Putting your home on the market can be a stressful process, especially when you don’t know what to expect. Fortunately, with the help of an experienced agent and this easy to follow guide, you can smoothly complete the process. Following these steps will help you prepare so you can get organized and sell your home for the best price possible.​​​​​​​
What do you want to accomplish with the sale of your home? Do you want to make a certain amount of money that you can put toward a larger or nicer home? Do you need to sell it as soon as possible to facilitate a move to a new city or area? Once you understand your needs, you can better craft your offer. For example, if you need to sell quickly, you might want to price your home lower than if your goal is to make a certain profit margin. Make sure you convey these needs to your Realtor® once you choose one so he or she can adjust your selling price accordingly.
Knowing how to price your home is one of the most important parts of the selling process. When you set a fair price in the beginning, you’ll get the most interest from other real estate agents and prospective buyers. Overpricing your home could lead to reduced interest, and underpricing leads to receiving less than what your home is worth. Working with a real estate agent is the best way to determine the right selling price for your home. An agent with experience can determine what other comparable homes are selling for, evaluate the current market, and may even suggest a home appraisal.
If you’ve kept your home in showroom condition since you’ve lived in it, you’re in the minority of homeowners. Once you price your home, it’s time to start getting it ready to be shown to potential buyers. This includes getting rid of clutter, depersonalizing the space so that buyers can envision themselves in the space, making any small repairs, and doing a deep clean to make sure your home is in pristine condition.
I will develop a marketing strategy that is perfect for advertising your home. This involves listing the home and then driving the right people to that listing through social media campaigns, agent-to-agent referrals, traditional media, or SEO advertising. My team creates a marketing campaign that aims to get the most possible traffic to your listing in the first three weeks after becoming a client.
Receiving an offer is an exciting part of the process, but it doesn’t mean the journey is over. We will evaluate each offer and make sure the party making the offer is prequalified or pre-approved by a mortgage lender and that their offer is acceptable to you. If the offer is too low, you can make a counter-offer or offer other ways to bridge the gap, such as covering some or all of the closing costs, making repairs, adjusting the move-in date, or leaving some appliances or fixtures for the new buyer.
Once we deem the offer is acceptable, we will review the proposed contract to make sure it’s all in order and includes the necessary components such as deposit amount, down payment, financing, inspection rights and repair allowances, contingencies, settlement date, and a list of fees and who will pay them. When both parties have agreed to the term, a final contract will be prepared by your agent.
You have accepted an offer and are now very close to the end of your selling journey. But first, you and the buyer must make a list of what needs to be done before closing. In some cases, your home may need to be formally inspected, surveyed, and appraised. In other cases, major or minor repairs will need to be made before the house can close. I will head up efforts to develop and execute this list, get each action item paid for by the correct party, and make sure everything is in order by the closing date. A few days before the closing date, we will call the company closing the transaction to make sure everything is ready to go. If you haven’t done so already, you also need to make arrangements to move out of the home so the new buyer can take possession.
You’ve reached the last step in the seller’s process. When you close on a home you are selling, you are legally transferring ownership of the property to the new buyer. We will meet with the company closing the transaction to sign the final paperwork and go over any issues that have not yet been taken care of. During this time, you can also make plans with your Realtor® to handle final details such as canceling utilities, cable, and lawn or trash services, changing the name on accounts that the new owner is retaining and ensuring the new owner has instructions for all appliances that will remain in the home.
The contract contains contingencies that are essential protections for the buyer and seller before the contract becomes binding. When writing an offer, there will be different time periods for the buyer to complete all of their investigations, obtain financing(loan), verify the property's value, and exit the contract without any penalty. Once ALL contingencies are removed, the buyer is in a binding contract. Should they default or cancel, they can be taken to mediation where their 3% deposit would be at risk.
This is typically the longest time period, and when your lender secures your loan. Should he/she not be able to, you may cancel w/o a penalty.
An appraisal is directly correlated to your loan. It is when a 3rd party appraiser assesses the value of the home to make sure the bank is not over-lending. If the appraiser values the home at a lesser value than the agreed upon purchase price, then the buyer has the option to pay the difference, try and negotiate a price reduction, or cancel the escrow.
This includes property inspections, review of all disclosures/reports and HOA documents (if a townhouse or condo). Should there be major issues with the property, we can issue a "request for repairs" and negotiate a credit for the damage, a price reduction, or request that the seller complete the repairs prior to the close of escrow. Because homes in California are sold "as-is", sellers are NOT obligated to participate, however, most cooperate in good faith.
Once you have sold your home, you’re free to take the next step on your journey. Whether this is relocating to a new city, moving into a larger home, or downsizing and enjoying your life as empty-nesters, knowing all your selling responsibilities have been taken care of will help you achieve peace of mind for your new path.
Kristen is an amazing Realtor®. She was patiently showing me around all of LA till we found the right condo. Friendly, knowledgeable, and firm when it comes to closing a deal. You will be in great hands!
She’s gone on to make dreams come true for 3 more friends, and I’m sure many more coming. Like I say to everyone I recommend Kristen to, she’s a real human with your best interests in mind. Couldn’t recommend more."
Kristen and her team are the best. This is the second time we worked with her, and we’ll definitely work with her again in the future. She is always on top of everything and we really trust her input and recommendations.
This is not your average 5-star review, I wish there were 6. Kristen helped us buy our beautiful house: 1. Directly in the middle of the insane pandemic housing boom 2. Amongst 12 other offers 3. With dignity, grace, and exactl...
Working with Kristen and her team was a first-time home buyer's dream! She made the process so easy and even though she had other, active clients, she always made time and made you feel like a priority. She also introduced me t...
Kristen was amazing to work with when we were searching for our dream home. As first-time homebuyers, she was patient, attentive, friendly, and enthusiastic to help us with the process. She came to every house tour with us, no ...
We are fortunate to have landed the best Realtors®! Lisa and Kristen were involved in every step in our journey of becoming homeowners. Their availability to answer our questions and concerns did not have a limit, which speaks ...
Lisa Kirshner and Kristen Partipilo are really excellent real estate agents. They are incredibly knowledgeable about West LA neighborhoods, which allowed us to confidently buy a condo in the midst of the pandemic. As first-time...
Lisa and Kristen were very knowledgeable and attentive to us throughout our 7-month house hunting journey. Being first time homebuyers, we had a lot of questions and they answered our questions thoroughly. They made sure we fel...
Kristen helped our growing family find the right home at a very crazy time to buy a house (thanks a lot pandemic!) and to make matters even more challenging for us, we were moving from out of state. Despite these challenges, Kr...
Kristen’s expertise and professionalism were anything less than flawless! Beyond her extremely detailed and thorough representation, we appreciated her ability to negotiate and execute. It’s rare when you find an agent who chec...
Kristen is fantastic and I couldn't ask for a better agent! After I initially got an offer accepted to buy a condo with Kristen, I decided to back out of the agreement during inspections with her full support. Then Kristen gave...
We cannot say enough good things about Kristen - she made the entire process from our very first call to closing SO much easier. We always felt like we had an absolute expert that had our back every step of the way, we never ...
Kristen was amazing to work with when we were searching for our dream home. As first time homebuyers, she was patient, attentive, friendly, and enthusiastic to help us with the process. She came to every house tour with us, no ...
My wife and I interviewed a couple of Agents that were recommended to us and we decided to work with Kristen. She was very professional from the start and we felt confident that she was going to get the job done. We had a goal ...
Get assistance in determining current property value, crafting a competitive offer, writing and negotiating a contract, and much more. Contact me today.
