MASSACHUSETTS REAL ESTATE SELLER’S GUIDE
If you’ve been considering selling your home, now is a great time to get started. The current real estate market in the Boston area is a seller’s game, with homes fetching far more than they would have in the past. Still, all sales transactions are unique, so it’s imperative to have your trusted Zenith broker at your side to help advocate for your best interests. This guide will outline the main steps in a residential property sale so you know what to expect in the process.
1) Setting Goals
The first step is always to set the factors that you’d like to prioritize. Of course, your overarching goal is probably to make as much money as possible from the sale of your home, but the best time to sell according to market trends may not line up perfectly with your ideal timeline. Above all, you need to be ready to sell; it’s worth noting that letting go of sentimental attachments to an old family home can take some emotional preparation as well. If your decision to sell was brought on by a job change necessitating relocation, you might be held to a stricter timeline, whereas if you’re simply looking to downsize or accommodate a growing family, you likely have more flexibility with when you can sell. Maybe you need the funds from the sale of your current home to put towards a down payment for your next home, and you’re worried about finding suitable housing in between. Our experienced team is well-versed in different sales strategies to accommodate your unique needs or issues that may arise, such as arranging a lease back, which allows you to temporarily rent your sold home from the new buyers, or including a contingency of finding suitable housing in the Purchase & Sales agreement. Once you’re ready to list your property, closing takes an average of 30-90 days depending on market conditions and the offer you choose to accept.
It’s important to know that Boston’s real estate market moves at different rates than the national average, and COVID-19 further complicated the normal sales trends we would expect to see during different seasons. Analysis from the past year shows that timing your sale matters, especially if you have the flexibility to coordinate the listing of your property during months with the greatest potential for maximizing profits. Early March - June/July is the optimal time to sell to secure a higher average sale price with the least time on the market. In addition, statistics show that the closer you are to June/July, the higher chance you have of capturing top dollar for that sale year. Lastly, with the uncertainty that the pandemic brings to the real estate landscape, we never know what will happen, but Zenith stays on top of market analysis to ensure your successful real estate transaction.
Fortunately, your Zenith team is equipped with the market knowledge and savvy strategies to help you strategize a sale that aligns with your goals. See our charts below for an inside scoop of current market performance.
Month by month graphs for August 2020 - October 2021:
2) Assessing Fair Market Value
Determining an accurate valuation of your property in current market conditions is integral to planning your marketing strategy. Underpricing your home could obviously fetch far less than top dollar. Similarly, setting your property at an exorbitantly high price can scare buyers away, leading to stagnation on the market; eventually, once that home does sell, it’ll be far lower than asking price, and likely even less than if you had properly priced your property from the start.
To determine an accurate estimate of your property’s Fair Market Value (FMV), we will conduct a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA). After analyzing your home’s features, amenities, and even defects, your broker will compare it to other similar, recently sold properties in the neighborhood while accounting for slight differences in location, market fluctuations, etc. Remember that buyers’ agents also have access to these stats and can perform a CMA for their client to check that the price looks fair. So, we’re looking for a listing price that is both accurate to the worth of the property, as well as attractive for potential buyers.
Right now, Boston has lots of buyer traffic, making it a hot seller’s market and putting the ball in your court. A properly-priced, well-marketed property will have a relatively quick turnaround, often going under agreement within less than a couple weeks. Setting the right list price will give you higher leverage: it’ll attract multiple offers that can bid against each other, allowing you to choose the most favorable offer -- likely above asking price, if we play our cards right.
3) Marketing Strategy
As your broker, Zenith will handle the process of marketing your property while maintaining full transparency with you to make sure you know exactly what is happening, even though this part is mostly hands-off for you as the seller. The only things that you will have to worry about are maintaining a clean home for photos (and possible staging if applicable), as well as a weekend or two of open houses.
Zenith takes care of all of the services associated with marketing your home, including scheduling and meeting with professional photographers to make your property look its best. We also provide industry-leading digital advertising to attract potential buyers, with exclusive features on our sleek website, paid advertising campaigns on social media platforms, and email blasts to local agents and our own database of prospective buyers. We pride ourselves on reducing our ecological footprint by avoiding useless paper mailers (which very rarely pull in buyers) and implementing our unique QR code system at open houses. Instead of handing out flyers to interested parties, we set up a QR code that leads to a website listing all of the property information in a sleek, concise manner. Making it accessible to anyone with a smartphone -- just about everyone, these days -- ensures that buyers can accurately determine whether your home is the right fit for them.
Combining our digital marketing strategies with elegant, eye-catching branded materials for open houses, we present your property at its absolute best.
4) Purchase & Sales Agreement
Once the offers start trickling in, your broker will help you negotiate with the most favorable proposals to secure the best possible value for your property. Remember, a strong offer isn’t limited to simply the proposed price; you must also consider any included contingencies (for example, some buyers will waive inspections to speed up the purchase process) as well as closing timeframes and financing. A cash buyer is obviously a more appealing option, but is their offer worth holding off a little longer before accepting? Your broker can help you accurately determine buyer interest and therefore inform you as to whether your home has more potential or not.
After you and the buyer come to an agreement, you’ll sign an Offer to Purchase and receive a binding deposit of $1,000 as a sign of good faith from the interested party. From that point, the contract becomes legally binding for both parties, and the deposit will only be forfeited to you if the buyer faults on any of the agreed upon terms of the offer. Otherwise, this sum will go towards the purchase price.
Following the contract signing, it’s time to follow through on any included contingencies. If applicable, the buyer will apply for financing and their attorney will review any condo documents. The buying party will schedule a licensed inspector to review the property for environmental contaminants (e.g. lead, radon, asbestos.) and various structural, electrical, and plumbing issues. This gives the buyer a chance to renegotiate the deal if any major defects are discovered that were not visible during showings. As the seller, you have the right to turn down unreasonable repair requests or price drops, and your broker can advise you on whether it’s better to make concessions or stay firm.
Once the inspection contingency is settled, it’s time to sign the Purchase and Sales Agreement (P&S). The buyer’s and seller’s attorneys essentially rework the original Offer to Purchase to include a detailed description of any negotiated concessions. Along with signing the P&S agreement, the buyer will put down a much more substantial deposit -- often 5-10% of the full offer price. This payment, in addition to their initial $1,000 deposit, will be placed in escrow until closing, whereupon it will go towards the purchase price.
5) Finalizing the Transaction
Closing is a pretty straightforward process. Prior to finalizing the closing process, your Zenith broker will take care of a few final tasks, such as arranging an inspection of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in the property, obtaining 6D certificates (applicable for condo sales), or obtaining an estoppel certificate (applicable for multi-families) and lastly arranging one last walkthrough with the buyers. Once everything is complete, each side’s respective attorneys will walk them through signing closing documents, and the buyer will transfer the funds for the remaining balance of their purchase price. Finally, the newly executed deed is recorded with the town, and the sale is officially complete.
6) Final Remarks
Sales transactions are all different, and can bring up unexpected circumstances or additional steps in the process. It is imperative to have an experienced and trusted real estate broker to help you navigate the selling process. Zenith will serve as your trusted advisor and guide to ensure that all your real estate goals are met when selling your home.
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