Getting your Home Ready for the Market 

Do some pre-listing prep, but don’t spend a ton of money

Declutter, get it professionally cleaned and do some touch up painting if needed. No need to spend thousands on improvements when buyers are chomping at the bit for homes.

Get your termite inspection done before listing

It’s customary for the buyer to have a termite inspection done during the inspection period. It’s also customary for any termite repairs to be paid for by the sellers. If you get your termite inspection done prior to listing your home, you can build the cost into your counter offer. If you’re fortunate enough to receive several offers, a buyer would be more than happy to take on the termite expense if that means they win the house. And the inspection fee is only $75!

Make sure you price it right

It’s almost impossible to underprice a home – the market will bid it up. However, many sellers make the mistake of overpricing their home. An overpriced home will sit on the market, and when a buyer sees a home has been on the market for 14+ days, the inevitable price drop will be too late to create the buying frenzy that was missed in the first week.

 

Choosing Your Buyer

Be careful to not automatically accept the cash offer

Cash offers have become quite common. And sellers tend to love them since it’s considered a less risky offer. In fact, sometimes sellers will accept a lower priced cash offer over the financed offer even when the financed offer has a large down payment. However, there’s been a trend lately – the fake cash buyer. Yes, the buyer has the funds to close with cash (or at least look like they do), and they decide during escrow that they want to get a loan of some kind. It’s not a big issue for the seller since there will be no loan or appraisal contingency, but you may have passed up a higher offer thinking the cash offer was a slam dunk with no underwriting to worry about. That’s not always the case.   

Beware of the buyer who offers way above everyone else

We often refer to these as “bully offers”. Quite often, they come in with such a “too good to pass up” offer that the seller feels inclined to quickly accept. This is often a tactic just to win and they either change their mind (because they made offers on several homes), or they try to renegotiate the price during the inspection. Then, once you come back on the market, you lost that initial buyer excitement. This is also a common tactic of investor buyers.

Expect the appraisal contingency to be waived

Many sellers are worried about accepting a very high offer due to the potential appraisal issue. To alleviate this, many buyers are waiving the appraisal contingency up front. That doesn’t mean the buyer won’t get an appraisal (the lender will require one), it just means that if it comes in lower than the purchase price, the buyer will make up any gap between the purchase price and appraised value. That’s why a large down payment is appealing – the buyer has the cash to make up the difference if needed. Surprisingly though, appraisals haven’t been much of an issue in this rapidly appreciating market.

Ask for a rent back

If you’re planning on buying another house, you won’t be able to pull it off if your purchase would be contingent on selling your current house. Best solution is to negotiate a rent back (usually 60 days and frequently free) so you can close on your current house and buy your new house non-contingent.

 

Are you selling your Conejo Valley home?

 

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