There can be as many reasons for selling your home as there are sellers in the market. But understanding why you are selling is a critical first step as you start down the selling path. Even in the easiest of sales, there will be times when you stop and ask yourself, "now WHY am I selling again?" as you remember the corner where your child took his or her first step, memories of happy parties in the back yard or all the hard work you put into the home remodel.

Believe me, these quandaries are entirely normal. But if you think through your logic early in the process, you'll at least have the reassurance that you have made good decisions and that the results will be worth your effort in the long run.

Keep these things in mind as you're thinking of putting your house on the market:

• Have you explored your options? If you finished the basement, would you have the room you need for your growing family? Or would other improvements make your home "livable?" Sometimes, especially when you have little or no equity in your home, making improvements is more cost effective than selling.
  

• So why are you putting your home on the market? Has your family out grown your current space? Being relocated? Having a concrete reason "why" you are selling will help you as you make decisions later.
  

• What is your timeframe? Do you need to report to your new office in another state in 30 days? Or are you waiting for your new home to be built?
  

• Who will need to be involved in the sale? Whoever is on the title will need to be part of the listing/selling process and at the closing table.
  

• Understand your financial obligations. Gather the Note Pages from your Closing packet. If you have refinanced during the time you've owned your home, take the most recent Closing packet. If you've taken a second mortgage on your home, include those papers as well. You'll need to be able to provide these documents, as well as contact information and account information for your lender(s) to your listing agent.
  

• Ask for a "Sellers Net Equity" statement from your listing agent. Your agent will be able to tell you approximately how much you will gain from the sale of the house, based on a specific price. This will tell you how much you might have for a down payment or if selling is a good idea at this time.
  

• You can't control everything.
  You may have to make sacrifices if you are inflexible about dates, selling price, etc.
  
  Take a look at this diagram:
  
  
  
  The Selling Triangle works very simply.
  You generally will be able to control only 1 item (Time, Price, Quality).
  What is the most important to you?

• You must sell at a certain Price, therefore are willing to spend more Time marketing your home and use fewer high Quality marketing material to do so

• You must sell by a particular Time, an so are willing to lower your Price and and use fewer high Quality marketing material to do so.

• You are only interested in high Quality promotional items, and therefore are willing to maintain a higher Price point, and wait out the market (Time).

Consider what is the most important item to you, and then discuss this with your agent at your listing meeting.

• Be honest with your Listing Agent. After you've selected an agent, go into your first meeting prepared to discuss all of these points - your worries, your fears, your bottom line and your needs. The more open and honest you are with your agent, treating them like a partner in this endeavor, the better your chances will be for selling your home successfully with the least amount of stress possible.

Contact Me:  info@pamkepner.com    410-267-1747   410-280-0064