Steps to Selling a Home in Nashville and Middle Tennessee

Everyone should have a game plan. In this blog, we’ll be talking about the game plan for sellers. On the selling side, I like to look at it as one of the first times that we get together and meet -  kind of the pregame huddle where we're talking about the why’s. I love to find out the why behind what people are trying to accomplish. 

Pricing Your Home

We're talking about strategy, we're talking about timing, we're talking about why’s and ultimately, we're also talking about price. One of the things that a lot of people like to do is go look at Zillow's estimates to see what their house might be worth. It's a starting point but it's probably not the greatest starting point. 

Sometimes they are accurate, but they also can be up to 30%, or more inaccurate, both too high and too low. It's really hard until you have a professional come out and show you what we call comps or comparable properties that have sold, preferably in your neighborhood or as close as possible to your neighborhood within three months, preferably no more than a year. We really look at those to help determine your home’s value.

We also compare the conditions of the property and the locations of the property. We really dig in on the details because it's really difficult to know what a property is truly worth. One of the things that I do not to give away all my secrets, you have to call me. But one of the things that I do that I haven't heard a lot of other people do is if they're willing to go, I take sellers to go look at other homes in their neighborhood that are on the market. 

As we've talked about, from a buyer's perspective, pictures don't always tell the true story about a home. The same thing when you're trying to do comps and you're trying to look at conditions of homes and sizes of rooms and layouts and things like that. That makes a difference in what buyers are going to be interested in and ultimately pay for something, taking them into the real world of seeing what their competition is looking like. It makes a huge difference. 

Usually, when I talk to sellers, they're like, well, why can't I get 315,000 for my home? I'm like, let's go look at the one around the corner that's priced at 300 and compare. I don't have to say a whole lot after that because the reality of walking in and seeing a completely rehabbed home versus their home that maybe hasn't been rehabbed, all of a sudden, the light bulb goes off all by itself. It may not be what you want to hear, but you ultimately want to sell your house.

Pricing it at the best price point for your house is actually worth is the best strategy to get your house sold, and then move you into your next house because there's a reason you're moving and that goes back to the why.

Some people just throw it on the market and see what happens. We're going to be talking about whether or not to rehab certain things, and if so, to paint certain things, curb appeal, really going to be looking at the aesthetics of the home, and some people don't have any money to put into that and that's fine, we're going to sell it as is. 

Marketing Your Home for Sale

The second part is taking the pictures and you know, ultimately getting it on the MLS for offers to start coming in. We're working on the marketing strategy, we're having pictures and video taken, we're talking about how to share it on social media. 

I'm having things created that I can share, that they can share. I have a multi-step marketing program that I would go over with people in person and really talk about what's going to work for that particular property. 

It’s how we're going to implement that strategy and what timing is gonna look like. So that at that point, you know, we're starting to get offers in, you know, we're adjusting if we're not getting offers in that the seller is liking.

What Happens During Closing for Home Sellers?

During halftime, we are discussing the initial feedback, any offers that are coming in, and basically, in the third quarter, we're getting something under contract. The title company is working on behalf of the seller. 

We're actually negotiating in the third quarter and we're getting that contract in place. In the fourth quarter, we're under contract and things are moving forward. 

Now with the inspection period, appraisers are coming out, things are happening. I'm checking in with all the different parties to make sure that everything's moving along as quickly pace as possible then hopefully we're staying on the target date for that closing.

Learn more about the home selling process by checking out my YouTube playlist for home sellers!

Are you thinking of buying or selling a home in the Nashville - Middle Tennessee area, call me at (615) 930-0313, schedule a call with me, or send me a message! Let’s get your game plan going today!