Process of Real Estate Sales
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Home sellers often dream of a quick sale, in which they can just list their house, find qualified buyers, and collect the cash. Realizing that this is not the case, home sellers still need to manage many moving parts, some that are under their control, and some that are outside of the home seller’s hand. Geography influences how long houses linger on the market and whether or not they sell. In areas with high competition and low inventory, home owners will likely sell their homes faster and get a higher price. Conversely, in places where home sales have cooled, it may be more difficult to find the right buyer for your house. Given the unusual economic growth since the coronavirus pandemic, there have been bidding wars, an uptick in rates, and a shortage of inventory. However, these levels are expected to settle down due to mortgage rates rising and prices stabilizing. So if you are looking for ways on how to sell your house, then this blog is just right for you.
For today’s blog, exclusive for our Core members, we will be talking about how you can sell your house in a step by step process. In the United States, 89% of buyers and sellers use a realtor when they buy or sell their home. This is a promising statistic for those working in the real estate business. In a study, it was found that 90% of buyers would either use your service again or recommend you to others. If you have a successful sales process, you can make the process enjoyable for clients and turn one sale into multiple opportunities. Disorganized real estate processes can be time-consuming, frustrating, and full of back-and-forth discussions.
However, if you optimize the sales process, not only will you save time, but you’ll close deals quicker. Handling the real estate sales process properly can ensure a seller will turn to you next time they want to sell another property. Everyone is going through the same process for home selling regardless if it’s for sale by owners or if you’re hiring a listing agent. Checklists are a general guide that may vary slightly from state to state, you should confer with a local professional who can provide more detail on what applies in your specific state.
With that, let us dive into how you can dominate the real estate sales process from listing to closing the deal, and keep buyers, including sellers, on your side.
The first step is to prepare a sales listing. There are three main aspects to a successful sales listing: what to prepare, how it should be displayed, and how it can be advertised. Make sure you know the structure of your preparation process before you get started, and organize it in a way that makes it easy to work with. Make sure that you can tell the difference between the clients or properties and their different information because you can’t afford to mix up. There are different ways to stay on top of your property and client research, one is using a CRM tool. CRM tools are advantageous for use in a number of ways. You can track your client relationships and research by mapping out the stages of your process, making them easy to track. CRM also helps to cut down on data admin time, provide you with a streamlined view of your business’s process, and is completely customizable to your needs. And as a real estate agent, you can set up separate pipelines per property and track the progress of buyers that show interest. Here is a real estate closing checklist.
The first one is to prepare. It might be surprising, but as a realtor, you need to research your sellers. You’re in a similar sales relationship with them as any other and research can help strengthen the relationship which increases the chance of a successful sale. Asking the seller about their motivations and what they hope to get from the experience will enable you to provide better service to your client. Not only will this strengthen your relationship, but you’ll also gain a sense of their urgency and expected timeline around the sale. The first question you should ask during your meeting with the seller is what their financial expectations are for the property.
Asking them to bring copies of these documents should be your next request; this includes tax, insurance, and title. One of the first things to do when looking at a potential purchase is to check for any skeletons that may be hiding in the closet. Get all the information before committing to anything. If the seller has a claim on the property, you have to inform them before someone buys it. Not only is it important to convince them that they should sell, but also if there’s a title dispute that they haven’t disclosed. The last thing you need for your real estate agency is a jilted relative or a tax-collecting agency that’s owed money, causing issues when the keys have been handed over to a buyer. Once you are done inspecting all of the seller’s paperwork to make sure that tax and insurance are valid. You can then move on to listing the property on the market. Here is a tip. The easiest way to get a seller on board with the sale of their property is for you to be the last agent they speak to. If the other agents have already discussed strategies, you can use that information to your advantage in a competitive negotiation.
The next part is the stage or staging process. The best way to show a property to potential buyers is with staging. Once you establish a relationship with the seller, it’s important to encourage them to stage their property well and correctly. By staging the property, it will be easier for the buyer to see their future home. This also works as a marketing technique to sell the property faster. In fact, the average staged home spends an average of 90% less time on the market than an un-staged home. You’ll have to persuade your sellers to make their houses more attractive by staging them.
If they’re reluctant to do this, show them how much it will cost them financially if they don’t stage their house. Staging takes the average home off the market for 161 more days than a non-staged property. But you should break that down into dollar figures because this could mean thousands of dollars for your client per staging recommendation. Another tip to sweeten the deal of staging, send your seller this virtual checklist to help them out. It’s an easy way to let your seller know what you expect from them in the lead up to staging their property, without being pushy. And if you’re using a CRM, just save the checklist as a trigger in your sales funnel so it’ll be sent to your seller automatically.
