Another important parameter and one that is very negotiable. As the seller, you want to close as soon as is possible. Why ? Many reasons, you have a contract to sell your house, both parties genuinely want to move forward and then, boom, your buyer gets sick/loses a job/gets transferred/divorced or any of life’s other great issues that can happen and your contract falls apart.

CLOSE YOUR HOUSE AS SOON AS YOU CAN. I cannot stress this any higher.

If it means you have to go rent & move twice while you find a house, do it. If it means you have to rent your own house back for a while, do it. Just get it legally closed and sold so that you have your cash in the bank. Then any of life’s issues that impact the buyer are their problem, not yours.

Most loans can close in 30 days, cash buyers can close in 14 days. Make this your target to close.

8. ARE THEY ASKING FOR ANY ITEMS IN THE HOUSE ?

Only anything that is attached physically to the house conveys with it. A ceiling fan, a stove, a microwave that is screwed in etc. A fridge, washer & dryer does not generally convey with the house unless specifically stated in the contract. The onus is more on the buyer here to declare any items they want, but the seller needs to be aware of it.

This is another situation where the seller needs to be smart and not stubborn just for the sake of it. Don’t let a $500,000 deal fall apart over a five year old fridge !

9. ARE THEY ASKING FOR CLOSING COSTS ?

Closing costs cause a lot of confusion to people and they shouldn’t.

Example : Buyer offering $500,000 and wants $5,000 in closing costs paid for by the seller.

This is now a $495,000 offer to you as the seller. $500k-$5k = $495k. Simple. It’s the same as if the buyer is offering a straight $495,000. It’s just an accounting line on the closing statement.

As the seller, your biggest issue with closing costs is that the sales price has been artificially inflated by the amount of the sales prices (again using example above, the price should be $495k but now it’s $500k because you have to give them $5k in closing costs). So now your house has to appraise to the higher price of $500k, not $495k. If you agree to a $500k with $5k in closing and the house appraises for only $495k, now you’ve under appraised and you have to deal with that, unless you have an experienced agent (ahem, like me) who accounts for this with a clause in the original contract.

In reality though, NO buyer should ask for closing costs unless they are short on cash, which can be the case with 0 or 3.5% or 5% down loans. All closing costs means is that the buyer has to bring less actual cash to closing.

Example : Let’s say the buyer is doing a 3.5% down loan, but even that 3.5% down is stretching the cash they have in the bank. If they ask for $5k in closing costs, that is $5k less actual cash they have to bring to closing, so instead of having to bring, say $25k, now $5k of that has been paid for by the seller, so they only have to bring $20k and they can keep the $5k for reserves.

When I see closing costs on a $500k+ house, it very rarely makes sense and tells me the other agent doesn’t know what they are doing.

10. “DUE DILIGENCE PERIOD” OR “CONTINGENT UPON INSPECTION”

This is another big one. Anyone buying your house needs to inspect it physically and may need to find out other information about it, zoning, insurance, renovation costs etc.

The contract allows for this in either Due Diligence or Contingent Upon Inspection way.

As a seller, you’d rather see Contingent Upon Inspection. It’s tighter for the seller and doesn’t give as easy a way out for the buyer (in general). In this case, a home inspector & a wood infestation inspector do their inspections, find whatever issues there are and the buyer submits a repair request to you that is negotiable. The contract is clear on what is the seller’s responsibility to repair and what isn’t, so even though negotiations tend to go back and forth, they generally get an agreement and proceed with the deal.

With a Due Diligence period of X number of days, it’s a lot more open ended in terms of why the buyer can back out of the deal (without recourse) if they want to. Now when it’s my buyer, I always write the offer with a due diligence period and not contingent upon inspection because it favors them but for the same reason, when I’m representing the seller, I’d rather not have a due diligence.

11 ARE THEY ASKING FOR A HOME WARRANTY ?

If your home is a bit older, it’s not uncommon for buyers to ask a seller to provide a home warranty. It’s about $650.

12. IS IT CONTINGENT UPON APPRAISAL ?

If your buyer is getting a loan, their mortgage company will have an independent appraiser come out and appraise the value of your house. Two things can happen :

1. The house appraises at or higher than agreed contract price : This is good. One more step complete.

2. The house under appraises below the agreed contract price : This is not good because the mortgage company will only lend based on the appraised value, not the contract price.

Example :

The contract states that the price is $500,000 & buyer get a loan for 80%.

If the house appraises for the $500,000, the bank will lend 80% or $400,000. The buyer has to put down the remaining $100,000

If the house only appraises for $480,000, the bank will only lend on this $480k, not the $500k. So the bank will only lend 80% of $480k = $384,000 which means the buyer now has to bring $116,000 instead of $100,000.

