General Timeline For Selling Your Home

Our clients come to us in all stages of preparation for listing their homes. Some are looking for suggestions of how to prepare their homes for listing in the next few years, while others want to have their homes on the market immediately. Anything within that continuum is workable and we will adjust the timeline to best serve your individual needs. A typical timeline for selling a home quickly usually goes something like this:

Week 1: At our first appointment, we will:

  • Sit down for a relaxed conversation about the how the home- selling process works.
  • Have you take me on a tour of your home, inside and out, and fill me in on what updates and repairs you have completed or are considering completing prior to selling your home. I will take detailed notes and photographs, if possible, so that we can research how your home compares to other properties that have sold recently in your neighborhood.
  • If your home is vacant and professional staging is financially feasible for you, we will schedule an estimate appointment with a stager.
  • Discuss your landscaping and how landscape staging can increase your home’s curb appeal.

Week 2: At our second appointment, we will:

  • Discuss the findings of my market research and current market conditions and determine our pricing strategy and anticipated timeline.
  • Prepare an estimated net proceeds sheet to help you determine your equity position and what proceeds you can anticipate from the sale of your home.
  • Complete additional paperwork, including necessary disclosure documents.
  • Talk about what municipal inspections might be required on your property, or other inspections that might be beneficial to complete prior to listing your home for sale, and get you the information you need to schedule these inspections.

Weeks 2-3

  • If you live in your home, we will have you do a consultation with our stager to determine the best strategy for preparing your home for photographs. She will go through your house room by room and decide which furniture, artwork and accessories make sense to leave in the house for showings, and which things you might want to put into temporary storage. She can also make suggestions for paint colors, flooring options, etc., if some changes are important to helping you sell your home.
  • Discuss the findings of any completed inspections (such as municipal inspections). We will counsel you as to which of the inspector’s findings would best be corrected prior to listing and which corrections can be delayed until after listing or assumed by the buyers. We will also help you make arrangements to obtain estimates for any work that needs a licensed contractor.
  • Repairs and improvements such as painting, landscaping and handyman repair projects are started.

Weeks 3-4

  • Repairs and improvements are completed.
  • Your home is cleared of any extraneous furniture and possessions.
  • Your home is thoroughly cleaned, including windows inside and out.
  • We do our final staging appointment on your home, enhancing the rooms for the photo shoot and, as needed, providing décor items such as pillows, throws, artwork and accessories.
  • We have a professional photographer do a high-quality photoshoot on your property. The photographer will use the best wide-angle lenses, HDR technology, and natural lighting to make your house sparkle in the photographs! These pictures will be an invaluable part of our marketing!
  • We debut on the market! We will employ a “blitzkrieg” style of marketing and everything will commence within the next week. In a typical real estate market, our goal is to receive our offer (or better yet offers!), within 7-10 days of intensive marketing. In the inventory- starved market in which I write this, our goal is to receive multiple offers within the first 3-4 days of listing.

Weeks 6-7

  • We receive an offer (or offers)! Counteroffers are prepared as needed until we have successfully negotiated an offer. Once completed, you will have the option to stop showing your home to other prospective buyers. We will, however, need to make the home available to the buyer for his/her/their inspections (with reasonable notice, of course).
  • We will complete the Purchase Agreement paperwork.
  • If the home is association-managed, we will help you order the Resale Transfer Disclosure Statement and all necessary association documents to provide to the buyer.

Weeks 7-8

  • The buyers are provided with the Resale Transfer Disclosure Statement if the home is located in a Homeowner’s Association, which begins their 10-day Right of Rescission. The buyer has a right to walk away at any time during this 10-day period if they find any issues with the Homeowner’s Association, the rules and regulations, financials or the covenants. Not to worry, buyers rarely use this as an opportunity to rescind their Purchase Agreement.
  • The buyers complete their inspections; we negotiate any repair requests and make the necessary changes to the Purchase Agreement.
  • All remaining paperwork is completed for the Purchase Agreement. We are officially pending!

Weeks 8-9

  • The appraiser visits the property and the loan processing continues (if financing is involved).
  • The preliminary title report is generated and delivered to the buyer’s lender and title company for approval.
  • We remove any staging items we have provided from the property.

Weeks 10-11

  • The loan process is completed and we have a conditional approval for the buyers to close on their loan.
  • You make final moving plans and call the utility companies to notify them of your move.

You complete any repair requests or work orders that came out of the inspection, purchase agreement, appraisal or municipal inspection and we provide proof of completion and payment to the buyers.

Weeks 11-12

  • Time to do a final cleaning! Your home must be free of all debris and personal possessions inside and out and clean at the time of the buyers’ possession of the property.
  • The buyers schedule and perform a final walkthrough to verify that the property is still in substantially the same condition as it was at the time of the Purchase Agreement and that the repair requests, if any, have been completed.
  • Before the pandemic, the closing was held at the office of the buyer’s title company and was well-attended. The buyers, the sellers, the agents representing each, sometimes the buyer’s mortgage lender and a title agent from each side would be in attendance. These days, though, the closings are held separately, and we generally do not get the opportunity to meet the buyers. A few days before our scheduled closing date, you will meet with your closer and pre-sign the documents so that they are ready for the buyers’ signing on the scheduled day of closing. On closing day, once the buyer has completed their signing, the title company will wire, mail, or cut a check for you to retrieve your proceeds (depending upon the instructions you will provide at your pre-signing) and give the keys to the buyers.

You’ve done it!! Overall, the process from preparing to list to a successful closing will probably last about three to six months, give or take a few weeks. The process is, however, infinitely adaptable and will be tailored to meet your specific timeframe and needs!