It’s time to put the finishing touches on your place and release it once you’ve finished photographing it. It is time to promote it. With the rise of internet usage, buyers now prefer to use online sources to find a home. This is because they’re used to flipping through online property advertisements which is an increasingly popular and efficient way to begin their search. As a realtor, your first strategy should be to list your seller’s property on the Multiple Listing Service or MLS. This will ensure quality home sales as well as quick and efficient response times. You should use MLS listings as the foundation for your promotion plan. Your next move should be to plug the property on your website, before using social media to advertise. Make sure the branding of your company is aligned across all channels. Your campaign should promote both the client and your company effectively, which requires good marketing materials. When you invest in poor quality materials to promote your company, you may damage your brand.
The next step is to name your rice. Pricing a seller’s home is the most important part of the sales process for you as a real estate agent. You need to avoid making offers of what the seller wants in order to take advantage and price each property based on the training you have received, the overall understanding of the market you have, and comparable sales. When a home is priced too low, not only will your seller lose out on money, but the public might take this as a sign that there are issues with the property. This can massively impact the level of interest in purchasing a property. If the property is priced too high, people will feel like they can’t afford it even if the home is what they are looking for.
To decide on the right price for a property, you need to do a comparative market analysis. This analysis will give you answers on what is an acceptable price, as well as insight into your competitors. To make sure you get the most accurate price possible for your seller, you need to dig deeper than the basics. If you have a concrete foundation for your comparative market analysis, then examine any comparable sales that you come across more closely. Keep it simple by looking for properties that are closest in condition, shape, or size to what you’re trying to sell. Only once you’ve conducted all the necessary research into a property will you be able to build a report for your seller. There are no set guidelines on how many pages should be included in your report. However, the more depth there is to the report, the higher chance of persuading that it is worth the price you have set.
After deciding on a price for the seller’s property, you should start looking for a buyer. With a CRM tool, you can organize your contacts by dividing them into leads and clients. This will allow you to find potential buyers more easily if you have any new or old sales leads or clients. For example, you can use CRM data to separate your contacts into the warm and cold lead categories. You can then use your CRM for reminders about sending invites for the open house based on these email tags. It’s better to offer two simultaneous options for house viewings: open houses, and appointments only for buyers that seemed interested or a private viewing.
In setting up an open house, you should have a list of interested buyers from your promotional campaign, which would be taken automatically from your website’s call to action, social media posts, and blog posts. If your agency uses a real estate CRM, sending out invites to the open house will be easy. Just filter out prospects who have expressed interest in the property, and send out an email using a premade template. Presenting your property for sale at an open house is a big job, which starts by scheduling the event with the seller. Make sure to contact the seller in advance to go over anything you need from them to stage the property for visitors.
During the open house, it is your duty to find potential buyers by assessing the ways they spend their free time. Pull up a notepad and write anything they mention such as what they prefer in a partner, their favorite sport, or where they’re looking to live. Write these thoughts down and save them in your CRM system to be sure you get back in touch with them later on. You can filter potential buyers by listing their greatest needs, for example, with customer personas. This will help you to determine what information to give them, so they will be more likely to buy, and also to more effectively close the deal.
That notepad you took full of notes from the open house? Now is the time to use it. To save time and effort, use your CRM system to track your emails and phone calls with potential buyers. You can also use templates or customize your own replies for quick responses. Contact all potential buyers who were present during the open house to invite them to a private viewing. The system collects information about these people to send customized invites. Arranging private viewings will help you close sales in two ways. First is that it allows potential buyers to imagine themselves living in the house without having to interact with other people at an open house. Second, a private viewing gives the client a sense of desirability – that they are wanted and important. And that you have gone the extra mile for them.
Once you’ve hooked a buyer, the commercially-driven discussions can begin. It is time to negotiate the sale. It is your responsibility to negotiate a sale as fast as you can while staying polite. There are so many issues that need to be dealt with during an offer and counteroffer and the faster you can get them resolved, the better all parties will be in the end. It can also be hard to manage the sale because you have to juggle so much. But you can manage your time more efficiently through a CRM system, it can also save you time by automating some or all of your sales. In an ideal world, the buyer will agree to pay the asking price. However, if there are other buyers interested in your property, you’ll need to compare the offers for your seller. To make sure you’re choosing the right person to take over your seller’s property, there are some qualifications you need to verify.
A person may be interested in a property, but they may not be qualified to proceed with the purchase. Before you move forward with the transaction, make sure that the buyer has pre-approved a mortgage for their purchase. The pre-approval phase will verify their credit report, employment information, and income. If the buyer has only come to you with pre-approval paperwork before passing through the paperwork, be wary of accepting their offer. It’ll be much quicker for you and your seller if you only consider buyers who have passed through their paperwork and been given the green light on their mortgage.
A pre-approval for a mortgage records crucial information, like the maximum loan amount you are eligible to receive. Putting it all in your CRM system will make managing paperwork a breeze. Here’s where you can see your client’s pre-approved loan information on the go, so put it in your mobile CRM to refer back when negotiating with sellers while you’re out on the road. If the potential buyer’s offer meets your criteria, you can push their contact information to your seller for consideration and modify their label as an active lead in your CRM system. So when you’ve found an offer you like, be sure to update promotional material to let future buyers know that the property is under offer.