So that’s why it’s so important that a house appraises. Aside from the buyer being annoyed that they agreed to pay more than the appraiser says it’s worth, they know have to bring more cash to closing, which they may or may not have.

So if the event that a house under appraises, these are the possible scenarios

The seller agrees to reduce the contract price to the appraised value
The buyer agrees to the original agreed price and brings the extra cash to closing
The buyer and seller negotiate a price somewhere between original and appraised price
No agreement can be reached and the deal falls apart. Since the contract was contingent upon appraisal, the buyer would get their earnest money back.

13. HAVE THEY ADDED AN ADDENDUM TO THE STANDARD CONTRACT ?

Buyers can include an addendum to the standard contract and it could have anything on it !

14. WHO IS THEIR REAL ESTATE AGENT ?

There are good, bad, full time, part time, experienced, inexperienced agents. Agents who are reasonable and can handle their buyers and those who can’t. This is more important for me than for you, but it can affect you as the seller too because the agent is the quarterback in the deal and can dictate how smooth the process goes or equally how stressful it’s going to be. I’ve seen multiple offer scenarios where the rest of the offer terms were very similar and the buyer’s agent was the deciding factor.

STEP 4 CONTRACT TO CLOSE

YOU’VE AGREED A DEAL, WHAT'S NEXT ?

The contract negotiations are complete and you’ve got a contract to close with an agreed price and close date. Here’s what needs to happen before you signed the documents to formally sell the house and timeline when each item has to happen. Most properties can close in 30 days, so I’ll use that in the examples below

DAYS 1 - 10

The contract is formally ratified. It is now a legally binding contract with both parties intending to close on the deal.

There are a number of deadlines in the contract and keeping track of due dates are critical. Many an inexperienced agent has cost their client thousands by not adhering to the due dates in contracts.

The contract ratification date is known as the ‘effective date’ in legal terms. For the purpose of the contract, business days are Monday through Friday and anything signed after 10am, the countdown for days begins the next day. So for example if the contract is ratified at 9am on Monday the 1st, then Monday the 1st is the effective date. If it is signed at 11am, then Tuesday 2nd is the effective date.

ATTORNEY

In South Carolina, attorneys handle the closing, so if you haven’t already selected a closing attorney, you need to do so now.

The buyer and seller often use the same attorney, I completely disagree with this though. Lazy or rookie agents will say “oh it’s makes everything so much easier when the same attorney handles everything”.

If you both have the same attorney and there is a legal issue, that attorney (who you are paying) can’t give you advice since they also represent the buyer, so now you have to go get another attorney and bring them up to speed on the case.

You’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, do you want easy or do you want to be protected with solid legal representation ? Get a different attorney than the buyer who only represents your interests.

Your attorney will send you an engagement letter and form to fill out. It will ask for property address, your forwarding address to where you are moving, any outstanding mortgages on the property, who the HOA contact is, so have all that information ready and send back to the attorney immediately so they can start working on it.

CONTINGENCIES

Most contracts have the following four contingencies each of which must be satisfied before you close :

Home Inspection
Wood (termite) inspection
Appraisal
Finance

If you’ve read Step 3: You Get An Offer, I’ve already covered a lot of this in that page, but we’ll review it again here.

For each of these contingencies, if they are not met or satisfied for whatever reason, the contract can be voided and (usually) the buyer gets their earnest money back and both parties go their separate ways without any further legal issues. Now if the buyer just decides that they don’t want the house the day before closing (it happens…..), then it’s time to call your attorney.

Let’s look at the first two contingencies since they normally happen within the first 10 days of the contract

Home Inspection

The buyer will select an independent, licensed home inspector who will do 1-3 hour inspection of your house and publish a 50+ page report of their findings.

During the inspection, the inspector will test your electrical outlets, run your dishwasher, check the AC is working, crawl under the house to inspect the crawlspace, go up on the roof. They check everything and also find lots of things. It’s normal to find 20+ issues with a house, some minor, some bigger, some the seller has to fix, some they don’t.

Based on their findings, the buyer will likely send a “repair request” to the seller asking for certain items to be repaired before closing.

I’ve seen more stress, negotiations and arguments take place with repairs items than any other part of the contract including the sales price, seriously !! It constantly amazes me how much stress people will put on themselves over a $500 repair when they’ve happily dropped a price $5,000 to make the deal work during the initial contract negotiations.

My advice with repair requests is

1) Be reasonable, the buyer is paying a lot of money for the house, if something needs fixing, fix it. Take pride in the house you are selling.

