Working With Sellers Start to Finish

Step 1 - Setting the Appointment

Once someone has mentioned they would be interested in selling their home, it is important that you first see the condition of their home so you can accurately price the property. Set a time to complete your home walkthrough with the seller. I would book 1 hour to make sure you aren’t feeling rushed and can take the time you need with the seller to build repour and answer all their questions.

Step 2 - Preparing for the Listing Appointment

Check out the following classes to help you prep for a listing appointment:

To view an example of a Meeting Confirmation Email Template CLICK HERE

To view the PDF version of my Seller Needs Analysis Google Form CLICK HERE

To learn how to make google forms, CLICK HERE for this tutorial for beginners

You will need to have a sale sign ready for when you list the home. Make sure you are ordering one well ahead of time. Please make sure a Sign Rider has been made for you by the office.

Step 3 - Completing the Listing Appointment

*****Your Listing MUST be input into the MLS within 72 hours of getting a listing agreement signed or else you may be fined*****

As Soon As You Take A Listing:

1) Send Listing docs to your Escrow company of choice to have them preopen escrow for you (If you need a recommendation, I love Kristen Lerch and her team at Chicago Title). This way they can start the process and make sure there is nothing clouding title. Copy your TC on this email. Your TC should upload all docs to skyslope for you.

2) Input the listing into MLS EVEN IF YOUR LISTING IS NOT GOING ON MARKET RIGHT AWAY! You have 72 hours to do this (with no exceptions for weekends, holidays and postal holidays) or you will be fined!

How to find the MLS Listing Profile Sheets

Step 4 - Follow up after the Listing Appointment

As soon as my listing appointment has been completed, I follow up with an email restating what we discussed and I also send an updated comp list if it needed to be adjusted once I viewed the home. I then continue to nurture and follow up with the seller until they are ready to list the home. I am a resource to them if there are any vendor referrals that need to be made for any repairs or upgrades they would like to complete.

Click HERE for a Pre-Photography Check List.

Step 5 - Once your Seller is ready to put their home on the market

Once the seller is ready to put their home on the market, you will need to complete a few tasks to get them ready.

• Get listing agreement signed if you have not already done so.

• Schedule for your photographer to take photos of the listing. Be at the home when the photos are taken so you can help the seller move items if need be. There is usually a 24 hour turnaround time so try and do this AT LEAST 2 days before the listing goes live.

• Place your supra lock box at the property (make sure to get 2 copies of house keys and that they work in the doors) Place one copy in the lock box and keep a second copy in a safe place for you in case the key is lost by an agent and you need to be able to access the home. I like to use THESE TAGS to keep my keys labeled. Make sure to put the client name and NOT the address on the key in case the key is misplaced or stolen. You buy your SUPRA box from the SAR office on Howe Ave. Play with the lock box at home to make sure your app is working and you know how to open the shackle and the key box before trying at a listing.

• Schedule your sign to be installed on the listing. Schedule the sign for the day the listing is going active. You cannot do a coming soon sign or else this will add additional days on market for your listing on MLS. GROUNDED provides you with sign installation. Please click HERE to set up your sign to be installed.

• Schedule your open house times and make sure to input them into the MLS so they are syndicated to all the other home search sites such as Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com, etc.

Click HERE to access my Transaction Tracker that will help keep track of all your completed and upcoming activities for your listings (and buyers). *It is important to note that you will want to make a copy of this sheet and save it to your own google drive for editing and customizing. (Click HERE for step by step directions to making a copy).

Have the seller complete the disclosures. The best way for them to complete the disclosures is by using Glide.com. See below for a video tutorial on how to send these forms.

Complete your Seller AVID to go along with seller disclosures. The best way to complete your AVID walk through is by using Glide.com. See video below. *Note DO NOT take any photos for your AVIDs.

You will also want to make sure showings are set up as needed for your seller. The less notice required, the better but not sellers all can accommodate that. Check out the video below on how to set up your showings through showing time.

Step 6 - Once your Listing is active

I like to send my sellers an update of everything I have done once the listing goes active including any marketing/calling/posting etc.  I then usually will give my seller's a Monday and Friday update on how their listing is going. 

1) Make sure you have fully completed the MLS private notes. This will save you lots of time with texts and phone calls if you put in important information like offer deadline, who escrow is preopened with, any appliences that are included in sale, if seller will need a rent back, etc. Questions you should expect to get from buyer’s agents and prepare to answer:

- When are you reviewing offers?

- Do you have any offers in hand? If so, how many.

- What is your top offer currently

- What escrow company does your seller prefer

- Will your seller need any rentback?

