Top 10 Things to Know Before Selling Your Current Home

Planning to put up your home for sale? Most sellers want a stress-free home sale, but selling in markets like Back Bay real estate can be a difficult and stressful process. But we’re here to help. Here are some top things you should know before selling your home in Back Bay.

First, finding and hiring a real estate agent who knows the Boston or Back Bay real estate market is crucial. You can look up various agents’ professional designations and sales histories online. Look up their online profiles to determine which designations they’ve earned, how many sales they’ve completed, and how long they’ve been in the real estate industry. You should also look at where and how they market their Back Bay listings and if they use professional photos in their listings.

Next, creating a timeline for selling your Back Bay property is essential. Selling your home can take a long time, depending on the available inventory and the local market conditions. Before you list your home, you need to research, find, interview, and hire a real estate agent. You also should declutter your home and move any extra things to a storage unit. A home inspection will identify any problems, and you can schedule repairs when necessary. Finally, deep clean and stage your property, then have professional pictures taken.

 

A pre-sale home inspection is not necessary, but it’s a wise investment. A detailed home inspection report will inform you of any mechanical and structural issues with your property before you list it for sale. The inspection might cost a few hundred dollars, but it will inform you about any problems potential buyers will flag when they do their own home inspection later in the buying process. When you get a home inspection, you’ll be able to speed up the selling process by doing your home repairs simultaneously with other prep work.

Make sure that any changes you make to your home before listing it for sale have a high return on investment. Many upgrades or changes, like new granite countertops, don’t impact the price of your home that much, and they’re not necessary to sell your home for a top price, mainly if you are in a seller’s market. A spruced-up landscape, a new carpet, or a fresh coat of neutral paint are all low-cost ways to upgrade your home without spending too much money.

Work with your seller’s agent to hire a photographer and get some professional marketing photos taken of your home. It’s essential to have high-quality images in your listing, since optimizing the online appeal of your Back Bay property is a great way to sell your home quickly and for top dollar. Professional photographers, especially those with strong portfolios and decades of experience, will know how to make your home appear more attractive, brighter, and larger.

 

It’s crucial to choose realistic prices for Back Bay homes for sale, even in competitive seller’s markets. Consult your neighborhood comparables to price your property correctly from the beginning. The comps are data sheets that give you information about recently sold homes in the neighborhood. They will give you a sense of what properties in the area are selling for. You certainly don’t want to price your home too low, but pricing your home too high will also turn off potential home buyers.

After your property hits the real estate market and buyers begin seeing it, the home offers will start coming in. In a seller’s market, the buyers will usually either offer at or above the property's asking price, and you might get multiple bids for your home. But if sales are slow in your neighborhood, you might need to be open to negotiating. When you get the offer, you can either accept the offer as is, reject the bid, or make a counteroffer.

 

And if you get multiple home offers, you should look closely at all parts of the offer, including the kind of financing, the down payment amount, the form of payment, the contingencies, requests for personal property or credits, and the proposed closing date. Your real estate agent will walk you through this whole process.

The seller usually pays for the real estate’s commission, which is about five or six percent of the property's sale price. You will also need to pay for other costs, including attorney fees, outstanding liens, recording fees, and government transfer tax. You will also pay for any credits the buyer has negotiated to be paid at closing for closing costs or repairs. Your real estate agent will give you a complete list of closing costs you are responsible for.

Many sellers don’t owe any taxes on profits from selling their primary home. If you’ve lived in and owned your property for at least two of the previous five years before selling your home, you don’t need to pay taxes on profits up to $250,000, which increases to $500,000 for married couples. But if your profit exceeds that amount, you must report it to the Internal Revenue Service as a capital gain on your tax return.

Before closing on your home sale, you need to organize a lot of paperwork, including the home inspection report, if applicable, homeowners’ insurance, the appraisal from your home purchase, your tax records, your mortgage documents, the original purchase contract, the certificate of occupancy, the property survey, and certificates of compliance with local codes.

 

Putting up your Back Bay homes for sale? Reach out to trusted Back Bay real estate expert Dylan Costello for guidance.

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