• Advising you on how to dress your house for success.
• Suggesting reputable repair and maintenance vendors through The Florida Realty team Concierge Services.
• Helping you determine the best asking price for your home.
• Developing a strategy to show your home.
• Promptly advising you of changes in the market.
• Presenting all offers to you quickly and assisting you in evaluating all offers and providing a proceeds summary.
• Monitoring the buyers' loan process through commitment, including the property appraisal.
• Advising you immediately of any event that may threaten closing.
• Monitoring the status of all contract contingencies.
• Coordinating and monitoring the settlement process through closing.
• Being present at closing to accompany you through the process.
• Providing you with truly remarkable service throughout the entire process.

Preparing your Home for a Sale
Showing Tips
Conducting Open Houses: Tips
The Contract and Closing
Concessions that Sellers can make to get the deal done
Reasons a Buyer may want a counter offer
Common things to look for in Contracts
Tips on How to Price Your Home
5 Ways to Speed Up Your Sale of your House
What You’ll Net at Closing
Moving Tips for Sellers
What Is Appraised Value?
Understanding Capital Gains in Real Estate

Preparing your Home for a Sale:

You the seller plays the most important role in the sale of your property. The following are some thoughts on Home preparation to impress the buyer:

1. First Impression
A Harvard study indicates that 65% of the first impressions is by the way things look. Make the most of that First Impression A well-manicured lawn, neatly trimmed shrubs and a clutter-free porch welcome prospects. So does a freshly painted - or at least freshly scrubbed - front door. If it's autumn, rake the leaves. If it's winter, shovel the walkways.

2. Clean the property
Here's your chance to clean up in real estate. Clean up in the living room, the bathroom, the kitchen. If your woodwork is scuffed or the paint is fading, consider some minor redecoration. Fresh wallpaper adds charm and value to your property. Prospects would rather see how great your home really looks than hear how great it could look, "with a little work."

3. No Dripping Faucets and blown Bulbs
Dripping water rattles the nerves, discolors sinks and suggests faulty or worn-out plumbing. Burned out bulbs leave prospects in the dark. Don't let little problems detract the buyer from what's right with your home.

4. Deal with the sticky doors
If cabinets or closet doors stick in your home, you can be sure they will also stick in a prospect's mind. Don't try to explain away sticky situations when you can easily take care of them. A little effort on your part can smooth the way toward a closing.

5. Keep Safety in Mind
Homeowners learn to live with all kinds of self-set booby traps: roller skates on the stairs, festooned extension cords, slippery throw rugs and low hanging overhead lights. Make your residence as non-perilous as possible for uninitiated visitors.

6. Make Room for Space
Remember, potential buyers are looking for more than just comfortable living space. They're looking for storage space, too. Make sure your attic and basement are clean and free of unnecessary items.

7. Consider Your Closets
The better organized a closet, the larger it appears. Now's the time to box up those unwanted clothes and donate them to charity.

8. Make Your Bathrooms Sparkle
Bathrooms sell homes, so let them shine. Check and repair damaged or unsightly caulking in the tubs and showers. For added allure, display your best towels, mats and shower curtains.

9. Create Dream Bedrooms
Wake up prospects to the cozy comforts of your bedrooms. For a spacious look, get rid of excess furniture. Colorful bedspreads and fresh curtains are a must.

10. Open up in the Daytime
Let the sun shine in! Pull back your curtains and drapes so prospects can see how bright and cheery your home can be.

Showing Tips:

1. Lighten up at Night
Turn on the excitement by turning on all your lights - both inside and outside - when showing your home in the evening. Lights add color and warmth, and make prospects feel welcome.

2. Avoid Crowd Scenes
Potential buyers often feel like intruders when they enter a home filled with people. Rather than giving your house the attention it deserves, they're likely to hurry through. Keep the company present to a minimum.

3. Watch Your Pets
Dogs and cats are great companions, but not when you're showing your home. Pets have a talent for getting underfoot. So do everybody a favor: Keep Kitty and Spot outside, or at least out of the way.

4. Turn down the Volume
Rock-and-roll will never die. But it might kill a real estate transaction. When it's time to show your home, it's time to turn down the stereo or TV.

