The first focus will be to determine a selling price and prepare your home for marketing. You probably have an idea of what your home is worth. We’ll have a conversation that balances your timeline for selling, the condition of your home, the properties you will be competing with for buyers, and with market conditions to develop a pricing strategy for marketing.

FILL OUT THE FORM ON THIS PAGE TO GET YOUR COMPREHENSIVE SELLER’S GUIDE AND CHECKLIST.

Depending on your home’s condition, price point, and market conditions, preparing your home may require a fair bit of up-front time and expense. At a minimum, this will include cleaning and decluttering the home and property. Homeowners may also consider minor repairs and/or renovations and staging the house with furniture to improve the home’s marketability.

The first steps in the marketing your home involves getting professional photos, videos, and virtual tours, and preparing a representative and attractive listing for the MLS. It’s best to discuss what the marketing plan is for the property early, so everyone’s expectations are met. Marketing can include social media postings and advertising, e-blasts, newspaper and magazine ads, and web banner advertising. Holding open house events also serves as marketing and is something we can discuss when planning.

Coming up with a plan for house showings is important for maintaining your sanity, especially if you are still living at the home. Once you do get an offer, you’ll have the option to accept, reject or counter the offer. The offer will not just include a price to consider, but additional terms, such as money down, closing date, inspection, and financing contingencies, and possibly others. Once both parties agree on terms, a final contract is signed, making the deal legally binding.

There’s a lot of work between signing a deal and closing on the property. A home inspection and an appraisal will likely be required by the buyer. Depending on the contract, the findings can lead to termination, renegotiation, or continuation of the contract. Depending upon the type of contract, sometimes the seller is required to make repairs to the home to satisfy the terms.

Closing of the sale is conducted primarily by the Title Company. They will do a title search, provide title insurance, prepare the paperwork for the sale and coordinate with the bank if the buyers are needing a mortgage and if you have one to pay off. At closing, if all is satisfied, the seller receives payment, and the keys are handed over. This officially transfers the ownership of the property.

I bring value to the seller by:

1. Determining the Sale Price: I’ll prepare a comparative market analysis to help set a range for competitive pricing, and together we will devise a pricing strategy that aligns with your goals.

2. Home Preparation: I can recommend vendors to assist with any repairs or renovations, cleaning, staging, or painting, if that we determine is necessary to prepare your home to be marketable.

3. Professional Photography: I use only the best and most reliable photographers to showcase your property.

4. Marketing: I’ll work with you to put a marketing plan together for your property and make sure the full power of the Michael Saunder’s marketing machine is utilized for your listing.

5. Closing a deal: I will present to you every offer, whether good or bad, and will do everything I can to screen potential offers and advise you on the merits and drawbacks of each offer. Buyers can use different contracts when making an offer. My understanding and experience with different contracts will help you understand what the different terms mean, and how best to navigate and negotiate them. I will work with both you and the buying agent to facilitate the negotiation to be sure you are happy with the outcome.

6. Appraisal in Inspections: I can help coordinate the schedule for the appraiser and inspectors and be on the property while they are there to help answer any questions they might have.

7. Preparing for Closing: There are many parties and many issues that affect closing, especially if repairs need to be made to satisfy the contract. I can help schedule and coordinate work, the transfer of information and paperwork between parties, and be available to facilitate solutions when they are needed.

FILL OUT THE FORM ON THIS PAGE TO GET YOUR COMPREHENSIVE SELLER’S GUIDE AND CHECKLIST.

I work hard for my customers with the expectation to be paid for my efforts. For listing a home, we require an agreement to receive 3% of the sale price for our time and advertising money. While Michael Saunders has a large number of agents working with buyers for your home, there is a vast network of other agents that can bring buyers. We strongly recommend that Seller’s offer a Buyer’s Agent commission to encourage those agents to bring potential buyers to your home. We can talk more about the value of offering this Buyer’s Agent Commission specific to your property and the current real estate market conditions.

Michael Saunders & Co. has over 600 agents in Manatee, Sarasota, and Charlotte counties. That vast amount of local knowledge and real-time information is a huge asset to you as a seller. Our internal communication tools allow me to advertise my seller’s property to all agents…before the property is listed on MLS!

FILL OUT THE FORM ON THIS PAGE TO GET YOUR COMPREHENSIVE SELLER’S GUIDE AND CHECKLIST.

Michael Saunders invests in the marketing of your property, by providing tools for agents to engage buyers on social media, by maintaining a huge list of national and international Listing Syndicates such as Zillow, LeadingRE, Mayfair, New York Times, Herald Tribune, and Nextdoor, just to name a few. The company also hosts a stand-alone website specific to your listing, which is used in online digital marketing campaigns. The company also pays for newspaper advertising in over 10 local papers, and provides opportunities for magazine advertising in Saunders Best, Luxury Portfolio, Scene and other publications. As agents, we have access to additional paid advertising around the country and assistance from our in-house design and marketing team.

The Michael Saunders team of affiliates include MSC Title, to handle your title search and closing documentation, MSC Mortgage, to provide creative and competitive mortgage solutions, and Guided Solutions, for all you homeowner insurance needs. We also have a Relocation Service, so coming or going, we can assist with your move. Of course, you can choose to work with any company for these services, but I recommend you talk with these providers. I know you will be impressed.