Next up will be the home appraisal of your seller’s property. It is best to be present at the appraisal of your property as it could have an impact on the rate at which it is sold. An appraiser will require assistance from you or the homeowners, so it’s important to be available. They won’t know as much about the property as you and your seller do, so they will need questions answered. This process can take anywhere between two hours and a few days. Appraisals are one of the final hurdles for your seller to clear. It will have a significant impact on the end price, so you need to be on hand to let the appraiser know about any updates or improvements that have been made by the seller.
The final steps to closing your buyer’s property involve a final inspection, providing the seller with paperwork, and taking the property off the market. Now is the time to review that deal in your CRM. You can set up activities and goals to make sure every detail is accounted for. It’s the final countdown and a CRM system helps you come across a deal smoothly.
The buyer’s final inspection is their last chance to point out anything they are not happy with the property. Real estate law requires that the agent and the seller provide full disclosure to the buyer about any faults on the property. It is also up to the agent to notify buyers of any defects in real estate listings by following compliance requirements. When it comes to the final inspection, the seller and buyer need to agree on a date and time. The sooner they do this, the better. It is important to have a qualified inspector with you during the final inspection and final discussion. The inspector can delve into areas such as water and electrical systems, so they are important if there are any problems. Typically, inspections will take four hours and you should let your seller and buyer know that it may take this long. The inspection is important to both the seller and buyer. Make sure to have your seller present during the inspection process so they can provide feedback while you are guiding your buyer through the process. If you don’t think this is necessary, then you are absolutely wrong.
Inspectors can point out certain things that need to be updated in the place, which a buyer may panic about. By being present, you can find out what your buyer thinks needs to be done. If they think the fireplace is too old and should be replaced, tell them not to worry and that this is something that can easily be done with your help. The building needs to be evaluated from top to bottom in order to make sure it is structurally sound. The buyer should check that there are no messy electrical or plumbing wires, or if the heating or A/C unit works. Finally, the inspector will look at the property’s foundation, room, walls, windows, and any other structural element of your buyer’s property. The main goal of a final inspection is to find and document any problems with the property so that the buyer is satisfied before they purchase the house. If everything goes well, it should help to move the buyer along their buying journey more quickly.
A realtor may negotiate with the seller after an inspection for the sale of a property. The buyer may have their own agent to negotiate on their behalf, but sometimes negotiations take place between you, the realtor, and the buyer directly. If there were no surprises during the final inspection, the buyer is likely to pay for the item. Make sure that all of their questions have been answered and that the information given about the product is accurate. If the buyer is hesitant about an area on your property, you will need to handle the negotiation. It is important to be willing to compromise if this is the case. Sometimes the seller may have to take a little less for the property than they were hoping for. Remind the seller that it’s a better option to take less than they were expecting for their property, rather than having it remain on the market for an indefinite number of months.
The next part of the selling process is the signing of the purchase agreement. On your purchase agreement, make sure that you have outlined any payments and credits that are owed to the seller and any payments that are due from the buyer. Include every cost you incurred in the purchase agreement. An example is that title and tax searches, adjustments and prepaid taxes should be included. Be sure to read through the contract with your seller and explain everything before they sign it. It’s important to make sure they’re not signing something which will harm them in the long run. When signing the property document agreement, it’s important to hand over all appropriate documents to the new buyer. There are a lot of different ones that need to be handed over and it needs to be done as soon as possible. The best way to keep things organized is to collect everything from the sales process and put it on file. Once all of the documents are exchanged and signed, the last step is to remove the property from the market. Take it off of the MLS, your website, and any social media advertising you’ve been running for it.
The real estate sale is a complicated process. But if a seller waits too long, they will be out of pocket for longer and your agency will have to spend more time finding them a buyer. The goal is to close the sale without giving the seller a feeling of being rushed. Staging and organizing your home early on will help make a quicker sale, as will CRM systems. These can simplify and automate the buying process, making it much easier to keep track of deals. To help with a smoother sale, eliminate any chances of an objection by answering any questions they have and find out if there are any objections. Getting a sale right can give you exposure to new clients, who might be looking for a competent agency to handle their next property sale. After all, 89% of people who sell their homes use a real estate agent, so this will help open up doors.
That’s it for this blog CORE Member. What do you think of the steps and tips we’ve shared? When are you going to start, if not today? Let us know in the comments below. And don’t forget to subscribe to our channel, click the notification bell, and like this blog. If you think that we have delivered value please share this blog with one person. Just one share is enough for us, for you to show your appreciation for the commitment and hard work we all put together in creating this blog that teaches and helps you on your mission of building your own fortune. And you don’t know that one share could go a long way. And keep in mind that no matter how many times you’re going to read this blog, you won’t see any results unless you take action. Goodbye and see you at the next one!
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