5. Relax
Be friendly, but don't try to force conversation and don't follow them around to closely. Prospects want to view your home with a minimum of distraction.

6. Don't be offended
Never be offended or apologize for any short comings that a potential buyer may point out about your property. Ignore these comments to the extent that you can and resist the urge to go on the defensive. It's not personal, the buyer may simply be trying to set the stage for future negotiations.

Conducting Open Houses: Tips

• Clear out their closets and their clutter. Donate unwanted household goods to charity.
• Pack up extra toys, linens, small kitchen appliances, and the like and store them offsite or in the garage.
• Be sure the trees are trimmed, the shrubs are pruned, and the lawn is mowed and watered regularly. Turn on the sprinklers for five minutes 30 minutes before the open house. It makes the lawn and driveway sparkle.
• Refrain from cooking anything that leaves a particular odor (fish, garlic, cabbage) and from introducing any other unappealing odors into the home.
• Have a professional service clean the home, including the carpets and the windows.
• Set the dining room table with attractive linens, dishes, and stemware.
• Serve cookies and coffee; people will linger longer.
• Arrange fresh flowers throughout the home and have a fire in the fireplace in fall and winter.
• Add extra lamps in dark rooms or dark corners, and turn on the lights.
•  Remove stacks of magazines, ashtrays, sports trophies, family photographs, and other distractions.

Contract & Legal Advice: 

1. Get a good attorney. Remember that a Real Estate Agent is not an attorney.

2. Deposit Deposit Deposit
The more skin that the buyer has in the game more likely the deal is going to go thru on terms agreed upon

3. When in doubt consult your attorney.

Concessions that Sellers can make to get the deal done:

1. Sellers can let buyers move in quickly.

2. Sellers can help with financing.

3. Sellers can let buyers rent with an option to buy.

4. Sellers can permit certain contingencies.

5. Sellers can pay closing costs that are traditionally paid by the buyer.

6. Sellers can pay for improvements such as exterior painting.

Reasons a Buyer may want a counter offer:

1. The buyer might make an opening offer just to get the negotiations going.

2. If the seller has an unrealistically high asking price, the buyer might make a low offer to try and strike a compromise.

3. A buyer who can't afford what the seller is asking might offer something close to his maximum price, hoping the seller will make a viable counteroffer.
 

An offer is finally accepted when the seller signs it and communicates that fact to the buyer. The most common way of communicating acceptance is by delivery of the signed offer back to the buyer.

Thirty years ago, the sales agreement was a single-page document with a few preprinted lines. Everything was filled in by the salesperson or the principals. Today's agreement is a multipage document consisting largely of legal boilerplate. Most have room to write in only the address, price, downpayment, and loan amount. Everything else, including a long list of contingency clauses, is usually preprinted to be crossed out if inapplicable.
 

 Common things to look for in Contracts:

1. The date the contract was executed/ signed by all parties.

2. The full correct name of all parties, along with their addresses.

3.A legal description of the property being sold.

4. The full purchase price, broken down to show the portion that was made as a down payment and the balance amount due.

5. A "subject to" provision covering zoning, covenants, easements, and restrictions of record.

6. Fixtures and personal property that will pass with the property.

7. Specific items that will be apportioned, such as taxes, insurance, water, and utilities.

8. The date and location of the closing.

9. The name of the broker who brought about the sale and who will be responsible for paying commissions to agents and subagents.

10. To whom and how (such as fax/certified mail) any notices affecting contract contingencies will be sent.

11. The signatures of all parties.

12. A seller's right of cancellation if clear title cannot be delivered.

13. Remember that your Realtor is not an attorney and cannot offer legal advice.

Tips on How to Price Your Home
 

• Consider comparables. What have other homes in your neighborhood sold for recently? How do they compare to yours in terms of size, upkeep, and amenities?
• Consider competition. How many other houses are for sale in your area? Are you competing against new homes?
• Consider your contingencies. Do you have special concerns that would affect the price you’ll receive? For example, do you want to be able to move in four months?
• Get an appraisal. For a few hundred dollars, a qualified appraiser can give you an estimate of your home’s value. Be sure to ask for a market-value appraisal. To locate appraisers in your area, contact The Appraisal Institute (www.AppraisalInstitute.org) or ask a local realtor for some recommendations.
• Ask a lender. Since most buyers will need a mortgage, it’s important that a home’s sale price be in line with a lender’s estimate of its value.
• Be accurate. Studies show that homes priced higher than 3 percent over the correct price take longer to sell.
• Know what you’ll accept. It’s critical to know what price you’ll accept before beginning a negotiation with a buyer.

