Summary
Choosing Your Real Estate Agent
Seller's Costs
Our Commitment to You
Agency – Who represents whom
Stauss & Bush LLC Service
Our Sales Philosophy
Our Services
When will marketing begin
What You Can Do
Getting YOURSELF ready
How to Get the Most Money
Eight Basic Rules to Follow
Common Pifalls to Avoid
Building a Working Relationship
What You can Expect from Us
What We expect from You
The Details of Selling Your House
Understanding the sales price & other influences to sales price
Setting the price
Getting your house ready
Daily housekeeping
Receiving an offer
After acceptance
Closing
SUMMARY
CHOOSING YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENT
Selling your home is a complex process. Choosing the right real estate agent can make it simple for you. It is important to choose someone you trust in addition to being knowledgeable about the real estate market and process. It is also important that you choose someone who is an expert in getting you and your house ready to sell.
The right agent real estate agent will guide you through the entire process and help you jump any hurdles. Your real estate agent will be the one professional who knows and understands each step in the sale of your home and will be committed to staying in touch with all parties throughout the process. A good real estate agent knows that working with you is all about good service from the day you meet until the day you move out. Although a good real estate company is important, it is truly a good real estate agent that makes the difference.
Selling your home involves a variety of people and companies such real estate agents, lenders, title companies, escrow companies, inspectors, lawyers, and so on. Every person in this process completes their own specific task. Your real estate agent is responsible for getting his/her portion done and for over-seeing that everyone else gets their portion done correctly and timely. In essence, your real estate agent is the one you will call to make sure everything is getting done the way it should.
Selling your home generally takes about 30-90 days from the day you get motivated to sell your house to the day you move out. You and your real estate agent will seem like best friends throughout this time. You will talk regularly, oftentimes several times daily. You will be a team that is committed to getting your house sold,.
The first step of selling your home is choosing the right real estate agent. We hope that we can earn your confidence and have the opportunity to be your agent. Please read the rest of our short booklet describing the selling process. We hope that this will help you understand the process and help us earn your trust.
SELLER'S COSTS
Most real estate sales have the same standard costs. The largest individual cost is usually 1.78% of the sales price to cover the State of Washington Excise Tax. You can get a quick rough estimate of the cost of selling property by calculating 2-1/2% of the sales and adding the real estate commission to it.
Your Stauss & Bush LLC agent can give you a more exact estimate of the costs you will incur. The following is a list of common charges.
- Real Estate Commission
- Excise Tax (1.78%)
- Title Insurance
- Escrow Fee
- Document Preparation Fee
- Recording Fees
- Reconveyance Fee
- Courier Fees
- Property tax due
- Any buyer’s costs paid by seller
- Any liens against property
- Any inspections required during sale
- Any repairs required as part of sale Payoff of existing loans
AGENCY – WHO REPRESENTS WHOM
The Designated Broker, Fred Stauss, and your salesperson represent you in fulfilling your real estate needs while the Buyer’s agent represents the buyer.
OUR COMMITMENT TO YOU
We are committed to netting you the most money for your property with the least amount of time and aggravation.
Stauss & Bush LLC Services
OUR SALES PHILOSOPHY
Successful real estate marketing is simply a numbers game: the more agents that are aware of your property, the greater the likelihood of finding the one buyer for your house.
OUR SERVICES
GENERAL
Your Stauss & Bush agent will guide you through the real estate sales process from the day you meet until the sale is complete and you take possession. The following is a summary of our services. For a booklet, detailing our services, please contact us by stopping in, calling us or e-mailing us.
BEFORE SIGNING A LISTING
Your Stauss & Bush LLC agent will work with you to get you and your property ready to sell. This often takes from one day to several months.
AFTER SIGNING LISTING
As soon as your listing is signed, your property is on the market. You need to be ready to sell and your property needs to be ready for buyers to tour. Don't be surprised if agents show up unannounced. Your Stauss & Bush LLC agent will work with you to make showings as convenient and as successful as possible. Marketing often occurs from one day to several months. The strength of the market, the list price and the ease of showing greatly affect market time.
