Preparing A Property For An MLS Listing

At Living Houston, we work extremely hard to exceed your expectations. People often ask, “So, what exactly goes into selling a home?” Why can’t I sell it myself?” You’d be surprised at how much work is involved with marketing your home effectively, negotiating offers and repairs, and finally getting you to the closing table effortlessly and with as much money as possible. 

We’re going to walk you through a few of the things we do here at Living Houston when preparing our client’s home for a property listing.  

Research And Discovery 

Unlike many agents and brokerages, we do in-depth research that ensures that you get the best value for your home and sell it as quickly and efficiently as possible. For example, we research all comparable currently listed properties, study the average days on the market, and research sales activity for the past 6-12 months from the MLS and public records databases. All of this information allows us to price your home to sell.

Protect Your Transaction

Buying and selling homes is a lot more complicated than most people understand. An infinite number of complications can arise and cost you time, money, and sanity. We research property tax information, property ownership and deed type, and public records. All of the data collected allows us to protect you and your investment better. 

Prepare For The Best Value

Before we start marketing your home, many things prepare your property to bring in the highest possible valuation. Before we ever touch a home, we create a plan by taking all of them into account. 

Preparing You For Success 

Not only is it essential that we prepare your property for success, but preparing you for success helps keep all transactions stress-free and easy for both the buyer and the seller. In addition, we educate you throughout every step of the process, keeping you in the loop and answering your questions before you even have to ask them. 

Understanding An MLS Listing

Before we finalize your listing, our team will gather a few easy pieces of information to ensure that you have the best possible exposure and potential to sell. We set your property on multiple listing services, discuss showing availability, and discuss how we screen buyers to protect the seller.

Finalizing Paperwork

The amount of paperwork involved in getting a home sold can be overwhelming. Our job is to simplify that paperwork for you as much as possible and save you valuable time. In addition, we assist in communication with the current mortgage company, discuss and decide on a title company, verify the survey, go over the home warranty, and review and explain all clauses and addenda about the contract.

Preparing The Home For An MLS Listing 

The list of things that a good Realtor® does to prepare a home to hit the market is seemingly endless. Below are just a few of the services that we provide:

• Guiding you on optimum selling aesthetics and where to invest your time and effort for repairs or updates that can help your home sell faster.
• Assisting with on-site staging and preparing the property for photography inside and out. 
• Professional photography for use on the MLS listing, other real estate listing websites, and marketing materials. 
• Customized brochures or listing flyers designed and printed.
• Custom-made yard signs designed, printed, and installed. 
• Customized mail-outs for potential buyers.
• Cleaning, organizing, and decluttering the home.
• De-personalizing the house, removing photographs and personal items.

Maximize Online Options

Today’s market has gone above and beyond what the average Realtor® has been used to in the past. The internet has changed home marketing forever, and you must have a Realtor® who understands this and how to use it to their advantage to sell your home.

Formalities And Legalities

Listing your home isn’t just about marketing. There’s a mountain of legal paperwork that’s required to sell a home. As your Realtor®, we complete the legal legwork so that you don’t have to worry when it comes time to close. Legal and regulatory items are some of the most time-consuming when it comes to getting your home sold. That’s why we have a massive checklist in place to ensure that absolutely nothing gets missed. 

How Other Realtors® Lists Homes

Many Realtors® will post your home on one website, throw a sign in your yard, and wait for leads to come in. However, Living Houston takes a proactive approach with every single listing to ensure that properties we’re representing not only sell for a high value but sell quickly so that you can move forward with your life. 

How Living Houston Lists Your Home

Everything listed above and more is the gold standard of how Living Houston lists our client’s homes. Of course, you’ll see some work with your own eyes, but most of it is done behind the scenes to keep our clients from dealing with the stress of the transaction. We always base our guidance and advice on what is best for our clients, not what’s best for us. One conversation with us or one of our past customers, and you will be able to tell that we treat our clients like family, and we would be proud to represent you in any real estate transaction.

Selling a home can be a stressful time, but that doesn’t mean it should be confusing. Your Realtor® should be able to create a space of calm and organization within the chaos of listing a home. If you’d like to schedule a consultation with Living Houston to list your home, follow the link.