Three things to expect after you list your home

By Sarah Nielsen

When you list your home for sale, there is a lot that happens up front. Your REALTOR® sits with you and explains fair market value, takes photos of both the inside and outside of your home and advertises it for sale. Many people would expect the hard work to end there, but there are some inconveniences that you will have to endure as a seller before you can hand the keys off to your buyers on closing day. Below I explain three elements to the sale of your home that you may have overlooked in your excitement to get your listing out into the market.

You might feel like you live in a museum.

You have completed the work of cleaning and decluttering your home to have it looking extraordinary in your listing photos. You probably also moved some items into storage to ensure that every inch of your space is show-ready and appealing to potential buyers. What you might not have considered is how crucial maintaining that image is until the day that your home is sold to its new owners.

Your REALTOR® will likely call you at least once with a request to show your home on very little notice, and being the eager seller that you are, you will want to be accommodating; therefore, it’s critical that you maintain the cleanliness of your space at all times so that potential buyers get the best impression when they walk through your door.

Expect to hear critiques and criticism.    

Your home is a space where you have made memories, and more than likely you are proud of everything that has gone into building it to meet your needs. What you might not be prepared for is how critical potential buyers might be of aspects of your home with which you are perfectly content. To you, your space is a home, but to those mulling over whether to purchase it, it’s real estate without any sentimental value attached. While some feedback you receive may be hard to hear, remember that it’s not personal. Your REALTOR® can be a great buffer between you and potential buyers and will work to present the feedback in a way that is constructive and helpful.

There can be some additional expenses.

Once you accept an offer from someone who wants to buy your home, your initial excitement will likely cloud the reality of inspections, and the negotiations that will result from the findings. You may need to pay out of pocket to make repairs in order to get your home sold without decreasing the sale price that all parties agreed upon. Once you leap over that hurdle, you will need to wait for the appraisal that will determine your home’s value provided that your buyer is financing the purchase. If the appraisal determines that your home is worth less than the sale price, you will need to reopen negotiations.

Lastly, you will want to be mindful of your buyers’ final walk-through prior to closing. Your home should be in acceptable shape to hand over to them, and if it isn’t, you can plan to have to do some work to get it into the condition your buyers expected it to be in when they agreed to the purchase.

While listing your home is exciting, don’t make the mistake of thinking you will sail through to closing without any hurdles. Ensure that you are prepared for the inconveniences you will encounter along the way so that you don’t become overwhelmed during the process of getting your home sold.