Home Seller's Checklist: Everything You Need to Know to Get the Highest Price for Your House

Terms of Use......Page 5
Want to learn more?......Page 6
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgments......Page 19
Preface......Page 21
Have I evaluated the appearance of my home?......Page 25
Does my house make a good first impression?......Page 26
Is my front sidewalk or driveway in good shape?......Page 27
Have I manicured my bushes?......Page 28
Have I painted the front of my house?......Page 29
Does the rest of the exterior of my house need work?......Page 30
Is the transom solid and clean?......Page 31
Is my carpet clean?......Page 32
Is the kitchen modern and airy looking?......Page 33
Is my bathroom tidy?......Page 34
Is the inside of my house light and airy?......Page 35
Are there any pet odors?......Page 36
Have I cleaned up my back and side yards?......Page 37
Do I use my garage for storage?......Page 38
Can you evaluate the condition of my home?......Page 39
What about the heating/air?......Page 40
What about the plumbing?......Page 41
Is the carpet in good enough condition to sell the house?......Page 42
Is there anything detracting about the house that you see?......Page 43
Do I have a recommendation for a good agent?......Page 44
Have I gone to “open houses” in my area?......Page 45
Have I interviewed that agent?......Page 46
Did I get pressured by the agent?......Page 47
Does the agent know all about homes in my area?......Page 48
Does the agent seem honest?......Page 49
Would I be willing to trust this agent with my personal finances?......Page 50
Have I checked with my state’s department of real estate?......Page 51
Are you a licensed agent?......Page 52
Are you a salesperson or a broker?......Page 53
How many homes did you list last year?......Page 54
Of those, how many sold?......Page 55
How did you present the offers on those that sold?......Page 56
On how many sales did you represent both the seller and the buyer?......Page 57
How often do you plan on calling to tell me how things are going?......Page 58
Will you put my property on the Multiple Listing Service?......Page 59
What kind of “open house” will you hold?......Page 60
Will you create flyers about my house?......Page 61
Will you act as a seller’s agent, buyer’s agent, or dual agent?......Page 62
What professional organizations do you belong to?......Page 63
Are you the focus of any real estate lawsuits?......Page 64
Have I received a comparative market analysis from an agent?......Page 65
Have I become a pretend buyer for a weekend?......Page 66
Have I taken into account recent price increases?......Page 67
Have I determined the inventory of unsold houses?......Page 68
Have I considered the economy?......Page 69
How price sensitive are buyers?......Page 70
Can I afford to sell?......Page 71
Should I call in an appraiser?......Page 72
Do you suggest absentee pricing?......Page 73
Do You Suggest Underpricing?......Page 74
Do you suggest range-pricing?......Page 75
What can I do to improve my home’s for-sale value?......Page 76
Should I get a formal appraisal?......Page 77
Have I decided on a commission rate?......Page 79
Have I decided for how long to list?......Page 80
Do I understand the listing agreement?......Page 81
Has the agent asked for my “power-of-attorney?”......Page 83
Has my attorney reviewed the listing?......Page 84
Are you happy with my listing?......Page 85
What kind of listing do you want?......Page 86
If you are an independent, will you list on the MLS?......Page 89
What commission rate do you want?......Page 90
Is there a title company/escrow company you insist on using?......Page 91
What if I do some of the work?......Page 92
Who gets any forfeited deposit?......Page 93
What can happen if I don’t disclose defects?......Page 94
What sorts of things must I disclose?......Page 95
What if I play hardball and refuse to fix a problem I didn’t disclose?......Page 96
Should I fix the problem myself?......Page 97
Is there a time limit for disclosures?......Page 98
Should I disclose a roof leak?......Page 99
Should I disclose nonpermitted additions?......Page 100
Should I disclose a death or murder in the house?......Page 101
Should I disclose water problems?......Page 102
Should I disclose the existence of black mold?......Page 103
Should I disclose soil problems?......Page 104
Should I disclose a bad fireplace?......Page 105
Should I disclose any homeowners’ association problems?......Page 106
Should I disclose any other problems or possible problems?......Page 107
Will you make your own disclosures to the buyers?......Page 108
