If you’ve never sold a home in California before, you might not be sure how the process works. There’s so much to do – where should you start, and what are the most important steps to selling a house? Almost every homeowner could benefit from working with a highly experienced real estate agent who can help them prepare and sell their View Park, CA home with minimal hassle.
Together with the agent, you can set a price for your home, decide what time of the year to sell it, get it ready for viewings, negotiate with potential buyers, and complete all the relevant paperwork. Since the real estate market in Los Angeles is hot, you won’t have any trouble obtaining a good price for your home as long as you take your realtor’s advice. Read on to find out how you can optimize the sales process and receive great offers for your property.
The 7 Most Important Steps to Selling a House in View Park, CA
1. Contact Your Local Realtor
First, you should get in touch with a highly qualified realtor, who will help you prepare, market, and sell your home. Because there is so much turnover and real estate is booming, there is a lot of choice when it comes to hiring an agent in the Los Angeles area. It’s important that you select someone who has a lot of local experience since they can more easily assess your home and market it to interested buyers.
To find out if an agent is a good fit, you should book an initial consultation with them. During this one-to-one meeting, you can figure out whether they are someone you would be happy collaborating with. For example, you can determine whether their communication style matches yours and how comfortable you will be working with them for several months.
2. Price Your Home
Once you’ve found a good agent, it’s time to determine the value of your home. Your realtor is in tune with the local market and can therefore provide you with an accurate estimate. However, you might also want to request a comparative market analysis or even get an appraisal. Together, you and your agent will determine the best listing price, which depends on current market conditions as well as your goals.
If you’re looking to sell as quickly as possible, it might be best to set the price slightly lower. But if you have a lot of time and would like to maximize the value of your home, you can set it higher and wait until you find a buyer willing to pay a greater amount.
3. Decide When to List the Home
The local real estate market fluctuates throughout the year, so you and your agent might discuss when you’d like to publish your listing. Most buyers will be looking to purchase their new home in the late spring or summer, especially if they are moving to the area with a family. This is because school starts in September, and a summer move will give the children time to settle in.
For this reason, you can expect the market to be slower during the late autumn, winter, and early spring months. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you shouldn’t sell then. A slower market can make the process more relaxed, and there are still plenty of buyers around.
4. Prepare Your Home
One of the most important steps to selling a house in View Park, CA is preparing the property for viewings. Most houses and condos have been lived in, which means that there might be cosmetic flaws, for example, missing light bulbs, damaged paint, or cracked walls. Your real estate agent will visit your property and let you know how you can optimize its appearance to appeal to more buyers.
Many small repairs such as repainting are not very expensive or time-consuming, but they drastically improve the impression your home makes on interested parties. That’s why you shouldn’t skip doing a deep clean, making everything neat and tidy inside the home, and hiring professional gardeners who can make sure your front and back yards are appealing.
5. Market Your Home
Marketing your home to potential buyers is an important part of the process, and the way you present your listing can make or break a sale. This is one of the reasons why working with an experienced real estate agent is so important. They know what local buyers are looking for and can therefore tailor the photos and descriptions to current trends and requirements.
What’s more, your agent will be able to place your property on various online platforms, display it inside their physical business location, and let their professional network know about the upcoming sale. Therefore, you will benefit from a larger number of potential buyers. When you market your home well, you can expect it to be sold both faster and at a higher price.
6. Negotiate with Potential Buyers
Since there are more buyers than sellers in the local market, you can expect multiple offers. But that doesn’t mean that you’ll automatically be able to sell your home at a high price. People who attempt to sell on their own often don’t have the required negotiation skills, so they can expect around 33% less than those who have hired a realtor.
Part of the reason for this discrepancy is that you have an emotional connection to your home, so it can be hard to remain objective. Your real estate agent can help you decide whether an initial offer is good enough or whether you should ask the buyer to increase the amount. If the realtor believes that you could get a better price, they will use negotiation tactics to achieve the best outcome possible.
7. Sort Out the Paperwork
If you didn’t have your home appraised before, you’ll probably have to do this after the buyer has signed a purchase agreement. Most banks require an appraisal before they give out a mortgage to a buyer. Additionally, you’ll need to fill out the California Natural Hazard statement as well as the Transfer Disclosure statement, and you should let buyers know about any liens on the property.
All these requirements can be overwhelming, especially if you’ve never sold a home before. Your agent can take you through the various forms and help you remain compliant with the law. Working with someone who’s familiar with the process can take the stress out of the situation and prevent you from making a mistake that could put your sale at risk.
At first, selling a house in the Los Angeles area can seem overwhelming. How does the process work? What are the best practices, and how can you optimize your strategy so your home sells for maximum value? The easiest way to get started is to speak to an experienced local real estate agent like Teresa Mack, who can help you figure out what your property is worth and what time of year you should put it on the market.
Once you’ve determined the value and created a listing, your agent will help you prepare the home for viewings, negotiate with interested buyers, and sort out the paperwork related to the sale. Get in touch with Teresa Mack now to book your initial appointment. She will be more than happy to discuss your upcoming sale and give you more information about the steps to selling a house in View Park, CA.
