Selling Your House In A Hot Market

If you are thinking of selling your home, there are a number of important issues to be aware of. On this page, we have created a list of frequently asked questions Puget Sound Home Sellers may have.

In addition, please take advantage of the following resources we have provided for you:

1) Seasonal Seller’s Guide

This guide is updated quarterly and discusses how current economic trends like interest rates, housing prices and others affect the speed and profitability of selling your home. We have another one for Buyers, if you think you may also be buying another home soon. (Download Our Seasonal Buyer’s Guide here.)

2) Estimate Your Home’s Current Value

If you would like to find out how much your home is worth in today’s market, enter your address here for our personalized Pin Point Price Analysis. We’ll look at your home’s value, debt and selling costs to help you determine how much you’ll walk away with when you’re ready to sell your home.

Zestimates Are Not Always Right

Although Many Sellers Rely on “Zestimates” For A General Value Of Your Home, We Can Give You A Personal Interpretation… Zestimates are free, but solid human-reviewed data is priceless.

3) Track Your Equity Development

If you would like ongoing updates on the price of your home as it appreciates and you get closer to being ready to sell, we can help with that, too. I have licensed this tool, so it is free to use. It’s what I use to keep an eye on all my out of state rentals. This will help you know what’s going on in your neighborhood so you can keep a close watch on your home’s value. Free, Ongoing Home Valuation & Equity Reporting.

4) Track The Real Estate Market

Before going into a major real estate transaction, like the purchase or sale of a home (or both!) it makes sense to start tracking the data. Now, we do this for you, so you can always lean on our expertise when you are ready, but many people feel more comfortable if they have a baseline understanding of what is going on. That’s why we’ve put together a weekly Puget Sound Market Update that’s a quick 30-second read, but if you glace at it each Wednesday when it comes out, over time you will develop a keen awareness for what is going on in the local marketplace.

5) Ask Questions

To Discover The Important Information You Need To Know About Your Neighborhood. While looking at general trends by county or city can be informative, when you really want to know what’s going to happen when you put your home on the market, it’s important to see the data on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood, street-by-street basis for homes of similar construction and age to your own.

Understanding What It Takes To Sell Your Puget Sound Property

How Far Ahead Of The Sale Do I Need To Begin Prepare?

If you’re in a rush, we can certainly put your home on the market and get the process going in a matter of days or weeks. However, the ideal situation would be to start to have discussions months (sometimes years…) in advance of when you think you might be ready to sell your home. Some homes will benefit from home improvement projects that can take some time. Other folks need a little time to begin the emotional process of “letting-go” and for some, they’ve just got a lot of STUFF they need to pack up, give away, or sell.

When we begin our conversations early, when there’s plenty of time before the anticipated, home sellers like you have more time to take care of logistics, plan their next move, and position the property properly in the marketplace.

2) What Types Of Repairs (If Any) Do I Need To Do On My House?

That’s a good question. Most property will sell for the highest price if it is cleaned up and in “like new” condition. However, if your property is in pretty decent shape, chances are, it will not be economically beneficial for you to “re-do” everything before the sale of your home. You might spend more or renovations than they will increase the value of your home.

However, if your property is clearly dated and looks like an “investor special” that hasn’t been updated in 30 years, or tenants just moved out and left it worn, or (as is common) it’s an estate sale property with someone who lived in it but wasn’t able to maintain it well in later years, then you may find it IS valuable to do some repairs to help it sell for top price. Here is an article we’ve written on this topic – Should I Sell As-Is or Do Renovations? – and of course, we are happy to give you an in-person evaluation as well.

If you do not have time or money to do repairs and your house is in poor condition, you may find that real estate investors are your primary buyers. In that case, you can put it on the market with that in mind, or we can discuss buying it directly from you through our Direct Purchase Program.

3) How Fast Will My Home Sell?

The speed with which your home will sell for a premium price depends on a number of different factors. One is obviously the strength of the real estate market in your neighborhood. This is an “average” type of figure. If you want your home to sell at an above-average speed and price, you need to go above-and beyond in your marketing. This is why we deploy sophisticated digital marketing strategies, as well as marketing to our internal database of buyers, neighbors & likely referral sources, and other real estate real estate agents – in order to make sure your home is shown to the highest number of people as well as gets on the radar of the most likely buyers.

Typically, your home will go on the market and “sell” (which means go under contract with the buyer who will purchase it) within a week or two (in today’s market conditions). After you’re under contract, you will typically have about 30 days before the buyer completes the transaction and it is time for you to vacate the property.

4) How Should I Price My Home?

Home Pricing Strategy is one of my favorite things to talk about because it’s so psychological, there’s a lot of negotiation that begins right here when you price the home.

Typically the BIGGEST MISTAKE to avoid is OVERPRICING the home. Many sellers want to get the most money for their house. Of course! We all do! But that doesn’t mean you can list a half million-dollar house for a million bucks and make some extra money. No! It doesn’t work that way.

NOT TOO HIGH: What will happen if you overprice the asset? The million-dollar buyers will look at your half-million-dollar home, see that it looks like garbage compared to all the other million dollar homes and pass it by. Your home will linger on the market with no offers and you will be sad. That’s why I have to slap around sellers who want to over-price their homes… they’re shooting themselves in the foot.

