Keeping Your Sanity Throughout the Home Selling Process

What You Should Expect When You Sell Your Home

We want to help you keep your sanity throughout the home selling process, so informing you about what to expect when it comes time to sell your home is the simplest way to avoid getting blindsided by a hiccup in the home selling process.

1. Someone will make you an offer.
So once all the preparations are done, and your home is listed for sale, what happens next? Hopefully after a showing or two, you will have an interested potential home buyer. Someone who is interested in buying your home will make you an offer. This is where the home selling process begins.

If the home was priced well when it was put on the market, it is likely you will get an offer that is close to the asking price. Don't be disappointed if the offer is lower than you expected because this is simply the starting point of the negotiations. A skilled real estate agent will be able to help you to get what the house is worth by presenting the features and benefits of a well-prepared home selling.

2. Respond to the Buyer's offer

There is no set amount of time that applies to every sale, but most often, the buyer does want to heard back with your response within one to three days, because they may not want to miss out on other opportunities to buy listed homes in the case that you decide to reject their offer.

Be sure to respond within the given amount of time, otherwise the contract will be void. If you do need more time to respond to their offer, make sure that you have the change documented and initialed by the Buyer, so as not to risk nullifying the binding contract.

3. Buyer puts money in escrow

Should the offer be accepted by you, the wheels of home buying will kick into gear. The term escrow means a sum of money that will be held by a third party, such as a Brokerage or Attorney, as a deposit which shows their willingness to buy your home. Once all of the terms of the home buying contract are met by both the Buyer and the Seller, the money that was set aside will be applied to the sale.

While escrow is not a guarantee, it does show the interest on behalf of the buyer to buy your home. A general rule of thumb when it comes to the amount of the down payment is 1% or more, of the purchase price. If a potential buyer places more than a 1% payment in escrow, it's likely that they have a genuine interest in buying the home, and a desire to prevent competing buyers from purchasing it first. This is how you can tell how serious the potential buyers are.

4. Financing affects the sale timeline

The Buyer's may have either the cash available to buy the home, or will need to secure financing.

• If the buyer is offering to pay cash for your home, you will want to request a Proof of Funds. (POF)  This is done by the Buyer presenting a recent statement from a reputable bank which shows that they have the cash available to buy the home. The statement must be in the name of the person who appears on the contract. The statement needs to portray that the funds are liquid, and not tied up in stocks or bonds, which may or may not be able to be sold for the correct dollar amount when the time comes. You want to be certain that the Buyer has enough cash readily available before moving forward.

• If the buyer is financing the purchase of your home, you want to be certain that they have already been pre-approved by their Mortgage Lender. This means that the lender has already reviewed their credit scores, their bank statements and pay stubs. Once this credit, asset and income information is reviewed, the lender will determine if the potential buyer is a good candidate for a home mortgage.

While the pre-approval is no guarantee, it does allow you more assurance of finances than a Buyer who has not yet been pre-approved. The process of pre-approval can take weeks, so get this information as soon as possible to stay on the fast track to selling your home!

5. A home inspection will be completed

Most contract for selling a house will require the inspection of your home by a professional before the purchase of the home can go through. This can take from 15-20 days, depending on when the Buyer's have booked the appointment. If it happens to be a Buyer's market in Real Estate when you are selling, it is likely that you may have to wait a tad longer before having this crucial step completed because, in this atmosphere, the Buyer's level of confidence is high because they know that there are many homes on the market to choose from. Keep this in mind when it comes time to close the deal.

When you are aware of what's to be expected in terms of steps to take and things to expect when selling a house, you are more likely to have a smooth sale. We are always here to help make the transition to Ucluelet as seamless as possible, so please feel free to contact us when you want to Start Living in Ukee!