The processes in a real estate transaction are different depending on whether you are the buyer or seller. Certain steps need to be taken by various parties at different stages to complete the sale of a house or condo. These parties include the buyer, seller, real estate agents, lending and insurance companies and legal professionals.
Here’s a quick overview of the steps needed to be taken by both the seller and buyer at the different stages of their transaction.
The seller and agent
Get an agent
- A homeowner looking to sell their home should first hire an agent. There’s just simply too much work and processes involved in selling a home for most people to be able to do it to their best interest. You can choose to go the For Sale By Owner (FSBO) route, but it’s often the case that hiring a real estate professional pays for itself.
Set a price
- Here’s where an agent can really help you successfully sell your home quickly for its best price. Set the price too low and you’re obviously losing out. Set it too high and you’re unlikely to sell any time soon. Real estate agents will know what the prices are in your location for your type of property. After seeing your home and evaluating its specific features and condition, they’ll be able to help you set an accurate price.
Get your home ready for staging
- Many agents can either help you directly prepare your home for staging or have professionals who can. They know what appeals to buyers and will get your home ready for home viewings or the increasingly popular virtual tour.
Get your house listed
- Your agent will put your house on the market. This means putting your home on any multiple listing service (MLS) that they belong to. This makes the availability of your property known to the larger audience of other agents and buyers.
Accommodate offers and close
- Then it’s the case of reviewing offers with the advice of your agent and seeing which one is best for you. The agent will then help you with the steps to close the transaction and transfer ownership of the house.
Learn more: The complete guide to selling your home
The buyer and agent
Review your finances
- Generally, you have to be in a stable financial situation to even consider buying a house. This is because if you don’t have the credit score to get a home loan approval, your house buying journey is on hold till you do.
Hire an real estate professional
- As with sellers, maybe even more so with buyers, hiring a real estate agent often pays for itself. The processes involved in buying a home are complicated and numerous and if you have a busy life and family, you may not be able to fully focus on getting the best outcome. An agent can help and advise you through almost all the processes of buying a home.
Get pre-approved then approved for a loan
- Getting a preapproval and then an approval for a home loan will not only make it easier to make bids on houses, it will ensure that you are able to close the deal. Once you have preapproval, you can confidently start bidding on homes.
Offer, appraise, and close
- When you make an offer, your agent should be able to advise as to what you should offer, given the market trends and their local knowledge. You then need to have the home appraised by the lender or bank to see if the house matches or is within range of their own evaluation. When all this has been done satisfactorily and the seller accepts your offer, your agent will take you through the closing process.
Learn more: The complete guide to buying a home
These are just some of the actions needed for a real estate transaction. For further help in buying or selling your home, get in touch with our associates at David DePaola & Company Real Estate in New Jersey. Call 609.731.0581 or send an email to david(at)depaola(dotted)com. You can also drop your message here.