Selling a House in New York State

Advice For Homeowners

Selling a House in New York State

November 7, 2022

Step 1: Find a Real Estate Agent in New York

Selling a house is a complex process. It requires good marketing to find a reliable buyer to purchase the property at a reasonable price. It also requires expert negotiation to come to an agreement that works for both parties. The best way to ensure a smooth home sale is to hire a selling agent.

Good real estate agents will help you throughout the entire selling process, from start to finish. In addition, agents will help to stage the home, take photos, and will keep you from making huge costly mistakes. However, not all real estate agents are good at what they do and it can be difficult to find one.

The Negotiators is a new type of real estate agent organization that has some of the top-performing real estate agents in the US. By working with a Negotiator, you can be assured that you are in good hands and that your home will be sold for the best possible price.

Step 2: Prepare Your House For Selling

Before your house is listed on the market, it’s important to prepare your house to be photographed and toured by potential buyers. This may include de-cluttering, deep cleaning, and making repairs. The impression that your home leaves on buyers is crucial and can be the difference between selling your home quickly or having it sit on the market for a long time.

Repairs and home renovations are also ways that sellers can increase their home’s value. Every buyer has their own list of must-haves and the right renovation can turn a home into someone’s dream home.

However, many times the cost of renovations may not be worth the return on investment. Repairs can also have a huge impact on how a buyer perceives the value of your home and some of them may eventually be required by the buyer’s lender anyway. Consult with a real estate agent to see what renovations or repairs will be most beneficial.

Step 3: Price Your Home

Pricing your house correctly is vital to sell your house fast. If you price your home too high, it will sit on the market for a long time with few buyers interested and if it’s too low, you may not make enough money from the sale.

The best way to come up with a competitive and accurate listing price is to have a real estate agent do a comparative market analysis. This will help you to see what other similar homes in your area have sold for and how long they were on the market. You can also look up estimated property values on websites like Zillow, Redfin, or Trulia.

Step 4: Showing Your House

House showings are when prospective buyers come to see your house in person. This is usually done by appointment with your real estate agent. Buyers will often tour several houses in one day, so your house needs to leave a strong impression to get offers.

Not only is it important to have a tidy home on the inside, but the outside (or curb appeal) is almost just as key in attracting potential buyers. The curb appeal is the first thing buyers will see when they pull up to your house and it can make a good first impression or a terrible one.

Step 5: Review The Offers and Negotiate

If a buyer is happy with what he sees at the open house, then they will likely make an offer on the property. An offer is a written document from a prospective buyer that shows interest in purchasing a property. It usually contains many components like the offered price, contingencies, concessions, settlement date, and more. Once an offer is made, the seller has three options: accept the offer, counteroffer, or decline the offer.

Accepting the offer means that the buyer can begin to arrange home inspections. However, accepting the offer is not a contractual obligation to sell to that buyer, so the seller can still back out at this point if they choose to.

A counteroffer is when the seller makes a new offer back to the buyer that is usually higher than the original purchase price. The buyer then has the option to accept, continue negotiating, or walk away from the deal. Lastly, declining the offer means that you are simply not interested in selling the property to that buyer.

This step is where a real estate agent’s expertise will come in handy. If the buyer and seller have very different demands when it comes to the purchase agreement, a real estate agent will be able to juggle both sides and try to come to a compromise that works for everyone.

Step 6: Appraisals and Home Inspections

New York does not require home inspections statewide but the buyer will likely arrange a home inspection after you accept their offer. A home inspection is a noninvasive examination of a property to check for any defects or repairs that need to be made. Depending on where you are, it’s typical for the buyer to pay for the home inspection instead of the seller. In New York, there are 18 counties require pest inspections for real estate transactions.

Bronx
Broome
Columbia
Delaware
Dutchess
Greene
Kings
Nassau
New York
Orange
Putnam
Queens
Richmond
Rockland
Suffolk
Sullivan
Ulster
Westchester

New York sellers should also consider testing for radon levels before closing on a property if they have not conducted a test within the last year, according to the state’s Department of Health.

Before closing on the home, a mortgage lender will send out an appraiser to make sure that the property is valued at or above the sale price. The appraiser will also determine if there are any necessary repairs that need to be made before the loan can be approved.

Step 7: The Seller’s Disclosure Statement and Paperwork

Home sellers need to be aware of The Property Condition Disclosure Act. The law requires sellers to provide the home buyer with a disclosure form or pay the buyer $500 at closing. A disclosure form is a document that outlines any and all issues with the property that the seller is aware of. The purpose of this document is to make sure the buyer knows of any material defects with the property before purchase.

This is also when legal paperwork will need to be signed by both the buyer and the seller. This includes the purchase contract, deed, and more. The real estate agent will usually be present during this step to make sure that everything is completed correctly and smoothly.

Step 8: Closing on a House in New York

After all of the inspections, appraisals, and paperwork have been completed, it’s time to close on the house. This is when the seller officially transfers ownership of the property to the buyer and the buyer transfers funds for the home. Throughout the closing process, there are closing costs that the buyer and seller pay for separately.

Although the buyer pays for most of the closing costs, the seller is still responsible for some fees as well. Some of the seller closing costs include the real estate agent’s commission, attorney fees, title search, the real estate transfer tax, and more. The closing process typically takes 30 to 50 days and once all of the documents have been signed and the funds have been transferred, the house is officially sold.

Sell Your House With an Experienced Real Estate Agent

Finding a real estate agent to work with is easy but finding a good real estate agent can be very difficult. Luckily, there is a new type of real estate agent organization that streamlines your search for a high-quality and experienced agent. This group of agents is called the Negotiators.

Negotiators are handpicked from amongst the top real estate agents in the country that have all proven their ability to go above and beyond for their clients. By hiring a Negotiator, you’ll have someone on your side who has a wealth of experience in the real estate market and an unrivaled work ethic working to get you the best deal possible.

Search for a New York Negotiator if you want to work with a great real estate agent.