2) Put it in perspective, don’t make personal and spend a week stressing over $500 repair on a $500,000 house. It’s 0.1% of the purchase price. You may read this and laugh, but I can tell you it happens ALL the time. When you are selling your house, put things in perspective of the big picture. $500 is a lot of money, I’m not for one second saying that it’s not, but if you’re selling a $500,000 house and spending 0.1% will save you 50% of the potential stress, DO IT !!!!

I personally recommend negotiating a repair credit with the buyer instead of doing the repairs i.e. we’ll give you X number of dollars off the price. Here is why :

If you have to do the repairs, now you have to get contractors out to your house to give an estimate, it could be multiple contractors for plumbing, electrical, roofing etc. It’s Charleston, they’re all super busy and don’t like doing small jobs like these repairs likely are, so getting them out to give an estimate is difficult enough and then you have to take time out of your day to be there when they do show up.

Then you have to chase down the contractors for their estimates .

Then you have to be there again for the day they come to do the work. They mess up your house etc, then you have to present the invoices to the buyer and then the day of closing, the buyer comes and does a walk through of your house and what if they decide that the repair isn’t up to their high standards. Now an hour before closing, there’s a big argument & further negotiation over a few hundred dollar repair. Just more stress you don’t need and it HAPPENS ALL THE TIME !!!!!!!

Make it easy on yourself and negotiate a credit in lieu of repairs. If it costs a little more, it costs a little more but you’ve saved yourself a ton of time and stress.

Even better and I HIGHLY recommend this, be proactive and have a pre-listing inspection done. Pay $400 and have an inspector inspect your house before you list it, that document can then be presented to any prospective buyers BEFORE they make an offer and you say “We’ve had an inspection done, these are the items found and we have priced the house based on this current condition”. Buyers will still be allowed to do their own inspection but any of the items already found by your inspector will not be repaired. Yeah, it costs you $400 (that’s probably tax deductible) but it saves soooo much time and stress. Trust me on this, I wish it was mandatory for all listings.

2. Wood infestation Report aka the termite Inspection

A separate inspector will come and do a wood infestation inspection. The report they issue is called a CL-100 which you’ll hear a lot. This inspector is looking for evidence of termites, active or non-active, damage from termites, the moisture content of the wood & crawl space.

Many mortgage companies will require to see the CL100 and it has to be clear, so if something is found, you’ll need to either get it repaired or have a licensed contract come and inspect it, maybe there’s some small damage but it’s still structurally sound, then they can write a letter stating that.

Note : The CL100 is only valid for 30 days, so the final Cl100 needs to be done within 30 days of closing. If you are not closing for more than that, I still recommend getting it done in the first 10 days from the effective date so you’ll know if there are issues and have time to repair it. The termite inspection is inexpensive, $100-150 and most will charge you a small amount to come out and reinspect within the 30 day window.

By the end of day ten, you should have received the inspection reports and hopefully negotiated a repair credit. That is the first two contingencies taken care of.

FINANCING

The buyer will have to apply for financing within the first few days of the contract effective date. It’s always a good idea to have your real estate agent establish contact with their lender as soon as the contract is ratified and call them weekly for updates. The last thing you want is any surprises, so if you’re calling once a week, you’ll be kept in the loop on what is happening.

DAY 10-20

These are relatively quiet days, as long as you don’t have any repairs to do. You can focus on preparing for the move yourself and packing up.

One big thing that will happen during these days is the appraisal

APPRAISAL

The lender will send out an independent appraiser to value your property. If you live in a subdivision with lots of similar houses, appraisals can be relatively straight forward since the appraiser will have plenty of similar homes and sales to use in their calculation. If your home is more custom or remote then it’s get a bit trickier.

We can prepare a package for the appraiser that includes information that is helpful to them, including a list of upgrades you did, floorplan, plats, similar sales. Appraisers are human, the more information we can provide them, the better. They can be happy to use them…sometimes. Remember, I collect all this information before we list the house so give to prospective buyers, so we already have this information gathered.

The house can appraise or not appraise ! If it doesn’t appraise, then either you drop the price to the appraised value or the buyer agrees to the original price and they have to bring more money to the table at closing or we negotiate something in between. I discussed this at length in Step 3 : You Get An Offer

DAY 20-27

We’re starting to get close to the actual close date. At this stage 3 of the 4 contingencies should be met (the home inspection, termite inspection & the appraisal).

The only remaining contingency is the financing one and as discussed in Step 3, this contingency has no due date, it ends at closing, but we’ll keep in contact with the lender.

Your attorney will be in touch and may have some questions for you.

