5 Questions About Home Selling To Ask a Realtor

   By Ashley Melton, Realtor® 

Selling your house can seem like a daunting task. If you're considering selling your house in the next year, bookmark these 5 questions to ask before you do anything else.

5. What Should I Disclose to Potential Buyers?

Before you even sell your home, it's a good idea to address any issues you're aware of. If you know of damage to the roof, broken tiles, etc. you can make sure they're repaired before listing the home or, at the very least, be upfront about anything you know of to avoid potential problems when you're under contract and even potential lawsuits. You could take things a step further and get a pre-listing home inspection but it's not necessary.

South Carolina has a property disclosure form, and though the agent can't complete this for you, they can assist if a seller is uncertain about what to disclose.

4. Can I determine how much my home is worth from an internet website?

The short answer is, no. Third-party real estate sites like Zillow and Trulia aren't local to every real estate market so they rely on formulas and algorithms to generate home values. This means they're not as accurate as a Realtor® who pulls information from the MLS, and tax records and creates a comparative market analysis based on location and home condition. 

Can you use one of these sites when researching? Sure, but do so with the understanding that they're not accurate and the estimates could be off by a little - or a lot.

3. Should I price my home higher to leave room for negotiations?

This is a common question from sellers, and it's an approach that causes friction between family members when deciding on the list price of their homes. I've worked with sellers wanting to price homes $20,000 and in some cases higher than my suggestion in the hopes that they can capture the best price during negotiations. The real answer is that homes should always be priced to sell. 

Whether you're selling your home in a buyer's market or a seller's market, a home listed within an appropriate price range will create the most interest and eventually sell close to the listing price. In this market, we aren't seeing a need for "room to negotiate" so pricing your home attractively is leading to multiple offer situations and above list price as well.

2. How will you market my home?

A well-rounded, comprehensive marketing plan to sell your home should be expected from any qualified Realtor you speak with. While traditional efforts should still be used such as a sign in the yard. Gone are the days of an ad in a real estate magazine and a postcard in the mail and that's it.

With over 90% of home buyers starting their home search online, it's important that when you’re looking to choose the best Realtor® to help you sell your home - they should have an active presence online, a high-quality website, a blog with helpful content, and they employ targeted social media ads so you know your listing is getting the maximum exposure.

1. How will we communicate?

Your Realtor should always ask what your preferred method of communication is, whether it's phone, email, or text. I always let the clients decide what the best way to communicate is. If I have a lot of important stuff to say, I usually email and we can follow up with a phone call if further clarification is needed. Another important bit of information to ask about is whether or not the agent has a system in place to provide feedback after a showing.

Conclusion

Asking questions is not only a good idea, it's imperative. The more information you have about the home selling process, the fewer problems you'll have leading up to closing and the better your decisions will be about any issues that do come up.

Want to know the MOST asked questions I get from home sellers - including the strangest question I’ve been asked? Then check out my full article, “The Top 10 Questions About Home Selling To Ask a Realtor”

   By Ashley Melton, Realtor®