The answer is – More than once!
SALE NUMBER 1 – SHOWING YOUR HOME
Your REALTOR has done a great job of getting the home staged, minor repairs completed and professional photography is showing your home off to the world! You are winning the beauty contest of selling your home!
The first showing appointment is arranged. You rush around, pack the dog into the car, leave fresh cookies out on the counter, leave a well composed love note about your home for the buyers’ eyes….and wait. Nope, this isn’t the right fit, the feedback says…Rinse and repeat.
This may take a while.
But then – after a few days, wow, a buyer writes an offer on your home and after some negotiations, you accept the offer. SOLD! YEY…well…not so fast.
You have found a willing buyer, hooray! You have SOLD your house! It’s amazing, they love your house as much as you do! The buyers have picked out the perfect place for their new living room suite of furniture and they have been visiting all of the new home improvement websites for inspiration. They can’t wait to move in! Nothing is going to stand in their way. Is there?
Yes – this is just the first step on the ladder.
SALE NUMBER 2 – THE HOME INSPECTION
The home inspection is ordered. The day of the inspection comes and the inspector arrives at your home. Armed with meters, gauges, tape, screwdrivers and cameras, the home inspector does a thorough inspection and gives an opinion of the condition and functionality of your home. They lift, turn, view, snap pictures of and walk up, down, around and underneath things. They do not, however, drill, take core samples, x-ray or jack hammer. They will they write down, email, text, and/or bar graph the results and deliver said results to all parties.
When you read the reports you are somewhat no doubt surprised by the contents. “Have I been living in the same house? Who are these people who were living in my house and why did they allow these conditions to exist? Who is this inspector and what home was he/she looking at?” Calm down bunkie!
The buyers read the reports and say “wow, I thought I bought a perfect house! What happened?” Nothing happened, it’s a house!
Despair not.
The buyers now get to consult with their experts, if necessary, and determine what they can and cannot live with.
You, the homeowner, can decide to take core samples, pound, drill, scrape or saw anything that you want to have fixed..no wait, leave that to a licensed pounder, driller, scraper or sawing person. But you get my drift.
SALE NUMBER 2 can be strenuous. It is not time to be insulted, nervous or otherwise anxiety ridden. We can get through this together! I promise! Most people do! Next, and if all things go according to plan….
….fortunately now everyone has kept their senses together and decided to sell/buy the house. Now what?
SALE NUMBER 3 – THE APPRAISER
Ah, we have heard about this person. He/she who stalks in the night just waiting to “kill” our real estate sales! Who is this person who is going to put your lovingly cared for Cream Puff to pen and paper, and take out measuring sticks and graphs and charts and data, oh the data!!! They are going to try to compare your lovely, perfect home (well it was perfect until the inspector got through giving an opinion) to all of the other simply plain, ordinary homes around you? THE APPRAISER – that’s who.
Fear not. This person is not there to kill your deal, but to verify the sales price to make sure nobody got a case of crazy and isn’t putting the bank’s money at risk. Oh yea, the bank…the institution promising to lend someone who has to prove they don’t need it, the money to buy your house…but I digress.
The appraiser will compare your home to others, and to the areas, and study the market conditions. Note here – we have no control over what appraiser gets to come to your home and we can’t bribe, coerce, romance or otherwise attempt to influence what results he or she comes up with. We can, however, communicate to he/she how well your home has been taken care of, and anything that might not be clear to the naked eye like upgrades, improvements and the basic profile of the ‘well taken care of’ home.
The part about SALE NUMBER 3 is that no news is good news. The bad news, if it fails to appraise, will come to your REALTOR…in the form of “Uh, Houston we have a problem.” Hopefully, nobody hears this statement.
Statement we most want to hear – “Clear to close!”
Whew, okay, now that was fun right?
All in a day’s/month’s work for a REALTOR. It’s what we do.
More on how to make these events go smoother, faster, with less street and no aspirin….on my next Albuquerque Real Estate blog!
To be continued……
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