The Seller
Generally Pays For...
- Real Estate Commission
- Escrow Fees (50%)
- Document Preparation Fee
- Documentary Transfer Tax ($1.10 per $1000 of Sale)
- Any Loan Fees Required by Buyer’s lender (Government loans)
- Payoff of All Loans in Seller’s Name
- Interest Accrued to Lender Being Paid Off
- Termite Inspection (according to contract)
- Home Warranty (according to contract)
- Any Judgments, Tax Liens, etc. Against the Seller
- Tax Proration
- Any Unpaid Homeowner’s Dues
- Recording Charges to Clear all Documents of Record Against Seller
- Any Bonds or Assessments (Check Contract)
- Any & All Delinquent Taxes
- Homeowner’s Title Insurance Policy Premium
- Homeowner’s Association Transfer fee-Doc Fees
- Zone Disclosure Report
Home Selling Advice: Get the House Ready to Show
Make Sure it's Your House they Come Back to for a Second Look
Here's a critical bit of home selling advice: don't even
think of putting your house on the market until you've taken a close look at its
condition. You usually only have one shot at impressing potential home buyers,
so take some time now to prepare the house for showings and you might be
rewarded with a faster sale and a higher offer.
Home Prep Basics
Everything from floors to windows must be spotless, including the oven and
other major appliances. Skylights should be crystal-clear, too. Do not
forget to make bathrooms shine!
Kill the offensive odors. They're the first thing buyer’s notice, and often a
permanent turnoff.
Eliminate Clutter:
- Put away small kitchen appliances and other items that
are sitting on countertops and tables.
- Remove photographs and other small items from
tabletops.
- Organize closets and cabinets.
Outside Tasks
Buyers nearly always comment if
gutters are full of leaves and it makes them question other maintenance issues.
- Store or organize items that make the yard look messy.
- Make your front entry inviting. Decorate it, paint the
door, or buy a new door. It's the first look at your house, so make it a
good one.
If the Home Is Vacant
Vacant homes often home buyers with a blast of stale or mildew-laden air, and
once buyers smell mildew, they are out the door. During cold months, the
interior of a house without heat always feels colder than it is outside. Leaving
the heat or air conditioning running while a home is on the market reduces odors
and makes the house more inviting.
Keep the lawn and landscaping tidy, even if you have to hire someone to do
it.
That's a start, but you're not finished yet. Take your prep work to the next
level if you want to be ready for buyers.
Don't Take it Personally
Okay, you have the basics behind you. The house and lot are
spotless and decluttered. Now it's time to enhance the home's features so that
you can nab those potential buyers.
Home selling rule #1: Let go of the personal feelings you have about
the house--it's not your home now, it's a commodity you intend to market.
Trust your instincts. Try to evaluate the house as if you are seeing it for
the first time. If you were a homebuyer, what would you think about the house?
- What changes would make immediate improvements?
- What are the house's best features and how can you
show them off?
Create a Mood
Is there a mood that you could create? If you're near a
coast, how about breezy fabrics and blue-green colors that remind us of the
beach? If you're in the mountains, maybe you could go rustic.
Study the house and brainstorm with friends or family
members to come up with ideas.
Pack It Up
- Pack away even more of your family photos. Buyers
should be allowed to imagine their personal possessions in the home, not
look at yours.
- Put away your personal collections so that buyers
don't get so interested in looking at them that they forget to look at the
house.
Make the House More Spacious
- Remove excess furniture to make rooms less cluttered.
- Clean and organize the closets.
- Store boxes in an out of the way location or rent a
temporary storage unit so you can de-clutter every part of the house.
Expose Desirable Features
- Remove rugs if they hide nice hardwood floors.
- Remove heavy drapes that keep out natural light,
especially if there's a great view out the windows.
Add Some Life
Live plants look wonderful with nearly any decor
Freshen it Up
Are the walls in the house dingy? Are the colors dated?
Paint them if possible. Clean curtains and other window coverings. Clean dirt
from overhead fans.
Make it Comforting
- Bake bread during showings, or place a fresh loaf in a
basket on the counter.
- Classical music playing softly in the background is
nice, but choose something that enhances the mood you are trying to create.
Where I work, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, natives and out of town buyers
react positively to Appalachian Folk music playing in the background.
