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Guide to Selling Your Las Vegas Home
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Selling your Las Vegas home can be one of the most stressful periods of time
in your life. It is my job to guide you through the process of selling your
home, helping you to maximize your return on investment and make selling your
home as pleasant as possible! The following is a guideline of the steps I will
take for you as your realtor. Read through this guideline carefully, and refer
back to it as often as you like. If you have any questions about selling your
home - I am always here to answer them for you.
Okay, so you want to sell your home…Now what?
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The first step to selling your home is to contact me. Go ahead and give me your
address so that I can prepare an accurate market analysis of your home. We will
arrange to meet at the house so that I can show you the comparable sales and
give you an idea of what your house is worth. There is never a few or charge
for this part of my service and it is free of obligation on either side at this
stage.
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During this meeting I will discuss my marketing tools with you and how I intend
to advertise your home.
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By now I will have prepared a CMA comparative market analysis of your home.
This will show recent sales in your area and give us a good idea as to what
price to put your home on the market for. It is very important to remember that
if you over price your home to start with, you do risk the possibility of the
property becoming "stale" on the market with the eventual result of forcing you
to reduce your home to a price lower than you may have gotten initially. So,
accurate pricing is very important.
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I will also prepare an estimated cost sheet based on a worst case scenario of
what I anticipate you to get in your pocket at closing. I will need an
approximate pay off amount if you have an existing loan. Please remember that
the "principle balance" (this is shown on your monthly statements) does not
include the interest that you have accrued for the month that we are presently
in. This must be added to the principle balance to get a "payoff amount". You
can call your existing lender for this balance.
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Tips for selling - I will go through your home with you and give you some
suggestions as to how to prepare your home for sale. Always remember that it is
important to keep your home tidy and as free from clutter as possible. If you
smoke try to do so outside, as a potential buyer may be a non-smoker and
therefore be put off by a strong cigarette smell.
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We will go through the paperwork and I will explain everything that we sign in
as much detail as you would like. If there is anything that you feel
uncomfortable with let me know and we will do what we can to make you feel more
comfortable.
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Showing - Ideally I would like you to have a "lock box" on the door. This is an
electronic device that keeps a key to your home in it. Only realtors can access
it and whenever it is opened it records the name of the person who has used it
• If someone is looking at your home - leave him or her alone. They will always
be accompanied by a realtor. If you can, either leave for a short while, or go
outside.
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If a realtor is coming to show your home, they should always call you first and
let you know when they are coming. If there is no one home, they will go ahead
and show your home. They should also leave a business card in a prominent place
upon arrival. If you have any problems with another realtor, let me know
immediately and I will contact them or their broker.
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If you decide that there is no way that you want a lock box, we can arrange for
your home to be shown by appointment. I recommend this only as a last resort as
people tend not to show houses that are by appointment and our goal is to make
your home as easy as possible to show and sell.
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Accepting an offer - When an offer has been written by a potential buyer, it is
then presented to you. I will be there with you at presentation. Sometimes it
is presented or faxed to me and I will then present it to you. At this stage I
will prepare another "estimated cost sheet" based on the offer. We will discuss
whether to accept, reject or counter offer. If there is another agent
presenting the offer it is usual to ask him/her to wait outside while we
discuss the offer.
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Property inspection - The buyer will usually request a property inspection to
be completed within the first few days of an accepted offer. I will be present
for this inspection. It is not essential for you to be there. Please ensure
that the inspector can access all areas and that garage door remotes, alarm
codes and padlock keys for breaker boxes are available. It is also very
important that the water, power and gas are on during this inspection and until
the house sale has been recorded. It is quite typical for there to be minor
items on the inspector's report that will need repair. Most contracts will
require you to have these items repaired. If need be, I will arrange the
relevant workmen to complete these.
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Appraisal - The new buyers' lender will require an appraisal. The lender will
arrange for the Appraiser to visit your home to ascertain, for the bank’s
purposes, the value of the home. The appraisal is typically paid for by the
seller, but can be paid by either party. The appraisal is paid either at the
time of the appraisal or taken from your proceeds at closing.
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During the next few weeks, I will be monitoring the new buyers' loan to ensure
that they are approved to purchase your home. About two weeks before the
closing date, contact the post office and submit a change of address form.
Contact the utility companies and arrange for the utilities to be disconnected.
This should be arranged for the day after signing which is usually when the
sale will "record" at the recorders' office, finalizing the sale.
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Walk through - The new buyers and their realtor will typically conduct a walk
through of your home the day before we are due to close. I will be there, and
it is typical to have moved the majority of your furniture out at this stage.
The water, power and gas must be on for this walk through and if possible, all
keys and garage remotes as well as mail box numbers should be present. During
this walk through, the buyers will check that any repairs that needed to be
done have been, and that everything is in good working order. As a courtesy, I
would recommend thoroughly cleaning your home before this. I can arrange for a
cleaning crew to professionally clean your home if need be.
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Closing - This is when you sign all the documents prepared by escrow. Escrow
will forward a "HUD-1" closing statement, which is a cost sheet for my review.
We will go over this at closing to make sure that all figures are correct and
this will show what your proceeds shall be. You will need to bring some form of
identification to closing and this will take place at the escrow company. I
will accompany you to the closing.
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Recording - This takes place usually the day after signing. As soon as this
happens the keys are released to the buyer.
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Congratulations, you have sold your home. Escrow will either wire transfer the
proceeds to your bank account or you can collect a check. Always feel free to
call me after this. The relationships that I establish with my clients are for
life and I am always glad to head from you and happy to answer any questions or
concerns that you may have.
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