Your prep list should include :

Notify post office of your new address to forward mail
Call the utility companies and tell them to turn off service in your name on the closing date
Pack !
I think it’s a good and nice thing to write instructions on any alarms, devices, what are trash days etc for the new buyer.

If actual repairs were to be done, the buyer has the right to do a reinspection of these repairs so that will likely take place during these days. It’s a good idea to have the invoices ready for them to show proof of work and in case they need to call the contractor who did the work with any questions.

DAY 28-CLOSE

YOUR HOUSE

You should be finalizing your move. The buyer will do a walk through of your house, sometimes the day before closing, sometimes morning of the closing. They’ll be checking :

The house is left in good shape. You don’t have to professionally clean the house, although I think it’s a very respectable thing to do, but the house should be broom swept clean
ALL your belongings should be removed from the house. this includes the fridge and the attic. It should be as empty as a brand new house,
Any personal items that were to stay per the contract are still there
Any repairs negotiated are completed

You have to be 100% out of your house before the closing. Once the closing takes place, the house is not yours, you don’t own it and you are trespassing !!! Seems obvious and I shouldn’t have to point this out but it happens. Prepare for this and be out of the house at the very latest on the early morning of the closing date.

ATTORNEY

You’ll be communicating with your attorney a lot in these days :

Before closing, you’ll receive your “ALTA” from your attorney, this is the settlement statement. Here is a sample. This shows the financials for your closing, including your costs and most importantly how much money you will get at closing. There’s no rule on when you will get this, but start asking about it 3 days before closing.

You also should talk to your attorney about how you want to receive your money. You can either get a check for it or have it wired to your account. If you want a check, this will only be available an hour or more after the closing and you may have to wait around for it, then go deposit it.

It can be more straightforward to get it wired. If you want this option, the attorney can advise what they need from you, but they usually ask you to bring a cancelled check to your closing.

Speaking of closing, you can attend the formal closing where the buyer is there too or you can talk to your attorney and sign your paperwork separately. I advise to sign separately because it’s a lot quicker.

The seller only has a few documents to sign and you can be in and out in ten minutes whereas, the buyer has all their loan documents to sign which can take an hour, then those documents have to be sent to the bank where they check it and meanwhile you are stuck in the attorney’s office making small talk with the buyer. I’ve even seen it take 2 hours on a busy day (last day of the month).

Also, the seller can usually sign their paperwork the day before closing.

All these reasons are why I highly recommend signing separately from the buyer.

For closing, be sure to bring photo ID with you.

SELLER NOTES

TELL THE BUYERS WHY YOU LOVE YOUR HOUSE

It helps with the story side of the marketing mentioned above and gives you a chance to share your love for your home beyond just the bricks and mortar.

Tell me your ten favorite things about your house, your neighbors, your neighborhood etc. Here are some questions you could answer to help give you some ideas.

Why did you buy this house ?

Why did you buy in this area ?

What’s your favorite thing (s) about your house ?

What will you miss when you move ?

Have you done any improvements to it ?

Anything else you want to say about your house ?

If you weren’t selling it, is there anything you would change about it ?

Tell us about your subdivision ?

What do you like about ?

What are the amenities that you use the most ?

Is it a social neighborhood ?

What are neighbors like ? Friendly, social, kids, pets ? Any interesting characters ?

Do they put on activities at the clubhouse ?

Do your neighbors organize parties themselves at Halloween etc ?

What’s your favorite place in the area for coffee/breakfast/lunch/dinner ?

How is the traffic in the morning/afternoon ? Any tips to beat it ?

Anything else you’d like to say ?

BUYERS FAQS

ANTICIPATING BUYERS QUESTIONS

SELLERS :

Please answer as many of the questions below as you can and send the files requested.

Copy and paste the questions below to your email and type your responses there, then email back to me.

How much is your home owners insurance per year
Are you in a flood zone ?
How much is your flood insurance per year ?
Do you have a plat/survey for your lot ?
How much was your last property tax bill ?
Do you have tenants ?
If so, how much is their rent and when does their lease expire ?
Do you have a recent appraisal ?
Who is your insurance agent ?
How much is your average electric/gas bill and what company is it ?
How much is your average water bill and what company is it ?
Who is your internet & TV provider ?
Are you part of a homeowners association ?
How much is it per year ?
Who manages the HOA and what is their contact information ?
What amenities does the neighborhood have ?
Do you have a copy of the covenants and restrictions ?
What are the schools for your house ?
What are the regular garbage days ?
What are the recycling days ?
Are “For Sale” signs allowed in your neighborhood ?
Do they have to be a standard format ?

Documents To Send

Insurance policy
Flood insurance policy
Plat/survey
Most recent appraisal
Tenant Lease (if there is one)