The path to selling your home
Selling a home can feel overwhelming for anyone who goes through the process, no matter if it’s your first or fifth time. Part of the issue is that each selling experience is unique to the situation. If you’re looking to sell a home in 2024, you’ll likely have to deal with these factors:
- Mortgage rates are higher than they’ve been in the last few years
- There aren’t enough homes for sale
- Home prices have been growing steadily over the last few years
Taking all of those together, it could make 2024 a good time to sell your home. You may find that you have many interested buyers and will be able to get offers at a price you’ll be happy with.
If you’re looking to put your house on the market, it’s important to take into consideration what you want the outcome of your sale to be. Are you focused on a speedy sale or getting the best/highest offer? Do you need flexibility with your move date? To help guide you through the selling process, we’ve mapped out the most common path home sellers take when putting their home on the market.
Before you put your home for sale
With rates on a rollercoaster lately, consider locking down a rate that you could pass on to the person who buys your home. Our RateReduce Sell program lets you lock a mortgage rate for up to 60 days: 30 days for you to find a buyer and 30 days for your buyer to close.*
This will make your home much more attractive to potential homebuyers and can help your home stand out. Talk to a loan officer about RateReduce Sell today.
The 5 steps necessary to a simple home sale
Step 1: Consult with a listing specialist
Once you’ve decided it’s time to make the move and you’re ready to sell your house, the first phone call you should make is to a real estate agent. They’ll likely schedule a time for you to meet over coffee or at their office to discuss your situation. Treat this like an interview; during this meeting you’ll review pricing, strategy, and tips to make your listing a must-see home.
It’s also important that you like your agent and the two of you feel comfortable working together. If you like what they have to say, this is the point where you hire them as your agent. Since they represent you and your listing, their role is often described as a listing agent or seller’s agent.
Step 2: Prepare your home
You’ve got your listing agent and are now ready to get your home on the market. That means it’s time to prepare your home for its big debut. You’ll want it to look its best—inside and out—for showings and in photographs.
There are the classic attributes that set your home’s value. However, there are little things you can do that elevate your home’s value when being viewed by a potential buyer. Your agent should help create a report for best ways to stage your home to maximize its appeal. This involves a pre-sale inspection, taking photographs, and giving you general staging advice and unique tips on what the market is looking for right now.
For today’s market, buyers are used to starting the process by looking at online listings, where they’ll see photographs of every corner of your property. And with the latest technology, you’ll want to be prepared to do a virtual showing.
Step 3: Set your price.
Now that your home is ready for the eyes of the market, it’s time to figure out what price to set it for. You’ll likely want to choose an asking price that will net you the most money when you close the deal, but not so high that it scares off potential buyers.
The easiest way to get a general idea of what your home is worth is by using an online home evaluation tool. This is also a time to talk with your real estate agent on setting expectations and what potential price adjustments you’d be willing to make based on the offers you receive. Depending on your situation, a lower price point may be the better option if it helps you sell faster and dodge having to pay two mortgages at once.
One way you can sweeten the deal for a homebuyer, without reducing your price, is to offer a temporary buydown, like our Rate Reduce program. You can offer to fund a Rate Reduce loan as a seller’s concession, and your buyer will then have a lower mortgage rate for the first year (or two or three) of their loan.
Step 4: Finish the sale.
Once you’ve gone through the above, you’re ready to let people come see your home. Hopefully, and if you’ve staged and priced your home well, you’ll start getting offers from interested buyers. Once you receive an offer that works for you, there are a few steps you have to take.
This is the time for you and your agent to negotiate the inspections of your home. It’s likely that the buyer will hire a home inspector to evaluate everything from electric to plumbing. If they catch anything that raises a red flag, you can negotiate if you’ll pay for it right off the bat or be willing to work in a credit so they may hire someone to come in and fix what’s needed.
Once you’ve agreed on acceptable terms, obtain a loan commitment so you don’t have to start back at square one of finding a buyer.
Step 5: Close & Move.
You’re done! You have sold your home and are ready to make the move to your next chapter.
For any more help in the home selling or homebuying process we’re here for you. Be aware that buying and selling at the same time can be quite the juggling act. For any more help, work with one of our loan officers for a simple mortgage process.
Applicant subject to credit and underwriting approval. Not all applicants will be approved for financing. Receipt of application does not represent an approval for financing or interest rate guarantee. Restrictions may apply, contact Guaranteed Rate Affinity for current rates and for more information.
Guaranteed Rate Affinity does not provide tax advice. Please contact your tax adviser for any tax related questions.
*Sellers may sign a Lock It, List It Agreement with {company name} to secure a lock on seller's departing residence, lasting 30 days, by paying an upfront fee which is higher for high balance loans. If and when a buyer submits an application for financing in relation to the departing residence then an additional 30 days will be added to buyer's lock. Seller is required to contribute seller paid points which must be applied towards a permanent rate buy down only. Upfront lock fee may be refundable if the buyer's loan closes. If the lock expires, is cancelled, or if the borrower withdraws and a new borrower is not found within the lock time parameters, then the upfront fee will not be refunded to the seller. Eligible for fixed rate, purchase transactions of primary residences. Seller must acquire a binding purchase contract for departing residence. Minimum FICO score and down payment requirements apply. Applicants subject to credit and underwriting approval. Buyer's interest rate may be higher depending on their qualifying information. Additional restrictions apply.