Selling a Home
Every home tells a story. No other real estate team tells your home better. Hand over the keys, trust in the process, and prepare for outstanding results.
Selling a Home is a Big Decision
For most people, their home is their largest asset. Zackery & Maxwell are here to make sure you navigate the selling process with ease while realizing exemplary returns on your investment.
With the team's background in marketing, background , and their depth of market expertise, they've helped more than 400 sellers find success through their well-engineered process. Their track record is enviable with nearly 70% of homes they listed over the past five years seeing an above asking sales price. Here’s what you may expect in the listing process:
Seller Consultation
Step 1: The first step in the process is an initial listing appointment. During this meeting, we will meet with you at your home and provide information about our professional backgrounds and the state of the market. In return, we would love to hear about you and your selling goals, and answer all of your real estate questions. We will be as open and direct as possible and believe in a collaborative approach with our clients.
After an initial discussion, we will tour your home and ask detailed questions about the house. Once we have a clear picture of things, we will get to work on a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) report, which is a custom report for your home.
Determining Value
Step 2: In order to prepare the CMA report, we will each spend hours mining information, using a variety of factors to calculate the value of your home. We balance our research against current market trends and conditions, along with inventory levels, interest rates, and current buyer sentiment. We then compare and combine our findings to create a comprehensive CMA report, which includes the property valuation, key considerations, and recommendations for getting your home ready for market.
Once the report is complete, we will meet with you again to review our findings. We will go over any questions you may have, discuss the recommended prep items that will give you the greatest opportunity to maximize your returns, discuss what Agency looks like in Washington state and we will begin to form a plan for action.
Preparing for Market
Step 3: With construction and project management backgrounds, we are well equipped to help you manage repairs and improvements that will help attract buyers’ attention and boost your potential sales price. Whether conducting minor handyman work, installing new flooring, painting your home, coordinating pest remediation, refreshing landscaping, installing a new kitchen, or a host of other items, we have a network of professional vendors and resources ready to recommend. We will also propose staging options that fit the style of the home (or provide suggestions for decluttering and arranging furniture if the home is to remain owner occupied). And we will 100% be there along the way to gather bids, manage the work and guide the process. Once you have decided on the scope of work, we will develop a key milestone schedule, working backwards from our targeted list date so that we are all on the same page with the listing plan.
Learn How the We Can Financially Help You Prepare to List
Finalizing Strategy
Step 4: After the preparation is complete and the home is picture perfect ready, we will conduct a final assessment of the market. We will review the competition and sales activity, and make pricing and listing strategy recommendations, including whether or not to include an offer review date for your property. Together, we will set the listing plan, finalize all paperwork and get ready for market!
Marketing Your Home
Step 5: After the strategy is set, we will create a multi-channel marketing plan that’s specific to your home. Items may include:
- Professionally photographing your home by one of the top photographers in the area
- Developing a property narrative with key feature highlights
- Creating custom print marketing collateral
- Uploading the listing to all of the major real estate websites
- Conducting open houses and private broker tours
- Promoting the listing through social media
- A host of additional tools!
Client Communications
Step 6: Congratulations, your home is now live! Now that your house is listed, we know that there is often both a wave of excitement and an abundance of nerves. To help keep your emotions in check, we will provide you with regular communications about showing activity and broker feedback. We will stay nimble in our approach and recommend any adjustments that may come up that will strengthen your position in the market.
Reviewing and Negotiating Offer(s)
Step 7: Once we receive an offer (or multiple offers) on your house, we will help you measure the benefits and risks of the offer(s). We will review the price, the conditions and the terms and advise you on the overall strength and any potential red flags. In addition, we will reach out to the lender to confirm the buyer’s financial qualifications and purchasing power.
From there, we will work with you to decide how best to respond, including whether to accept or reject the offer or make a counteroffer. No matter which route you decide, we will always advocate for you and diligently work to gain the most favorable outcome. Our success lies in your success, which will continue well after you are under contract.
Escrow and Closing
Step 8: Once you are under contract on your home, you will be in the escrow period. During this time, a variety of key milestones will be established depending on the terms of the purchase and sale contract and the closing date. We will identify a schedule of activities such as buyer inspections, contract contingencies, and the lender appraisal, and provide regular communication updates throughout the closing process. In addition, we will check in with the buyer’s agent and buyer’s lender regularly to help ensure that things are moving smoothly towards closing.
Transferring Keys
Step 9: After the paperwork is received and reviewed by escrow and the funds have cleared, they will release the documents to be recorded with the county. Once recording numbers are received, you will have officially sold your house and we will transfer keys to the new owners.