Gearing up to sell your home? Congrats! Selling is a pretty major step, and it often means new opportunities are around the corner. But before you start planning out your post-sale life, it's important to make sure that everything is taken care of for the process itself.
From the first few steps of finding the right agent to the final steps of closing, here's the complete timeline for selling your Albuquerque home! Any questions along the way? Feel free to give the Feil Team a call.
Before Listing Your Home in Albuquerque
There's a lot more to selling a home than just sticking a For Sale sign in the front yard—you need to put in a little prep work, first!
2+ Months Out:
Find an Experienced Local Agent
Not only will a local agent be able to break down Albuquerque real estate trends, but we'll also be able to use our experience and connections to make your selling process as seamless and stress-free as possible. From sharing your listing with other agents and their clients to recommending top legal counsel, we can help every step of the way!
Find out more about what else we bring to the table.
6-8 Weeks Out:
Consider Repairs and Improvements
Before you list your home, you want to be sure it's ready for the prying eyes of the most cautious buyers. We can complete a walkthrough of your home, recommending repairs and improvements that can take your space to the next level.
A few value-boosting upgrades that you can easily DIY include projects like throwing some new paint up on your walls, refinishing floors, replacing old roof or siding, fine-tuning your gardening or landscaping, or installing modern hardware and fixtures. You might be surprised at how far these small updates go!
4-8 Weeks Out:
Set the Price Right
One of the key aspects of a successful sale is making sure your home is priced exactly right. Price too low, and you'll miss out on maximizing your investment. Price too high, and you'll decrease your pool of serious buyers—and maybe even have to drop the price. While you can certainly use an automatic online home estimator, those won't take into account any recent upgrades you've made, and they often use outdated information.
Want to make sure you have the most accurate and competitive price possible? We can help with that.
1-4 Week(s) Out:
Prep Your Home
Hopefully you've already started the packing process, but if you haven't, now's the time to get the ball rolling. Declutter your decor, downsize your furniture, and do away with any messes still left in your home. You should make sure every corner, crack, and crevice is deep cleaned, from the mysterious stains on the carpet to the dust bunnies under the bed.
Once that's taken care of, it's time for staging. You want to make your home look as inviting as possible to potential buyers, and we've got a few tips to get you started!
The Selling Process Of Your Albuquerque Home
The prep work is done, and now it's time to sell! Here's everything you need to know about attracting buyers and handling offers.
Market Your Home:
Selling a home is all about finding the right buyers, and you won't find the right buyers if they don't even know your home is on the market! Luckily, we can help with that. From social media platforms to our website to local contacts and more, we'll plan out an in-depth marketing strategy to help make sure all of the right buyers know that your home is for sale.
Show Your Home:
Since we'll take care of the showing process, you'll need to make sure your home is ready to go at all times. After all, a buyer may request to see your home with only a few hours notice, and you may not have enough time to clean and vacate the premises before then. Save yourself the extra steps, and ensure that your space is clean, organized, and properly staged as often as possible!
Negotiate and Accept:
Finally, a buyer is interested in your home! First, they'll make you a written offer, which usually states how much they'll pay, their mortgage amount, closing and occupancy dates, and any contingencies. You have two choices: accept or negotiate for other terms.
Negotiations can include your own contingencies, like a first right of refusal if your buyer's offer is contingent on selling their home, making the offer contingent on you buying another home, or adding any contingencies for closing dates or financing.
Closing the Sale Of Your Home in Albuquerque
You've negotiated with your buyer and accepted an offer—but your work isn't quite done yet. Make sure you're prepared for the final few steps of buying!
Sign a Purchase Agreement:
Once an offer has been agreed upon by both parties, you'll need to sign a legal contract called a Purchase and Sale Agreement, which outlines the specific terms, conditions, and contingencies of the home sale. If you have any questions about the contents, just let us know!
Cooperate with Inspections:
Next, the buyer will hire an inspector to comb through your home and look for any areas of concern. If you do have any major issues, you should've disclosed them before this process, otherwise you could end up in hot water. The inspector will go through every inch of the house, paying extra attention to areas like the roof, basement, heating and cooling systems, structure, plumbing, and electrical. If anything comes up during the inspection, the buyer has the power to negotiate repairs or a decreased price.
Enter Escrow:
Next, you'll enter escrow. During this time, you and your agent will work with an escrow company to finish up more paperwork and make sure that all parts of the contract are complete.
Sign, Pay, and Finalize!
Closing day is finally here! On a predetermined closing date, you and your buyer will sit down with your agents to sign all the paperwork and pay all your fees. You'll hand over your keys and property title, then receive a check for the remaining balance (after the rest of your mortgage is paid back to the bank or lender). Congrats—you've sold your home!
Ready to Sell Your Home in Albuquerque?
The first step? Give your trusted local agents a call! In addition to our selling timeline, we also offer a wide variety of other resources, including home evaluation tools, staging tips, and steps to selling. No matter where you are in the selling process, we'll be around to answer your questions every step of the way!
Not quite ready to sell? That's alright—we have plenty of tools for you to explore in the meantime.