Timeline of a Home Sale

Hire a professional who ​knows how to list, market, ​and sell your home.

Use market knowledge ​and prices of competing ​homes to set the list price.

Get the home ready for ​staging, photography, and ​showing.

Start marketing the home ​using a thorough property ​marketing plan.

Buyers will tour the home, ​ask questions, and ​determine if your home is ​a right fit for them.

Evaluate offers on your ​home, and negotiate to ​get the best based on your ​criteria.

Work with the buyer's ​agent, lawyers, and title ​to finish the sale.

Your Guide to the

Home Selling Process

Are you considering selling your home? Or are you curious about its value?

This guide is intended to help you prepare and understand the selling process so you can make the best choices for yourself and your family.

In my experience, many homeowners think that all REALTORs® do the same thing. If you've talked to more than one REALTOR®, you probably have a similar perception.

But at Coldwell Banker Realty, it's not just about what we do that is different... it's also how well we do it. We use innovative strategies that are proven to sell your home for top dollar more than the average firm in the Los Angeles area.

Over the next several pages, we will outline the skills, strategies, and actions that enable us to achieve these results. Read on, or for a personal conversation about your specific situation, reach out to us for a free consultation.

~ Johnathan Gipson

Pricing Your Home

You may have heard that there is not much housing inventory in the Los Angeles real estate market right now, which means that prices are high across the board. This is great news for you as a home seller! The timing is perfect for you to get a strong return on your investment in your home.

But even in today's market, there are still homes that sit, waiting for an offer, for months and months. This time spent on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) means that you are still making payments on your mortgage and you are still not getting equity out of your home.

Perhaps even worse is what buyers and buyer agents think about homes that have been on the market for too long. The first impression a buyer gets about a property that has been listed for a long time is "Something must be wrong with that home."

That thought will scare away many buyers, and it will prompt the ones who remain interested to try to lowball you when they submit an offer on your home.

But why are those homes still on the market in the first place? It's because they are often priced "out of the market." Take a look at this graph to see what we mean:

Pricing Your Home

The intersection of the two axes — price and preparation — represents homes “in ​the market.” These are properties that are priced competitively and prepared ​nicely, and these are the homes that will net the most money for their sellers.

As you move farther away from the intersection, the homes become too pricey and ​in too much disrepair. These homes show poorly and are basically guaranteed not ​to sell.

The homes hovering near the middle of the graph, represented by the question ​marks, are in a sort of "limbo land." They are priced just a bit over their market ​worth, or they are not adequately prepared to show. These properties are the ones ​that will stay on the market for months and months, ultimately selling for way ​under the initial asking price and causing their sellers a lot of time and frustration.

If this sounds complicated, don't worry. We at [company] have a specific strategy ​that will help you avoid the dreaded limbo land of home sales and keep your home ​"in the market."

More on that in the coming pages.

Free Home Value Report

Your home's market value includes its features, condition, location, and level of ​competition in your neighborhood. Ask us for an expert Comparative Market ​Analysis (CMA) to see how your home stacks up and get an estimate of how much ​you will earn on its sale today.

Preparation Is Key

Just as first impressions are important for people, they can also be make-or-break for a home. When potential buyers walk into your house, they will start to evaluate everything they see. Their impression will ultimately determine how much they are willing to offer on a property... or even if they'll be interested in buying it at all.

Therefore, to get you the most money possible for your home, I put a ton of care into its preparation before we put it on the market. Quality preparation that will leave buyers with the best impression of your house involves three elements:

1. REPAIRS

There are several reasons to complete repairs on your home before you put it on the market. Ultimately, buyers will pay more for a home to avoid the work of fixing it, and they will pay faster.

Moreover, any money you invest into repairs before you list — when you have time to price-shop and to use a little bit of elbow grease — will be far less than the quote from the home inspector or the concessions for which buyers will ask.

The good news is that most repairs are merely cosmetic and fairly inexpensive. Think of the things on your to-do list: that leaky faucet and the cracked bathroom tile were bothering you when you lived in the house, and they're going to bother the new owners too.

2. CLEANLINESS

You wouldn't want your mother to come over when your house was dirty, would you?

