Yajnesh Rai

THE WOODLANDS, TX (August 25, 2015) – Selling your home can seem a daunting task. When you close that deal, you want to make sure that your home goes to the best buyer for the best price. But there are a lot of details to work through. It may seem cheaper to sell your home yourself, and many do; however, there are a lot of details to work through.

“Selling your home through a Realtor can help you make sure you get the best value overall,” said Kimberly Nicole, a Realtor based in The Woodlands who caters to upscale, elite homes and their clientele. She is an accredited Luxury Home Specialist and Luxury Corporate Relocation Specialist who is affiliated with Weichert Realtors and Brookfield Global Relocation Services. She specializes in high-end Montgomery, Harris, Magnolia and Walker County listings. Beginning in commercial realty, she has successfully segued into residential – with more than $12 million in sales last year alone – with her company that has been rated 61st in the nation.

Kimberly offers seven reasons why you should use a Realtor instead of selling your home yourself:

Realtors Know How to Navigate the Process – A Realtor is the manager of your home-buying process. Kimberly explains that, right in the beginning, you and your Realtor begin with extensive discussions to head off any road blocks later on. Your Realtor is aware of your concerns, needs and priorities. They are there from the beginning to end, navigating each step of the way with you. Selling real estate can be a tricky business, full of regulations and involved steps. Your Realtor works for you, staying on top of the latest regulations and helping you meet them.
Realtors Know How to Professionally List the Property – In the age of Web 2.0, it’s not enough to upload your phone photos to a few random sites. Buyers expect professional photos, videos, and flawless online presentation. To get the most exposure, you also need to manage your listing across multiple channels. Realtors will do all this for you, including coordinating with photographers and videographers to make sure your listing is top-notch. “Hitting the right emotional and responsive chords with buyers is the goal,” Kimberly said. “Determine who the likely audience is, and market directly to that audience.”
Realtors Know How to Prepare Sellers – Before you sell, your home must be in the best repair possible. Your Realtor can advise you on what repairs need to be done, and they frequently know good contractors. You may have to have inspections done before you sell, and probably have to do repairs. A Realtor can set up any required inspections and instruct you on how to prepare. Sometimes homeowners will take out a loan against the house to finance costly repairs, but this can’t be done while the house is on the market. A Realtor may help assess the situation, and then wait to list it, until the repairs are completed.
Realtors Can Help Sellers Prepare for Showings – “Staging is extremely important,” Kimberly said. “That first impression is vital.” Not only do all of the repairs need to be done, but if you still live there, the place must be kept cleaned and staged. This means everything from maintaining “curbside appeal” to the little details, like placing out a plate of cookies or laying out your best dishes in a table setting. She advises that a home must be open and inviting, and that smells, pets and lighting must all be taken into consideration. “We don’t want a home not selling because a buyer can’t see their own furniture in the home.” Your Realtor may also advise you to de-clutter certain closets, and rearrange rooms. They may explain which personal touches add a “homey” look and which things detract from a potential buyer envisioning their own decor.
Realtors Can Help Get Buyers Through the Doors – Realtors not only get the traffic in, they know how to manage it. They can arrange and hold open houses in a way that you can get as many visitors as possible. They also work with buyers so that showings are more convenient for you. This is especially important if you still live in the house. Realtors may also help weed through potential candidates so that you don’t waste your times with no-shows or non-serious buyers. “If a person needs to sell a house, before buying another, the seller needs to know this,” Kimberly said. This all factors in to final decisions and net proceeds.
Realtors Know How to Objectively Negotiate – You may think preparing and showing your home may be stressful, but receiving offers can be difficult. “The goal is to get the most money as the seller, and as the buyer the goal is to look at market value and if it’s priced appropriately. You don’t want to present an offer that’s an insult to the seller. “A Realtor can help you stay reasonable, without letting you take a lowball offer either. They will also be there to navigate a multi-bid and renegotiations. “Renegotiations fall apart all the time, and deals frequently don’t come through,” Kimberly said. “Each side has different concerns, and each party needs to know where the other stands.” Closing can be a confusing process, and there is a lot of paperwork to sign. Your Realtor has been through this many times and can explain everything you are signing and why. If you have any questions on anything, your Realtor is right there.
Realtors Know the Area – “The key to a good agent,” Kimberly said, “Is knowing the area. To go with an agent that doesn’t know the area is unwise.” They know what the property values are, and have a good idea of future market fluctuations, and they know where and how to list your property for best results. “Having a home listed on MLS is not enough,” she said. A good realtor that is knowledgeable of the area is essential to getting the best deal on your home.
To learn more about the real estate market in The Woodlands and Houston metro areas, or to learn about what a Realtor will do for you, visit www.kim4yourluxuryhome.com or call 281-655-4443 or 281-652-6725.