AFTER RECEIVING AN OFFER
You need to be ready to make a decision on an offer as soon as you put your property on the market. It is common for buyers to expect you to decide the day you receive their offer. Your Stauss & Bush LLC agent will help you understand each offer, help you decide what is best for you, and complete the paperwork to respond to each offer.
AFTER ACCEPTANCE OF OFFER
Your Stauss & Bush LLC agent will work with the selling agent, escrow and title companies to make sure that your sale progresses properly. Your Stauss & Bush LLC agent will be there for you every step of way until you get paid and ownership changes hand.
WHEN WILL MARKETING BEGIN
Marketing will begin when you are ready to sell and your house is ready to show. Premature marketing will most likely result in a lower sales price or a longer time to sell. Marketing will begin when you are ready to sell and your house is ready to show. Premature marketing will most likely result in a lower sales price or a longer time to sell.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
GETTING YOURSELF READY
- Realize that your house is no longer your home.
- Your house is now a showplace to entice the next buyer to want to call it "their home". You need to live in the house as if it is a model home.
- Agents and buyers will be intruding into your personal time and space. This is a necessary part of selling your house and will end soon.
- Agents, buyers, and inspectors may say things that are difficult to hear. They are not meant as an insult. We will discuss these comments with you to determine what’s important to a sale and ignore any remarks that are not useful.
- Your first offer is often the best one; you need to be ready to accept an offer now. Procrastination often leads to a lower sales price.
HOW TO GET THE MOST MONEY
BASIC RULES TO FOLLOW
- Your property must have enough street appeal for the buyer to get out of a car and approach the house.
- The buyer makes the decision to buy or not when the front door is opened.
- A dolled-up house will bring you a significantly higher offer than an average-looking house. Simple things such as fresh paint and carpeting greatly add to the sales price.
- Buyers do not visualize what a house will look like fixed-up. They only see what it looks like now and will make their offer based on the current condition.
- Buyers notice broken, dirty, missing or inferior items. Items do not need to be new, but they cannot be in bad shape.
- Buyers will subtract far more than the cost of repair for any broken items.
- The bank and house inspectors are the buyer’s conscience and confirm the sanity of their purchase.
- The more repairs that a house inspector finds, the harder he looks for more repairs.
COMMON PITFALLS TO AVOID
Building a Relationship
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM US
- Honesty
- Respect for your real estate desires
- A commitment to sell your property
- A weekly update
- A quick response to your questions
- Your phone calls returned within 24 hours
- Respect for your property, potential buyers, and their agents
WHAT WE CAN EXPECT FROM YOU
- Honesty
- Willingness to work together as a team to sell your property
- Open discussions of your real estate desires and concerns
- Set the sale price at a saleable amount
- Maintain the property in a saleable condition
- Provide reasonable access to your property for all agents
- Discuss "what’s needed" if the property does not sell as listed
- Look at each offer as a possible sale
- Promptly complete tasks necessary to make property saleable
- Follow the contracts as written
- Immediately communicate any concerns or problems
- Return phone calls within 24 hours
Details - Selling your House
SETTING THE PRICE
Your property must look good enough from the street that the buyer is willing to get of a car to look at it. Your property must be good enough when the front door is opened that the buyer is wanting to buy it. Your property must be good enough throughout the property that the buyer does not change his/her mind. Your Stauss & Bush LLC agent will work with you to get the property in its best condition for your budget and time.
DAILY HOUSEKEEPING
- Put valuables and medications in a safe place.
- Lock up pets.
- Pick up toys.
- Make all beds.
- Put away dishes and food.
- Tidy up bathroom.
- Open all window curtains, shades, and coverings and turn lights on in any dark areas.
- Set room temperature to a comfortable level.
- Make sure house smells good.
- Keep yard trimmed.
RECEIVING AN OFFER
The buyer's agent will prepare the paperwork for the offer to buy your house (often referred to as the Purchase and Sales Agreement or the Earnest Money agreement). The offer will be prepared by the buyer's agent by filling in blanks on standardized forms that are created by the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.
Your Stauss & Bush agent will then receive the offer from the buyer's agent and your Stauss & Bush agent will present it to the you. You will then have the option of accepting the offer, rejecting the offer or responding with a counter-offer. Once agreed upon between you and the buyer, it is a binding agreement between you and the Buyer to complete the sale of the property based on the terms of the accepted offer.
