Selling and buying Lake Tahoe real estate is such an intricate business; it can be overwhelming to a newcomer. Our goal here at Pinnacle Real Estate is to make your transaction as seamless and easy as possible. While we do a majority of the work for you, sometimes it is nice to have a resource that breaks the process down completely in a few simple steps. It also helps to understand what we do for you as our client.
The first step to Selling your Lake Tahoe home is contacting a real estate professional. The agent will discuss sales in comparison to your property so you two can come up with a listing price that matches your timeline and financial goals.
Once the first step has been agreed upon, your agent will provide you with a listing agreement and put your home in the local Multiple Listing Service. This service is used by agents to find all the latest info on homes on the market. Additionally, the multiple listing service is what provides results on searches you may do on a real estate agents website for property. The majority of popular online real estate sites such as Realtor.com, Trulia & Zillow have their information fed to them directly from the local Multiple Listing Services.
Your agent will then market your property. Your home will be placed on the weekly broker tour so that other agents can preview your home and provide feedback that can be very helpful. Marketing resources include print advertising in local, regional and national publications. They will also make sure your property is featured on their website, as well as their social media sources. Postcards will be sent to their sphere of influence as well as the people in your neighborhood. Flyers will be created and distributed at other offices as well as in the flyer box located on the sign outside of your house. They will schedule open houses and advertise these events appropriately.
Now that your home is on the market, agents will call your agent requesting to show the property to their clients. They will schedule a time that works for both parties. Once the showing is over, the agents will communicate on the outcome of the showing. Sometimes this results in additional showings to the same client, an offer, or the potential buyer decides the home is not the right fit for them and they keep looking.
Once offers start coming in, other agents will call or email your agent. By law, your agent is required to present all offers to you, even if they know that you may turn it down due to a lowball price or stipulations you are not interested in. If you should choose to do so, you could authorize in writing that your Realtor® does not have to present offers below a set price. Once you find an offer you like, you and your real estate agent will negotiate terms. Once everything has been signed and agreed upon, your home will go into escrow and the buyer will deposit an earnest money check into the escrow account. Earnest money is usually a check for an agreed upon amount that tells the seller that the buyer is serious. Once this step is completed, a preliminary report will be issued in response to the title insurance application.
Now that your home is in escrow, there are some incredibly important steps to be done. An inspector will come out to the home to find out if there are issues with the property both minor and small. Once that is completed, a report will be provided to both parties with the findings. They will then negotiate repairs based on disclosures and the inspection report. This can include the seller taking care of all the repairs, or only some and providing a buyers allowance, or knocking money off on the sales price. An appraiser might also be sent out to determine the home’s value. Once this step has been completed and agreed upon, any contingencies will be removed and you will then be schedule to sign escrow documents. This meeting will also determine where proceeds will be sent, as some people might be opening escrow on another property, they might want it going to an exchange account or an investment account. After this step, the buyer’s lender will send the funds to the escrow company. Afterwards, the escrow deed will be recorded and the title of the home will be officially transferred to the buyer. Congrats! You just sold your Lake Tahoe home.
