Selling Your Home
When the time comes to sell your home you naturally want to get the best possible price and the key to this is exposure. Your REALTOR will list your home in the Multiple Listing Service where it will be seen by all of the local REALTORS as well as the general public. Your REALTOR is there to represent and help you in all aspects of your sale all the way through to the end.The home selling process begins with a Comparative Market Analysis of your homes value and an estimate of how much cash you will net after all the closing costs have been paid. In an effort to save the selling commission some sellers attempt to sell their home themselves. Statistics compiled by the National Association of REALTORS show that 80% of direct sellers are unsucessful and ultimately engage the services of a REALTOR to sell their home. Those that succeed in selling their home typically sell for less money than would of been possible with a REALTOR on your side. Bottom line, it is rarely profitable to sell your home yourself. All you have to do to list your home is fill out the necessary forms. To enhance the marketing of your home I will provide a virtual tour at no charge. If you would like me to list your home for you just drop me an email with your phone number and I will call you to arrange to view it. If you prefer you can fill out this simple form to obtain an estimate of your homes value. This is a free, no obligation service, I will use recent home sales in your area to calculate the fair market value of your home. 
With your home listed in the MLS all the local agents will be able to show it to prospective buyers. With your permission your REALTOR will provide a lockbox so that other agents can obtain the key and show your home when you are out (the lockbox combination is not available to the public).To assist in selling your home quickly and for the highest price you should prepare your home for viewing. This is called staging. When a buyer wishes to make an offer on your home your REALTOR will present the details and assist you in making a decision on how to proceed. If the terms of the offer are acceptable then all you have to do is sign it. If you wish to change the terms of the offer then you will make a counter offer. Now we are in the negotiation phase. Once you have accepted the sellers offer an escrow will be opened and the sellers check will be deposited. At this point there is a legally binding contract between you and the buyer. As a safeguard, there are some points along the way where the buyer can cancel the contract and receive his deposit back if something bad is discovered about the house. Most likely there will be contingencies written into the contract which allow the buyer to cancel and receive his deposit back if the house does not appraise for the purchase price or if his loan is ultimately denied. As the seller you are required to disclose any defects in the property that you have knowledge of. This is accomplished by filling out a set of disclosures where you answer questions about the condition of the property. You are also required to provide operable smoke detectors and to have the water heater strapped for earthquake protection. Sometimes the water heater is strapped but not in compliance with the building code and must be redone. Usually the buyer will obtain a home inspection (at his own expense). This is done early in the escrow period and may result in the buyer submitting a Request for Repairs to the seller. You have a choice on how to react. You may agree to make all of the repairs or some of them or none of them. If negotiations do not conclude satisfactorily then the buyer may terminate the contract and receive their deposit back. A Natural Hazard Zone Disclosure report will be provided to the buyer, if this reveals unacceptable information then again they could terminate the contract and receive their deposit back. A Preliminary Title report will be provided to the buyer, if this reveals unacceptable information then again they could terminate the contract and receive their deposit back. The buyer will want to have the home inspected for Wood Destroying Pests (termites) and, if applicable, the septic system will be inspected as well. Sometimes problems will be discovered that the seller must fix prior to close of escrow. This can, on occasion, cause a delay resulting in escrow not closing on time. In an ideal world escrow would close on the expected date but all too often this does not happen resulting in considerable inconvenience for both buyer and seller. You should be prepared for this, escrow cannot close until the lender places the funds into the account and it is not uncommon for this to be delayed. Escrows do have their ups and downs and can be a very emotional time. A few days before close of escrow the buyers agent will schedule a final walk through. The purpose of this is to verify that the agreed to repairs have been made and that the house is still in substantially the same condition as the day the offer was made. It is not intended to be an opportunity to look for additional repair work that buyer might like to have done. 
After the lender funds the loan, escrow will arrange for the title to record (at the county recorders office) the next business day. At that time your escrow is closed and the buyer becomes the new owner of the home. Depending on how the contract was written you may have to move out immediately or you may have a few days to vacate the property.
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