- What is most important to your seller (timing, money, etc)

- Are there any appliances or other items that are staying with the sale (Fridge, washer/dryer, Spa, etc)

- What else is important to your seller in the sale of their home?

- What else can I do in my offer to make it as clean and strong as possible?

2) Share your listing on Social Media

• DO NOT use a zillow link. You want to direct them to your personalized listing website. Click HERE to see how to find your website created in kvCore for you.

Step 7 - You begin getting offers

1) When you get an offer in, forward it to your escrow team to send you a net sheet. Confirm receipt of the offer to the buyer’s agent.

2) Set up your seller comparison spread sheet. This will help present the offer to your seller and help them compare offers side by side. From the master sheet, you can then make individual sheets for each seller.

*It is important to note that you will want to make a copy of this sheet and save it to your own google drive for editing and customizing. (Click HERE for step by step directions to making a copy).

For a Step-By-Step video on how to best use this sheet, click here.

For the Master Comparison Spread Sheet, click here.

3) Make sure you are reviewing EVERY page of the RPA contract so that you are not missing any parts of the offer. The buyer may be asking for credits back at closing, specific terms, additional items included in the sale, and you don’t want to miss those when presenting the offer to your seller. For a recap on the RPA, please see Week 3 Training - Working With Buyers.

Step 9 - Your Seller Accepted an offer

Congrats on getting your seller into contract to sell their home! You want to move quickly so that you can make sure everyone is connected and on the same page so you can stick with timelines. Below is a list of steps and helpful videos for you to follow!

Step 1- Make a contact group for your buyer’s agent, their TC, and your TC. This will make it super easy to send correspondence during the process. See the video below on how to do this

Step 2 - Send an email to the buyer’s agent and loop in your TC and the buyer's lender. Make sure the full contract is attached including any counters, addendums, etc. This will allow your TC to create your skyslope file and the lender can order their appraisal asap. Click HERE to view the email I use.

Step 3 - Verify with the buyer’s agent if there are any unavailable times for home inspections and your sellers. Confirm with your clients that they will need to have the home vacant for inspections and to prepare to leave the home during the inspection times. Click HERE to see the email I send to the sellers for their next steps once their offer is accepted

Step 4 - You will want to follow up with the lender to make sure the appraisal has been ordered and the appraiser will be reaching out to you. Plan to meet the appraiser at the home to provide comps to support the purchase price. I also include THIS FORM for the appraiser. I have created a google form to easily fill it out every time I have a listing. To learn how to create your own google forms, see the video below.

Step 10 - Inspection Reports and Negotiations

To view the class on reviewing reports, discussing negotiations and setting expectations with sellers and buyers for negotiations, CLICK HERE.

The buyer will be using CAR form RR (Request for repairs). If you they are asking for credits lieu of repairs, the buyer will also want a separate addendum stating “Seller to credit buyer $XXXX in recurring and non-recurring closing costs”. Don’t be afraid to negotiate with the buyer. Discuss negotiation strategies with your coach.

Once negotiations are completed, the buyer should be removing their inspection contingency. If they are drawing out this process either a notice to perform should be sent or an extension of time for the contingency.

Step 11 - Appraisal Contingency

When your seller accepted the buyer’s offer, their lender received the fully executed contract and should have ordered the appraisal to stay within the timeframe promised in the contract. It is good to follow up with the lender to make sure they are on track with this throughout the escrow period. The appraiser should be reaching out to you as the listing agent to schedule a time for them to go and complete the appraisal. If the home appraises at value or above, there are no issues and the buyer can remove the appraisal contingency.

Should the home appraise for less than your purchase price, you will need to negotiate with the buyers. Reach out to your coach for more information.

Step 12 - Loan Contingency

Once the lender has submitted the loan to underwriting, they will then be sending closing disclosures to the buyer. Once those are completed, the lender will issue a clear to close.

Step 14 - Your Seller’s Home is Sold

Now that the sellers have completed the sale of their home, you will want to coordinate with the buyer’s agent for when they are going to be removing the keys from your supra box. Make sure to have your sign removed from the yard by going through the GROUNDED link HERE.

Plan on removing the lock box as soon as the buyer’s get their keys. Often, the sellers will leave any additional keys, mailbox keys, and garage door openers for the home in a kitchen drawer. This is also the time when I send out my closing email and ask for reviews. Click HERE to see my closing email template. Make sure you are moving your sellers to the closed section of your escrow tracker as this will ensure you are not forgetting to update the MLS with Closed status, removing your lock box, updating your database with their new address, posting on social media, getting a review, etc.