The Savvy Synopsis

When you sell a home, a lot of your time and decisions revolve around getting the best offer. Not only do you want the highest offer, but the one that is most likely to stick. But, how long does that take? We answer three questions from the mailbag, all from people selling their homes.

As a seller, there is a lot to think about when you put your home on the market (not to mention, you might be also in the homebuying process simultaneously). How long will it take to sell your home? How do you get the best offer? And how do you make sure the buyers follow through?

As a seller, you want the process to go as smoothly as possible. What happens when several buyers have backed out? Is there any way to prevent that or be more aware of potential red flags from flaky buyers? Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens for a variety of reasons. It helps to accept offers from buyers who have a pre-qualification or proof of funds. Also, make sure there is a good amount of due diligence upfront which usually means the buyer is more committed and less likely to put you at risk of losing money if they back out.

Are you ready to sell your home soon? Want to know what to expect as far as the timeline from listing to closing? A little bit depends on how ready you are to put it on the market. From there, consider the typical time for homes in your neighborhood to go on the market. After it is under contract, it’s a bit dependent on what kind of financing the buyer is able to acquire. All of this can vary though depending on the buyer and seller and their situations.

Are you hoping for a bidding war on your home? While not every home will get a bidding war, there are things you can do as a seller to make your home more appealing. What kind of curb appeal does it have? Is the home staged properly? But most importantly, is it priced correctly? Overpricing a home may actually mean that you net less in the long-run. Working with a good Realtor can help you price your home appropriately and get the best offer possible.

Listen to the full episode or click on the timestamps below to hear Angie’s answer to this week’s mailbag questions.

0:38 - Mailbag: Two buyers have backed out on our home. What does your team do to make sure sellers accept offers from good buyers?

3:55 - Mailbag: What is a good timeline to expect from listing to closing?

5:55 - How do you find out how much your home is worth?

7:02 - Mailbag: How can I create a bidding war to get the highest sales price?

Get In Touch:

• Find out the value of your home! Click Here!
• Get answers questions on home inspections. Click Here!

Subscribe:

Apple Podcasts  -  Google Podcasts  -  Spotify  -  Stitcher

The Host:

Angie Cole - Contact - Call: 919-538-6477

Show Transcription:

Note: This is an automated transcription. Please forgive the robots as they tend to make some (a lot of) mistakes...

Speaker 1: (00:02)
It's time for the savvy real tour podcast. I'm Walter Storholt alongside Angie Cole, the owner and broker in charge of a Cole Realty serving you throughout the triangle, teaching you about the ins and outs when it comes to buying or selling a home. You can find the team online by going to eight Cole realty.com that's a C O L E realty.com or by calling (919) 578-3128 that's (919) 578-3128 and now it's time for one of the top realtors in the triangle, Angie Cole and the savvy real tour podcast. I've got another listener question here. This one comes to us from Matt in Fayetteville and Matt says we've had two buyers back out in a row on buying our home. It's really frustrating. I feel like the agent we're working with isn't doing enough to head off these different problems. What does your team do for your sellers to make sure you're accepting offers from good buyers?

Speaker 2: (00:55)
Oh, Matt, first of all, it's super unfortunate. You know what, but I, I can't say and be real with you. I can't say that that doesn't happen no matter whom the agent is. That rep is representing you. You know, it's unfortunate. I had a client who this past week they closed on their home and it was their third buyer and there was absolutely nothing that our team could have done differently. You know, throughout the process, we randomly had one buyer that just went Mia and their agent went Mia. We had the second buyer who the week of closing, they are buyer backed out on them. And so then they had a backout on us. And then I guess third time was really the charm and we got it closed. But if it's consistent that this is happening all the time with the agent that you're working with, well then there's an issue, right?

Speaker 2: (01:41)
But sometimes, and you know, things are just completely out of our control as being your listing agent and representing you. But things that we can do up front. First of all, whenever we receive an offer, we always make sure there is a pre qual or a proof of funds. We can always dig deeper. We can, you know, even reach out to the lender and just get the extra warm and fuzzy that these people are good to go. We can make sure that we have a good amount of due diligence money up front, make sure that the buyer's putting a decent amount of money at risk. You know, there's just a couple of different things that we could always tweak and revise with the offer or with our counter to kind of make sure that the buyers really serious. Um, you know, on the other hand though, I, I have another seller who we have multiple offers and their buyer backed out.

Speaker 2: (02:27)
It was such a sad situation. Um, it was the, the buyer was going through some things, personal things with her father. So she had a backout everyone understood. But you know, on the flip side, they had given so much good faith that actually, although we lost a buyer and we had to relist the home, which we got back under contract again, my seller actually is coming out ahead. Even though she was still paying mortgage payments, she actually was able to recoup so much and due diligence and earnest money that actually in the end she's going to make more money net then if she would have actually closed with the first buyer. So you know, it's not always the worst situation. You know, we definitely want the first contract always go through. Um, but every contract is differently. So you know, we definitely do things to vet the buyer for our sellers upfront. But you know what, some things are just completely out of our control as well.

