Are you thinking about selling your home but aren’t sure where to start? In this video, I’m going to walk you through the three stages of the home selling process so you know exactly what to expect. I’ll explain why understanding these stages will make your transaction smooth and keep stress to a minimum.

The Pre-Listing Stage

Selling your house can be a very stressful process. However, when you know exactly what to expect at every step of the way, you’re going to have a very smooth transaction from beginning to end. The first stage of the home selling process is what we call pre-listing.

The pre-listing stage is very important; it’s when you get your home ready before it goes on the market. Oftentimes, you may need to fix some items in the house, paint some rooms, declutter, and do all the things that will make your house look good in front of the eye of the buyers. The reason this stage is very important is that the first seven days after you go live on the market is the prime time for your listing. 

As your listing is in front of the eyes of potential buyers, they’ll be looking at other houses just like yours. If your property is not in tip-top shape, you probably going to lose showings or leave some money on the table. Having your property show-ready is probably the most crucial job that you have before you list your home on the market. 

One example of getting your home ready for listing is painting your cabinets. If a fresh coat of white paint to them could add $10,000 of value to your home, would you do it? At Expand Realty, we would love to expand all your thoughts and ideas about home selling, giving you ideas on how you can put more money in your pocket with less effort during the pre-listing stage.

Active On The Market

Getting your house in great shape includes us giving you all the advice and expertise that we have in the market, guiding you on what buyers are looking for and what’s important to them. When your property is show-ready and you did all the necessary fix-up, we’ll get out there with our marketing team to gather all the marketing information that we can. This includes photography, videography, and any other necessary items that our marketing team needs.

After that, we’re ready to present your home online in front of all the buyers on all the real estate websites. The second stage is called ‘active on the market.’ When all the marketing material is live on the market, your house is ready to show. The first two weeks after you’ve been active on the market is probably the most crucial time for your listing. This is the time the majority of buyers are looking at your home, wanting to see it in person and make an offer. 

This is why we are so aggressive in ensuring your property is in tip-top shape before we go on the market. During this time, you want to make sure your house is showing ready all the time. While we’re not in control of when buyers want to see the house, we want to make sure that we work with their schedule as much as we can. Our goal is to make sure they get inside of the house, take a look at the house, and then make an offer. 

The Pending Stage

Eventually, your house is going to receive offers. When we get the offers, negotiate with the buyer, and agree to the terms, we’re now in the stage called ‘pending.’ This is the time when you are under contract—but we’re not done yet.

Before closing, there’s still a lot of work to do. It usually takes about 30 to 45 days to go from pending to closing during this time. There are a lot of things that are going to happen. The buyer is going to inspect your property and will do a bunch of stuff with the financial institution, making sure the loan is ready for closing. This is also the time that your agent needs to do the majority of the job to make sure everything goes smooth and nothing gets delayed for your closing.

I’m Here To Help

I hope this helped you understand the three stages of selling your home: pre-listing, active, and pending. If you have any questions about selling your home or individual stages, please reach out to me. I’m here to answer any questions that you might have. If you’re just curious about your home value, I’d be happy to give you some guidance. 

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