Getting ready to sell your home? Whether you’re trading up, downsizing, moving away, or just cashing out on your investment – selling your home is an exciting time.

Selling your home can be a bit stressful as well. You have a lot to do to get your home ready, get it on the market, and get it sold … as quickly and for as much money as possible.

We here at The Packer Group put together this handy cheat sheet to help you understand the steps of the home sales process, including what your responsibilities are and which tasks are taken care of by your Realtor.

Step 1 – Determine your timeline for selling

Take a look at your motivation for selling, as well as at your financial picture. How long can you afford to wait for your house to sell? If you need to sell quickly, you may need to start with a lower price. If you time isn’t really an issue, then a fair market price may be worth the wait.

Step 2 – Fix and Fancy

Now it’s time to get your home ready to go on the market. Paint over ugly colors or damaged paint. Get your floors professionally cleaned. Wash windows and light fixtures. Make sure your landscaping is clean and looks as good as possible. Pressure wash your driveways, sidewalks, and the outside of your house. Make any repairs you’ve been putting off. You definitely don’t want a prospective buyer walking away because they’re overly suspicious of a leaky faucet.

Check out our guides about staging and boosting curb appeal for more tips on how to make your house look its best for its big debut.

Step 3 – Choose a Realtor

Working with an experienced Realtor from The Packer Group takes a load of responsibilities off your plate during the home-sales process. Selling your home can be very much like a full-time job, and you probably don’t have time to take on another one. That’s what your Realtor is for!

Your Realtor will help you set a price for your home, research your competitors and the overall market in your area, suggest improvements that can help your house command a larger price, market and show your home, deal with the mountains of paperwork and legal stuff, and so much more.

All of our Realtors have years of experience in the industry and professional support team backing them up. Friendly, knowledgeable, and easy to work with, all our Realtors are famous for making the home-sale process as stress-free as possible.

As an added bonus of working with a Realtor from The Packer Group, we provide professional photography of your home at no cost to you. The difference between professional photos and “cell phone specials” can mean less time on market and higher offers.

Step 4 – List and Show

Now that you’ve signed with a Realtor from The Packer Group, you’ll decide on a price and officially list your home. Your Realtor will handle the showings, marketing, and most of what goes on in this period. What you need to do is keep your home as clean and organized as possible – buyers might show up at any minute! Also, have a plan in place to take a short leave from your house at a moment’s notice when people want to tour your home.

Step 5 – Accept an offer

Most of the time, the offers you’ll get for your home aren’t from The Godfather (you know, the kind you can’t refuse), so you’ll most likely have to negotiate with the potential buyers. Your Realtor will help you determine what you can negotiate on other than price, like closing costs, repairs, throwing in a home warranty, and more. Negotiations will go back and forth between your Realtor and the buyer’s Realtor until a deal is reached.

Step 6 – Escrow

After the buyer’s offer has been accepted, your home goes into escrow while the buyers climb their mountain of paperwork. At this stage, be prepared to cooperate with the buyer’s home inspector and appraiser and provide mortgage, insurance, and other documentation as needed.

Step 7 – Closing and Getting the “Big Check”

At closing, you’ll sign your name about a million times and get a “big check” for whatever is left over after your current mortgage is paid off (if applicable). Go celebrate! Take your Realtor out for ice cream!

We’d love to help you sell your home

The Packer Group’s team of experienced Realtors would love to help you sell your home, or to answer any questions you might have. Give us a call today at 734-707-7992.