Is there anything I should fix immediately?......Page 109
Is there anything I should hide from the buyers?......Page 110
How much time should I give the buyers?......Page 111
Should I require a copy of the report?......Page 112
Should I go along with the inspector?......Page 113
Should I agree to fix the problems?......Page 114
Do I have to produce earlier inspection reports?......Page 115
Can I save money by doing corrective work myself?......Page 116
Should I pay for corrective termite work?......Page 117
Can I refuse to sell if the termite repair work is too costly?......Page 118
Can I demand a different person do the work?......Page 119
Should I renegotiate the price?......Page 120
Are there alternatives?......Page 121
Do I understand the buyer’s offer?......Page 123
Are there contingencies in the buyer’s offer?......Page 124
Can I limit the buyer’s contingencies?......Page 125
Should I make a counteroffer?......Page 126
Should I counter on price?......Page 127
Should I counter the contingencies?......Page 128
What if they reject it?......Page 129
Should I walk away?......Page 130
How long should I give the buyers to accept my counter?......Page 131
Will the buyer’s agent, or you, or both present the offer?......Page 132
What constitutes a good offer?......Page 133
Should I accept?......Page 134
Will you present my counter?......Page 135
Have you any suggestions on how to make the deal work?......Page 136
Am I promoting my lifestyle?......Page 137
Have I increased the lighting as much as possible?......Page 138
Have I made my patio area as presentable as possible?......Page 139
Do you allow signs on the property?......Page 140
Can I allow buyers in the front gate/door?......Page 141
How can the buyer get a list of architectural restrictions?......Page 142
Are there any active lawsuits pending?......Page 143
Are there any known physical problems with the building(s)?......Page 144
Do I want to save on the commission?......Page 146
Will the market allow me to do it?......Page 147
Am I willing to show my home to strangers?......Page 148
Do I really have time for this?......Page 149
What about a fee-for-service broker?......Page 150
Should I pay for advertising?......Page 151
Do I really need to bother with flyers?......Page 152
If I get a buyer, do I know how to prepare the sales agreement?......Page 153
What if the buyer wants my special chair?......Page 154
Should I offer to co-broke?......Page 155
Have I set a time limit?......Page 156
Have I analyzed where the market is?......Page 157
What if I sell “by owner”?......Page 158
Have I talked to my lender?......Page 159
Have I talked to my financial advisor?......Page 160
Am I current on my payments?......Page 161
Have I considered a “deed in lieu of foreclosure”?......Page 162
Have I considered asking for a short sale?......Page 163
Have I considered “trading places”?......Page 164
Will you help me refinance?......Page 165
Will you accept a short sale?......Page 166
What is the foreclosure process?......Page 167
Do I understand what an escrow is?......Page 168
Has escrow been opened?......Page 169
Is my agent taking charge of the closing?......Page 170
Has the buyer increased the deposit?......Page 171
Are there any problems with the buyer’s loan?......Page 172
Are there any problems with the house?......Page 173
Have I called in a pest control company?......Page 174
Does my agent call me regularly and keep me informed?......Page 175
Do I have to pay escrow and title fees?......Page 176
Do I understand “prorations”?......Page 177
Do I know of any extra charges?......Page 178
Have I contacted the escrow officer and set up a time for signing the final papers?......Page 179
Do I understand all of the closing documents?......Page 180
Have I arranged for transfer of the key?......Page 181
Will you check the abstract of title for me?......Page 182
Will you handle the “termite clearance”?......Page 183
Will you attend the closing with me?......Page 184
Are there any problems?......Page 185
Do I understand the difference between “profit” and “gain”?......Page 186
Will I have a capital gain on the sale of my property?......Page 187
Do I understand the tax exclusion on homes?......Page 188
What if I recently converted the home from an investment property to my principal residence?......Page 189
Do I qualify for the home exclusion?......Page 190
Is there anything tax-wise that I’m overlooking?......Page 191
Understanding the Terminology......Page 192
Credit Bureaus and Organizations......Page 205
Other Related Organizations......Page 206
Index......Page 209
About the Author......Page 221