Sell Your Home

For many people, selling a home or property can feel overwhelming and complicated. We’ve been there too, so at Songs Realty, we make every effort to make the selling process as smooth and streamlined for you as possible.

The Home Selling Process

Step one

What your home is worth?

The first step, when selling your home, is to obtain an up-to-date home valuation, also known as a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). A CMA is a the process used by real estate professionals to determine the market value of a property. You can request a free, no-obligation CMA from us through our home valuation page.

Step two

How much will I get for my home?

The next step is to get a “Seller’s Estimated Net Sheet,” a document that estimates how much cash you will walk away with when you sell your home. Your real estate agent will prepare this document so you’ll know what kinds of fees and expenses to expect, and how those calculations are made.

Your real estate agent will also prepare a “Listing Agreement” for you, a legal contract between a seller and the real estate agent representing them in the sale of their home. Sign this after you review and approve the terms of the contract.

Step three

Getting ready for the next home

This step applies to you if you’re planning to purchase a new home or property with a loan, after the sale of your old home. While your real estate agent is working on your listing, get a “mortgage loan pre-approval,” so you’ll know what you can afford to buy, and what the monthly mortgage payment will look like. Once you complete the application and fulfill the documentation requirements of your lender, they will send you a pre-approval letter that will give you a sense of the price range you will be working with as you look for your next home or property.

Step four

Preparing your home for sale

Your agent will do a walk-through of your home or property, then make the necessary preparations so your property will be “buy-ready” for the real estate market. If your home or property is Tenant-Occupied, notify them that you are going to sell. It’s important for you and your agent to have good communication with the property’s occupants, since their cooperation will be needed during the sale process.

Step five

Before your home hits the market

After the walk-through, the following will take place:

Complete all Seller’s Disclosures and reports.
Order the “Natural Hazard Disclosures” and other mandatory due diligence reports (approximately $100), which you will pay for at the close of escrow.
Your real estate agent will open escrow/title with our/your preferred title companies and provide you a copy of the “Preliminary Title Report.”
Set a date when we can put your property on the Multiple Listing Service. Once it’s on the MLS, your property will be seen online through every real estate website connected to the MLS. Interested buyers and their brokers/agents will be calling/notifying your agent to see the property. For properties of two or more units, most sellers require that all viewing/showing will only be done after buyer has submitted an offer subject to inspection.

Step six

Start accepting offers

Once you’ve completed all of the previous steps, you are now ready to start accepting offers on your home. At the same time, you can start looking for your next home or investment property to buy (if you haven’t started already). For rental properties, you should have already received the “Income Property Analysis” of the next property you have identified to buy.

When you accept an offer on your home, it’s preferable to have little or no contingencies in your buyer’s terms of agreement
When you are also ready to make an offer on the next house or property that you want to buy, your offer should ideally have to have little or no contingencies as well, in order to have a stronger offer over others.
Once you are in contract with your buyer on your home, and you are also in contract with the seller on the next home you are buying, the escrow and loan process begins. Due diligence starts.

Following these steps will help ensure a good outcome while navigating the real estate buying and selling process. If you’re thinking of selling your home, contact us, and let’s get the conversation started.