Buyers are easily distracted, and they will tend to focus on the negatives instead...

Preparation Is Key

... of the positives of each home they tour. Each dish left in the sink or dust bunny in ​the corner is going to detract from the perceived value of your home, which means ​a lower offer amount and more time on the market for you.

3. STAGING

According to a recent study by the National Association of REALTORs®, 96% of buyer ​agents reported that staging had some effect on their clients' view of homes. They ​said that staging made it easier for their clients to visualize the properties as a ​future home and that they were more likely to overlook property faults.

And these effects turned into cash for sellers like you. The survey reveals that 52% ​of buyer clients were willing to offer more on a staged home than a similar home ​that was not staged — as much as 20% more than asking price!

LEt ME Connect You

We know the best vendors in the [market] area to help you with your home's ​repairs, cleanliness, and staging prior to listing it for sale. Ask us about our Trusted ​Partner Program so we can ensure you get the VIP treatment.

Property Marketing

In the “old days,” real estate agents marketing their sellers’ properties would simply put a sign in the yard, put a listing in the MLS, and pray that it sold. Even today, there are a lot of real estate professionals who think syndicating listings to portals is a job well done.

And that might actually be enough to sell your home in today’s market. But if that’s all an agent does to market your home to potential buyers, then they’re not fulfilling their fiduciary responsibility to you — to get you the most money possible for your home.

You see, you have a distinct advantage in wanting to sell your home right now: there is not much inventory, but there are a ton of buyers. A smart agent will use this classic example of supply and demand to create an auction environment for your home.

Getting multiple offers on your home will allow you to choose the best one for you — the one that has the right price, the right timeline, and the right conditions. And the key to creating this auction environment to get multiple offers is marketing.

At Coldwell Banker Realty we employ a strategic Property Marketing Plan that uses the latest technologies to seed the marketplace, optimize for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and position your home for the best possible impression right out of the gate. For example, we pen compelling marketing narratives to help buyers envision living in your home and we utilize advanced video marketing tactics to showcase your home's best features.

And our efforts don't stop once your home has been listed. We use our national network of agents to continuously promote your home to people wanting to move to the area and we run targeted social media ads to help get your home in front of the most people.

Check out a quick list of the types of marketing activities you can expect when you list your home with us:

Property Marketing

Next steps

Selling your home is a huge emotional and financial undertaking. You need a ​professional listing agent on your side who is a master negotiator with the skills and ​experience to get the job done right.

We are home sales experts in [market area], and we are confident in our ability to ​handle your transaction and any surprises that may pop up along the way to the ​closing table. But don't just take our word for it! Here's what some of our past ​clients have said about their experience working with us:

So if you are considering selling your home in today's market, we invite you to reach out to us at the contact information below. We would love the opportunity to learn more about your specific situation and explain to you in more detail what we do differently to sell homes faster and for more money in [market area].

About ME

Coldwell Banker Realty agent Johnathan Gipson guides his clients through every step of the real estate process. Having lived and worked in Los Angeles for over 15 years, he is well-versed in its neighborhoods. Johnathan specializes in residential, commercial, and investment properties. His background has trained him to be attentive to every detail. Additionally, he is knowledgeable about real estate market trends, the stock market, and cryptocurrencies. Johnathan also applies the knowledge he gained from managing three rental properties and working in a retail environment to deliver exceptional customer service. Backed by the Coldwell Banker Realty brand, Johnathan finds buyers the ideal home with his expert analysis and gives sellers a competitive edge by creating unsurpassed digital and print materials.

With a military background and legal writing and research experience, Johnathan wields the golden pen for his real estate clients by masterfully communicating and creatively coming up with solutions. Integrity, loyalty, and enthusiasm (ingrained characteristics from his days as a Marine) are just a few attributes Johnathan brings to the table to advocate for his clients in the Los Angeles region. Johnathan is also compassionate, which stems from his experience preparing court documents and working with families on family law matters. His focused, assertive, can-do attitude helps him actively listen and assist his clients with their home needs, leaving no stone unturned. For a perseverant, dependable, informed real estate agent, give Johnathan Gipson a call. He would be delighted to advocate for you