The Purchase and Sales Agreement traditionally includes an earnest money check for Good Faith money. When the offer is accepted, the earnest money is usually deposited into a trust account of the Buyer's broker or of the closing agent. This is usually about 2% of the sales price. The check will generally be held by Buyer's agent until the offer is accepted and deposited into the Buyer's broker's trust account or the escrow agent’s trust account upon acceptance of the offer. Occasionally, buyer and seller agree to wait to deposit the check until removal of the inspection contingency.
The offer is usually presented to you the same day it is written. Usually your buyer's agent will fax a copy of the offer to your Stauss & Bush agent who will present it to you. By 9:00 pm that evening you, through your Stauss & Bush agent, you will let the buyer know through his agent that the offer has been accepted, countered, or rejected. If it has been accepted, you have successfully completed the first step of selling your house. If not, you need to decide if you want to continue to reach an agreement with the buyer to buy your house. A Counter-offer sends an offer from you back to the buyer. Your agent can help you revise your offer that will better fit your needs. If you do not respond, the offer is dead and you continue to look for another buyer.
AFTER ACCEPTANCE
Once you have reached an agreement on the terms of purchasing the house, the next step is usually for the buyer to have the house inspected. The buyer generally chooses the inspector of their choice. The inspector will essentially be the buyer's conscious. He or she will look at the house to help determine its condition and the cost of keeping it in average condition. They will give the buyer a list of suggested repairs and maintenance. The buyer will usually have about 7 days to complete the inspection and provide a response to the you. If they do not provide a requested repair list on time or do not decline the property in writing on time, they may have accepted the house as-is. If they give you a list, you can choose to complete the work, reject the work or give an alternative solution.
Your Stauss & Bush agent will work with you to help you understand the request for repairs. Your agent will also help you review the list for repairs. The actual list and the strength of the market will usually effect your response. Your Stauss & Bush agent will then work with you and the buyer's agent to reach an agreement that both you and the seller can live with. Sometimes the Seller will simply give you money instead of doing repairs. Your Stauss & Bush agent will be with you all the way helping you with your decisions and paperwork. The final decision is always yours.
After you and the Buyer have agreed on the condition of the house at closing, the lender will send out an appraiser to make sure its value is at least as high as the sales price. Once the value is confirmed and the buyer's loan information meets their requirements, they will give the buyer loan approval. Finally, they prepare loan documents and forward them to escrow, where the closing of the purchase will take place.
CLOSING
Closing is the day the seller is paid for the home and the buyer takes ownership. Escrow is the company that makes this happen. Escrow is a neutral party that prepares all the change-of-ownership and final accounting documents. They also work with the title company to ensure that there are no unexpected loans or liens against the property.
You will go to the escrow company’s office to sign all the appropriate documents to finalize the sale. The Buyer goes to the same escrow company but at a different time to sign the Buyer's papers.Escrow then sends the buyer's signed paperwork back to the lender for a final review.
When everything is signed by you and the buyer and accepted by the lender, escrow arranges for the transfer of title to be recorded. They also direct the lender to send the loan funds to the escrow company’s trust account. They then pay the you and inform the buyer that they are the new owner of the property. Closing of the sale and ownership transfer usually occurs 2 days after both parties have signed the final paperwork.
UNDERSTANDING THE LIST PRICE AND SALES PRICE
- Setting the sales price is not a science.
- Your property is worth what you are willing to sell it for and a buyer is willing to buy it for.
- An appraisal does not determine exact value, but ensures that the lender is not taking too big of a risk.
- Lenders do not have an appraisal until after an offer is accepted.
- Your first offer is often your best offer.
- The longer your house is on the market the more buyers will believe it is over priced, and therefore offer a lower price. Buyers often ask how long the house has been on the market.
- Not doing expected repairs in advance of showing will cost you more than if you do the repairs in advance. Buyers will reduce the offer considerably and over-compensate for the repairs needed.
- Buyers will make their offer based on appearance and house inspectors will verify the quality. Not paying attention to both will cost you.
Stauss & Bush LLC has simplified the accepted approach for determing the sales price of a property. Your Stauss & Bush LLC agent will include you in this process so that you understand and accept the list price and sales price.
GETTING YOUR HOUSE READY