5 Ways to Speed Up Your Sale of your House

 1.      Price it right. Set a price at the lower end of your property’s realistic price range.

 2.      Get your house market-ready for at least two weeks before you begin showing it.

 3.      Be flexible about showings. It’s often disruptive to have a house ready to show on the spur of the moment, but the more often someone can see your home, the sooner you’ll find a seller.

 4.      Be ready for the offers. Decide in advance what price and terms you’ll find acceptable.

 5.      Don’t refuse to drop the price. If your home has been on the market for more than 30 days without an offer, be prepared to lower your asking price

What You’ll Net at Closing 

To find out how much money you’ll net from your house, add up your closing costs and subtract them from the sale price of the house. 

Moving Tips for Sellers

1.      Give your forwarding address to the post office, usually two to four weeks ahead of the move.

2.      Notify your credit card companies, magazine subscriptions, and bank of the change of address.

3.      Develop a list of friends, relatives, and business colleagues who need to be notified of the move.

4.      Arrange to have utilities disconnected at your old home and connected at your new one.

5.      Cancel the newspaper.

6.      Check insurance coverage for moved items. Usually movers only cover what they pack.

7.      Clean out appliances and prepare them for moving, if applicable.

8.      Note the weight of the goods you’ll have moved, since long-distance moves are usually billed according to weight. Watch for movers that use excessive padding to add weight.

9.      Check with your condo or co-op about restrictions on using the elevator or particular exits.

10.  Have a “first open” box with the things you’ll need most—toilet paper, soap, trash bags, scissors, hammer, screwdriver, pencils and paper, cups and plates, water, snacks, and toothpaste.

What Is Appraised Value?
 

 It’s an objective opinion of value, but it’s not an exact science so appraisals may differ.

 For buying and selling purposes, appraisals are usually based on market value—what the property could probably be sold for. Other types of value include insurance value, replacement value, and assessed value for property tax purposes.

 Appraised value is not a constant number. Changes in market conditions can dramatically alter appraised value.

 Appraised value doesn’t consider special considerations, like the need to sell rapidly.

 Lenders usually use either the appraised value or the sale price, whichever is less, to determine the amount of the mortgage they will offer.
 

  Understanding Capital Gains in Real Estate
 

 When you sell a stock, you owe taxes on your gain—the difference between what you paid for the stock and what you sold it for. The same is true with selling a home (or a second home), but there are some special considerations. 

How to Calculate Gain

In real estate, capital gains are based not on what you paid for the home, but on its adjusted cost basis. To calculate this:

 1. Take the purchase price of the home: This is the sale price, not the amount of money you actually contributed at closing.

 2. Add adjustments:
 

• Cost of the purchase—including transfer fees, attorney fees, inspections, but not points you paid on your mortgage.
• Cost of sale—including inspections, attorney’s fee, real estate commission, and money you spent to fix up your home just prior to sale.
• Cost of improvements—including room additions, deck, etc. Note here that improvements do not include repairing or replacing something already there, such as putting on a new roof or buying a new furnace.

 3. The total of this is the adjusted cost basis of your home.

 4. Subtract this adjusted cost basis from the amount you sell your home for. This is your capital gain. 

A Special Real Estate Exemption for Capital Gains

Since 1997, up to $250,000 in capital gains ($500,000 for a married couple) on the sale of a home is exempt from taxation if you meet the following criteria:  

• You have lived in the home as your principal residence for two out of the last five years.
• You have not sold or exchanged another home during the two years preceding the sale.

Also note that as of 2003, you also may qualify for this exemption if you meet what the IRS calls “unforeseen circumstances,” such as job loss, divorce, or family medical emergency.