Speaker 1: (03:18)
Yeah, it's a really good question I think to ask Matt and uh, it can be tough. Frustrating is probably a pretty good word for that. But patience is the name of the game. And working with a real estate agent who's helping you navigate through those problems or helping you avoid them in the first place is always great. So if you feel like you're not getting fantastic service with your agent or if you're looking for an agent to work with here in the area, you can always talk to Angie and the team. Again, the number to call to get in touch or text her if you want. 919-5386TY-47TY-7 if you want to talk about buying or selling your next home. (919) 538-6477. Matt, sorry, you're going through that. You've got a question here from Shelley over in Smithfield. Shelley says we're selling soon. What is a good timeline to expect from listing to closing?

Speaker 2: (04:03)
Yeah, so listing as far as getting your home actually active and on the market is completely on you. Okay. Um, our team, if you are ready to go, we can actually list your home and go live and on the market within, I would say give us a week, week max. What that means is we would love to have our professional stager come through. We definitely want to get our professional photographer in there and so that's a must before we then go active and on the market. So within a week we can be live, but I know oftentimes it takes the seller longer to prepare their home, but once we are then active and on the market, then it's okay. What does your particular neighborhood and area look like as far as how quick a homes are selling as far as days on the market? So best case scenario, say your home went under contract the very first day it was on the market.

Speaker 2: (04:51)
Then if you are under contract with a buyer who's obtaining financing, I would expect approximately 30 days. Okay. So if you are rush, rush, rush, we'd have your home on the market in a week, there's seven days, you get an offer the very first day, we then have a 30 days for closing for a loan. We're looking at 37 to 40 days until closing. Now all of that can change once again because up front I'm depending or determining our active date based on you and as far as you get in your home ready to go. Um, and then what if also we go under contract and we get a cash offer immediately cash offers, we can get those closed in seven to 10 days. Also, not every home sells the first day, right? Let's be realistic. So it really is determined as far as the average days on the market for your area, for your price point. That can really dictate. So I would say very, very, very quick as they could ever be. Probably be 14 days because we have the cash buyer, we go into contract day one and you have your home ready to go within a week of us going active.

Speaker 1: (05:52)
Great question Shelly. Really appreciate you sending that one into us. And if you are thinking about selling your home in the near future

Speaker 2: (05:58)
and Jay, I know you've got that great tool that helps people find out how much their home is worth. Tell us how that works again. Yeah, most definitely. So I'm super cool tool that you can use from your smartphone. And so most people, they just want to get an idea of what their home is worth because if they don't get what they need or want for their home, they're not interested in selling, right? So if you are thinking about selling your home and you want to get an idea of what your home is worth in today's market, you can just text the word listing to the phone number five five five eight eight eight and then we will send you a text. Make sure that you click the link and input your address. We definitely need your address in order to give you an idea of what your home is worth.

Speaker 2: (06:37)
So once again, thinking about selling and you want to get an idea of what your home is worth in today's market, just text the word listing to the phone number by five five eight eight eight. Again, all you have to do is send a simple text, text the word listing to the number five five five eight eight eight again, text the word listing to the number five, five five eight eight eight and you can find out that potential home value right now. Oh, we've got one more question here from Elsa. Elsa is in Raleigh and says, how can I create a bidding war for my home in order to get the highest sales price? Also, this can be really tough. So first of all, it depends on your price point in your location of your current home. You know, some homes just you're not going to expect a bidding war, right?

Speaker 2: (07:20)
As we get higher price point, our pool of buyers will lessen. And so the likelihood of getting a multiple offer situation of course will decrease as well. So if you're hoping though to get a bidding war, it's all about, you know, how does a home look, right? Um, as far as curb appeal, when someone's walking in the door, making sure that the home shows, well, it's staged properly to give that wow effect. But then the biggest and most important thing is to make sure that we are priced correctly. So it's all about pricing. We want to make sure, of course we do not undervalue your home, but the biggest thing is we never want to overprice it. Overpricing a home in the long run can actually make you net less versus actually pricing your home correctly in the beginning. So we want to price your home properly.

Speaker 2: (08:09)
What's in line with the market with recent comparables, and of course our team can share those with you because if you price a home ride, you then have better luck driving the most amount of traffic and getting more than one offer and then creating that bidding war. You've been listening to the savvy real tour podcast. I'm Walter store Holt alongside Angie Cole. She's the owner and broker in charge of Aiko Realty here in the triangle. And if you have questions for Angie, we invite you to go online to a Cole realty.com listen to past podcast episodes on the website, read the blog and all the great information, including that option to find a home right there on the website. That's a Cole realty.com and you can also call Angie with your questions. (919) 578-3128