Selling Path

8 Steps to Selling Your Home...

STEP #1: INITIAL INTERVIEW

The first step is to hire a REALTOR® to help you sell your home. When hiring a REALTOR® in Colorado, you should make sure that you interview a few REALTOR® to see if they fit within your criteria of marketing your home. The worst thing you would want to do is hire a REALTOR® that only offers limited marketing and/or services.

In the initial interview you and your REALTOR® will discuss your home including: upgrades/updates you have done, needed repairs before listing. They will also be discussing with you their listing presentation which included how they plan to market, current market statistics and other pieces of information that you should know if you hire them as your REALTOR®.
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STEP #2: PRICING YOUR HOME TO SELL

Price your home to sell! Pricing a home to sell is a technique not a science. If it was a science the market would never have expired listings and listings would never go without selling. The fact is that the market ultimately determines price. Ensure that the REALTOR® you choose to represent your home does a complex marketing analysis to arrive at the final price they would like you to list at. They should also give you a closing net sheet that shows the worst/best case scenarios of sales price.
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STEP #3: MARKETING YOUR PROPERTY

Marketing your home is one of the most important aspects of how your REALTOR® will find buyers and generate viewing activity. With the competition at its highest, your agent should be doing more than placing a sign in the yard and putting it into the MLS. The agent representing your home should be placing your listing on websites, sending out “Just Listed” cards, marketing to other brokers, etc. There are many other ways agents can market, at least make sure they are marketing in key areas that other buyers will see our property (ie. internet, brochures, etc.)
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STEP #4: PURCHASE CONTRACT

Once a buyer has decided to write a contract on your home, your Realtor will receive a purchase contract. The REALTOR® has a fiduciary duty to present any and all offers he/she receives on your listing to you. The purchase contract in Colorado is 15 pages long and contractually establishes many items including the close date, inspection date, resolution date of the inspection, purchase price along with your financing terms, inclusions, exclusions, etc. As the seller you have the option to accept the contract as written, counter the offer and change terms of the contract (this begins negotiation on the property) or reject the contract. It might take up to a week for both you as the Seller and the Buyer to agree on the contract terms.

Make sure your REALTOR® goes over an updated sellers proceeds net sheet, so that you know exactly where you stand with respect to how much you will be receiving or how much you will have to bring to the table.
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STEP #5: HOME INSPECTION

According to the contract, the buyers have the right to have a professional inspector inspect the property. From this inspection they can either decide to not buy the property (this is called failing on inspection), buy the property as is without asking for you as the seller to repair any items, or go into negotiation to have some key items repaired by you as the seller. All negotiations shall be resolved by the inspection resolution deadline stated in the purchase contract. If all items that are requested to be repaired are not agreed to be repaired by the Seller, then the Buyer can terminate the contract and receive back their earnest money.
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STEP #6: LOAN CONDITIONS & APPRAISAL

After all of the inspection issues have been resolved the last key date to pass is the Loan Conditions deadline. By this deadline the buyer must have set the financing of their new home in stone.

You should be preparing to move by starting to find movers or starting to pack yourself.
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STEP #7: CLOSING/SETTLEMENT

The final step in selling your home is the closing. At the closing table you will sign only one set of documents. The first set are the real estate documents which transfer the deed (title) from you the sellers to the new sellers. Colorado is a “table funding” state, which means that all funds are paid at the closing table. Therefore, any funds you will be receiving will be in the form of a certified fund; however, if you are required to bring funds to closing they must be in the form of certified funds.
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STEP #8: NEW BUYERS TAKE POSSESSION

Usually in Colorado the Buyer takes possession of the home 2 to 3 days after the closing/settlement date.  Make sure you are completely moved out by the possession date and time. If you are not according to the purchase contract the buyers can charge you a per diem charge if you are not moved out (could be costly from $100—to $500 per day).