– See more at: http://fatcatwebproductions.com/ThePaper_2014/md-thenews/content/seven-reasons-why-you-should-use-realtor-sell-your-home-instead-selling-it-yourself#sthash.v27iBwuI.dpuf

[wr_text text_margin_top=”0″ text_margin_bottom=”0″ enable_dropcap=”no” appearing_animation=”0″ disabled_el=”no” ]Tom Sauerman and his wife, Sue, are still active in East Falls and continue to be members of the East Falls Village seniors club. He is a former president of the East Falls Community Council.

But after 35 years, they made a deliberate decision to sell their beloved home and move into a continuing-care retirement community, Cathedral Village, not far away.

“We moved 21/2 years ago, when I was 77 and my wife was 74, and we were both in good health,” Tom Sauerman recalls.

Their journey offers a road map for those contemplating independent- or assisted-living facilities or retirement homes.

Start by developing a plan and a timetable; allow up to two years to complete the process. When selling a house, engage a real estate agent who knows your neighborhood well, and don’t overvalue the property. And finally, Sauerman advises, “start decluttering – now!”

The couple recognized opposing forces at work. One was the urge to stay put.

“We were in good health, so there was no rush. We could wait on selling the house until the market improved, put off all that downsizing work. Our friends thought we were crazy to leave before needing to go anywhere,” he says.

The other was their desire to go forward in life.

“Do it while you’re in control of everything,” he says. “Don’t wait until you have to depend on your kids to help sell the house, make the move, or care for the remaining spouse. The sooner you get out from under house and property care, the sooner you can be free of those expenses and concerns, the sooner you can really enjoy retirement and have the time to do what gives you pleasure.”

Financial advisers are a must when shopping for a retirement-home option.

“When I have a client who’s looking at a retirement facility, I tell them that they should insist on getting the financials from that place,” says Mark Blair, founder of Blair Wealth Management, a registered investment adviser based in Newtown Square.

“People sometimes buy into communities which are poorly managed or go bankrupt. Make sure to have someone with a finance background analyze the establishment’s financial records and ask: Are they overly leveraged? Does the retirement place have a lot of debt? Or are they in good shape?”

Blair has personally dealt with these questions: A sibling with multiple sclerosis lives in a nursing home locally, at a cost of about $13,000 a month.

“Any institution should provide you audited financials,” he says. “If they won’t provide it, look elsewhere. Why should they hide that from you?”

Costs range from $40,000 to $100,000 a year for an independent living community, depending on how upscale you want it to be, says Blair.

A continuing-care retirement community usually requires a purchase of about $400,000, plus maintenance fees.

Assisted-living facilities average yearly costs of $44,000 to $53,000, Blair estimates.

The Sauermans looked at more than a dozen places before settling on Cathedral Village in Philadelphia.

“The first one we liked, we requested its financial reports and sent them to our banker son. He and a nursing-home specialist in his bank’s commercial loan department reviewed them. The facility was heavily financed and could result in sizable annual increases of the monthly fees,” Sauerman says.

Coping with the clutter

Decluttering “holds people back from starting to act on their future,” Sauerman says.

After 57 years of marriage, the couple had every closet jammed. “Today, we live in a two-bedroom apartment and have yet to find something that we ‘need’ from our former home,” he says.

They began with a “men’s weekend” with two sons and a grandson to initiate the decluttering while Sue Sauerman visited a friend. Tom chose to attack the worst of it: an attic full of clothes, some of which his wife wore in high school. A local theater’s wardrobe mistress took some; the rest went to Goodwill.

The Sauermans invited their entire family the following Christmas for a final visit to the homestead, flying in everyone from Colorado, South Dakota, Illinois, and New York. The couple put everything in the basement and told the relatives to take their pick.

To their shock, little was claimed. “Our choices of china, pictures, knickknacks, furniture, all that, were as different to them as our parents’ and grandparents’ possessions were to us when we were their age,” he says.

A long process

They reviewed everything in three passes over many months. First, they threw out things they didn’t want to take with them and that were of little value. Next, they sorted things of enough value to be sold. Then they faced the reality of that two-bedroom apartment. Valuable items went to an auction house; the piano, to a piano dealer.

“It’s painful to realize that your family members don’t value your treasures as much as you do. It’s unsettling to put them up for sale at a tenth of their original price. . . . If you try to get what you consider as ‘full value,’ you’ll go crazy,” Sauerman says.

Instead, focus on the pleasure and use that these things provided, he says. “You can’t move forward with all this ‘stuff’ holding you back.”

Erin E. ArvedlundInquirer Staff

Read More at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20150823_Declutter_-_Now_.html#MkW0oxU65I8j20Pu.99