The Smooth Seller Escrow You Want!

It can be daunting keeping up with real estate!! It’s water-cooler talk and a headline grabbing topic...but, when faced with buying or selling personally it becomes much more real. If you’re thinking of selling your home but hesitating under a spell of inertia...how do you move forward? How do you know if the time is right and if you will be able to get the price you want? There are so many variables to consider as a seller, so it’s definitely a big task to get started. Of course you can consult a local real estate agent that you trust but for starters, there is research you can do to maximize a smooth and profitable sale, and that begins with education and exposure to the market.

DIY Seller’s Homework Checklist - Track these statistics to make sure you’re informed before selling your home:

1. New listings in your neighborhood - Check out your competition and watch for new properties coming on the market so you can track and compare prices.
2. All listings - Stay informed on all properties available so you know what you’re up against.
3. Time on the market - Track average days properties are on the market. This can help you estimate how quickly you need to move once you decide to act.
4. Properties pending sale - You can’t see the sales price on a pending sale, but you can see what’s off the market and how long it took to go under contract.
5. Closed sales - When a sale has been finalized, the price is accessible by the public. This is by far a more important one to follow than new listings because you can see what ‘actually’ transpired.
6. Cancelled listings - Check out these properties to see why they didn’t sell.
7. Price reductions - Are sellers of comparable houses dropping their prices? This could be a signal to re-evaluate your pricing strategy.
8. Relisted properties - Sellers may remove their home from the market and then list it again with upgrades, new pricing or features.
9. Changing mortgage rates - Stay on top of what’s happening with mortgage rates as this could affect the shopping budget of buyers.

Once you feel like you have a pulse on the market, you will be more comfortable discussing your options with your Realtor of choice and you will have a better grasp on how to manage the disruption a sale can put on your life.