NOT TOO LOW: Let’s look at this from the other extreme: What if you listed your half-million dollar house for $250,000. All the buyers who were looking fora $250,000 condo would see your gorgeous house and say, “Oh My GOODNESS! I can get this house for $250K??? Sign me up! I will even pay more! I will pay $300K!” Other buyers will say the same thing, and soon you will have a bidding war on your hands. Unfortunately, you may not have many people looking for a home at $250K who can really afford to come all the way up to $500K.

JUST RIGHT! What you want to do is price it at the lower end of the range of what you think the home might be worth – and then let the market tell you the true value of the property. The Market is always right. That’s why it’s my job as a Seattle real estate agent to make sure the market is well-informed about the property and excited about it. We want the market to SEE your home and WANT your home, and that’s when you get the best price and terms from buyers.

5) When Will I Need To Move Out?

In most cases, sellers need to move out of the home before the “closing date” which is the date that they have signed the paperwork to transfer the deed of ownership to the buyers, and have gotten all their money. BUT… Did you know that you can actually negotiate to have the buyers take possession of the home on a different day? Sometimes sellers need a little more time to live in the property and complete their move out and so they can negotiate a “rent back” or “lease back” from the buyers, allowing them to live in the property a few days, weeks or even months(!) after the buyer has purchased the home.

Now, this is a little risky for the buyer, and some buyers need to move right away, so it may not be a fit for everyone, but in today’s strong seller’s market, you are in good position to negotiate on almost ANYTHING you want when it comes to selling your home, so if you need more time in your property, chances are you can get it!

6) What If I Can’t Find Another Home To Live In?

If I Sell My House Now, Where Will I Go? | Seattle, WA Probably the number one question on the minds of Seattle, WA home sellers in today’s market is what will happen NEXT after they sell their home. Many are wondering if they will become HOMELESS! Well – good news – none of our clients has had that happen, yet!

The truth is, that because the market in many areas is lopsided (Bothell! Lynnwood! I’m looking at you!) there are more buyers than sellers and homes are getting a lot of interest from competing buyers. That means that it may be hard to put your next property under contract quickly after you have sold your existing home – or at least that’s the fear… Having a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C about what will happen NEXT after you sell your property, you can sleep soundly knowing that your move will be smooth and your timing needs all handled.

We have several strategies up our sleeves that we can use to help you through this situation. Talk to us to configure a plan that will work best for you, the house you’re selling, and the dream house you’d like to buy.

7) How Technology Can Assist You In Selling Your Seattle, WA Property

Recent clients from Canada just bought a Condo here in Seattle, WA that they never stepped inside until after they had bought it. I am helping a tech-family relocate from Silicon Valley to Seattle using videos and technology. I have bought my last 3 investment properties from out of state, sight unseen. As much as I like to say The Real Estate Game Is Played On The Streets, Not Online; there is a significant amount of work now being done online, and technology has changed the way we do business… both for buyers and sellers. In the wake of all the changes that have happened in the last year, with people keeping their distance, even more has gone online and frankly, a lot of people like it!

8) Does It Make Sense To List With An Agent Or Sell On Your Own?

If you’re thinking about selling your house you may be wondering what the best way to go about it is. Maybe you’re asking yourself, “Should I Sell My House Myself Or List With A Real Estate Agent?” It’s a good question and many of us cheap investor types are always looking to save a buck, DIY, and otherwise not pay for goods and services we can make, fix, or do for ourselves. I was the same way when I was younger and wanted to be a self-made millionaire, and all the rest. What I found as I advanced in my real estate investing career is that the wealthy do not do everything themselves, they don’t clean toilets, fix the gutters, and haul trash to the dump… most of them started out that way, and learned to rely on others as they built their team and built their wealth. It’s hard to do everything yourself AND make it to the top, so I learned to do what I’m best at and build a team around me who does what they’re best at. The more we help each other, the more we all prosper. If you’re thinking about selling your house yourself (For Sale By Owner – FSBO), this concept might not have started to resonate with you yet, and that’s okay. Watch this video and let me know what you think. Let’s find out: Why It Pays To Work With A Real Estate Broker…

Bottom Line: Education Is Step One

Clearly, there’s a lot to know about the home selling process in Seattle, WA and frankly, these videos are just the first cookie in the jar… (Why do I have snacks on the brain, today? I’m not snarfing down chocolate chip oatmeal cookies right now, I swear! I just didn’t want to say “tip of the iceburg…OOPS! I just did! Oh well!)

For some, digging into data is kind of fun and exciting. We numbers geeks like spotting trends, looking for opportunities, and negotiating big windfalls for our clients. If that’s you, we can help put numbers in front of you to help you make good decisions and feel confident about where you are going.

For others, digging into data is right up there with a poke in the eye. (That’s okay, you don’t have to if you don’t want to…. we can take care of that behind the scenes and get you to the bottom line so you can get the results you need.

Either way, we strive to ensure our clients are educated and confident so they can make decisions with their eyes open and sleep soundly, knowing they are making well-informed, forward-facing decisions.

We are here to help you get the information you need – even if you’re not sure what that is, we can walk you through the steps and present everything in a thoughtful, well-laid-out manner.

Let us know how we can help! We are here to serve.