Work on Curb Appeal
Add exterior elements to grab a buyer's attention before
they walk in the door.
- Outdoor lighting makes the home inviting in the
evenings--when many buyers do drive-bys of properties.
- Buy attractive door hardware if yours isn't appealing.
- Sweep the driveway and pressure wash the house or
sidewalks if necessary.
- Enhance landscaping if possible.
Your goal is to make homebuyers fall in love with the house as soon as they
see it from the street. And that comes with a bonus--a great overall impression
is often enough to make a buyer more lenient about minor repair issues.
Every house is different, and no one expects you to be a professional home
stager--but taking the time to prepare the house to the best of your ability can
put extra dollars in your pocket, and in less than average time.
How to Improve Curb Appeal
Home Selling Advice to Help You Attract Potential Buyers
A large percentage of homebuyers decide whether or not to
look inside a house or take it seriously based on its curb appeal—the view they
see when they drive by or arrive for a showing. You can help make sure they want
to come inside your house by spending some time working on the exterior
appearance.
It's difficult to look at our own house in the same way that potential home
buyers do, because when we become accustomed to the way something looks and
functions, we can't see its faults. Decide right now to stop thinking of the
property as a home. It's a house—a commodity you want to sell for the highest
dollar possible.
Curb Appeal Exercise
The next time you come home, stop across the street or far
enough down the driveway to get a good view of the house and its surroundings.
- What is your first impression of the house and yard
area?
- What are the best exterior features of the house or
lot? How can you enhance them?
- What are the worst exterior features of the house or
lot? How can you minimize or improve them?
Park where a potential buyer would and walk towards the house, looking around
you as if it were your first visit.
Is the approach clean and tidy? What could you do to make
it more attractive?
Take photos of the home's exterior. If you have a digital camera, view the
color versions first, then remove the color and look at it in black and white,
because it's easier to see problems when color isn't around to affect our
senses.
Make a list of the problem areas you discovered. Tackle clean up and repair
chores first, then put some time into projects that make the grounds more
attractive.
- Kill mold and mildew on the house, sidewalks, roof, or
driveway.
- Stow away unnecessary garden implements and tools.
- Clean windows and gutters.
- Pressure wash dirty siding and dingy decks.
- Edge sidewalks and remove vegetation growing between
concrete and bricks.
- Mow the lawn. Get rid of weeds.
- Rake and dispose of leaves, even if your lot is
wooded.
- Trim tree limbs that are near or touching the home's
roof.
Don't Forget the Rear View
Buyers doing a drive by will try their best to see your back yard. If it's
visible from another street or from someone's driveway, include it in your curb
appeal efforts.
Evening Curb Appeal
Do your curb appeal exercise again at dusk, because it isn't unusual for
potential buyers to drive by houses in the evening.
One quick way to improve evening curb appeal is with lighting:
- String low voltage lighting along your driveway,
sidewalks, and near important landscaping elements.
- Add a decorative street lamp or an attractive light
fixture to a front porch.
- Make sure lighting that's visible through front doors
and windows enhances the home's appearance.
Landscaping Decisions
There are times that adding elements to your landscaping can improve curb
appeal, but there are other times when removing something is even more
effective.
For example, if you had a client with a large brick house with large white
columns. Tall evergreens, planted in front of each column, had grown taller than
the roof. They obscured the columns and windows and made it difficult to see the
front of the house.
Suggest that the owner remove them. Your client just trimmed them back, but
it didn't do the trick—they were unattractive and still kept potential buyers
from seeing the true character of the house.
Most buyers cannot visualize changes, and often won't take a second look at a
house if the first look doesn't appeal to them. Homebuyers who can visualize
changes, and are prepared to make them, expect you to reduce the price of
the house to compensate for the work they plan to do.
A Few Curb Appeal Tips
- If you can budget it, a fresh paint job does wonders
for a dingy house. Drive around your town to find color schemes that are
appealing.
- Install a more attractive front door; maybe something
with leaded glass inserts.
- If you can't justify the cost of a new door, consider
replacing plain doorknob hardware with something more attractive.
- If new hardware is beyond your budget, repaint or
stain the door and polish the hardware?
If you brainstorm, you'll find that there's a solution to most problems—one
that lets you stay within your budget. The trick is to find the areas where
improvements are needed, then work on them as best you can.
| 
