Home Selling Process

Step 1: Select a Listing Broker / Agent

The Agent you select to list your home will represent you and have a fiduciary responsibility to look out for your best interests. At Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby's International Realty, all of our Sales Associates are not only trained, but they are highly experienced in marketing homes in the north central New Jersey area.

Select an Agent to work with based on their level of knowledge in your market area, business acumen, professionalism, and attentiveness. Do not simply select the Agent because they suggest a high market value for your home.

Step 2: Determine the Value of Your Home

The most common mistake made by home sellers is to overprice the home. Studies have demonstrated that homeowners that initially overprice their home typically end up selling for less money than they would have had they priced their home more realistically at the beginning of the listing term.

Your Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby's International Realty Sales Associate will prepare a comprehensive comparative market analysis in an effort to “triangulate” around the proper price point. The price point collectively determined by you and the Sales Associate will take into consideration the most recently sold properties, current market supply, and the anticipated concession you will make when negotiating with a buyer.

Step 3: Ready Your Home for Photos and Showings

Prepare your home to be shown by cleaning, de-cluttering and improving overall curb appeal. When you market your home with Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby's International Realty, we provide you a complimentary consultation with one of our on-staff Certified Property Staging Professionals. The objective of the consultation is for you to have a concise list of those items that we recommend addressing prior to the marketing of the property. This room-by-room analysis by our Staging Consultant will serve as your roadmap to maximizing the appeal of your property.

Step 4: Start the Marketing Process

Your Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby's International Realty Sales Associate will outline a comprehensive marketing plan which will include both web and print-based marketing tactics. Since more than 90% of homebuyers begin their home search on the internet, heavy emphasis is placed on internet marketing as each of our listings appear on over 50 national and international web sites.

At the beginning of the listing period, your Sales Associate will also utilize several tactics intended to capture the attention of the local real estate agents. One such tactic is to open your home up for a special “Realtor-only” preview. The purpose of the Broker Open House is to expose the home to Realtors so that they are well-versed in discussing it with their buyer clients.

Step 5: Show Your Home

As your home is show by Agents to their buyer clients, your Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby's International Realty Sales Associate will continuously provide feedback to you from each of the Agents that have shown your home. Feedback is important as it helps us collectively understand what the typical buyer objections are, and to determine how we might address those objections in the future.

Step 6: Negotiation process

When an offer is received on your home, your Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby's International Realty Sales Associate will review all of the key terms of the offer with you, including offer price, mortgage amount, closing date, as well as any unusual contingencies that may be included in the offer. It is generally a good idea to respond quickly (within 8 hours) to any offer. In a buyer’s market, Seller’s are strongly encouraged to provide a counter-offer, even if the buyer’s initial offer is perceived to be very low. Providing a counter-offer goes a long way toward making the buyer feel comfortable that you will be reasonable to work with throughout the process. Your Sales Associate can provide suggestions as to the amount of the counter-offer, but the decision is ultimately up to you.

Do not be discouraged if the negotiation process includes multiple iterations of counter-offers as this is very common in the today’s market.

Step 7: Contract to Closing

Immediately after accepting an offer from a buyer, your real estate attorney will guide you through the “Attorney Review” process. During this 3 business day period, either party may terminate the contract with no questions asked and with no penalty.

After Attorney Review is completed, the buyer will have their home inspection performed. Visit the Home Inspection page for an understanding of this process.

Your Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby's International Realty Sales Associate will guide you through any processes required by your township or municipality in preparation for closing. These typically include an inspection of your smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, and fire extinguisher. Additionally, if your home is served by well water, you will need to have the water tested by a certified New Jersey laboratory. You Sales Associate can provide you the names of companies that can perform the test for you.

Step 8: Conduct inspection after Attorney Review

On the day of closing, the buyer will perform a final walkthrough to review the condition of the home and to ensure any items that were to be repaired as a result of the home inspection have been addressed.

As the Seller, you are not required to attend the closing. If you choose, you may provide Power of Attorney to your legal counsel to handle the closing. Your Kienlen Lattmann Sotheby's International Realty Sales Associate will attend both the final walkthrough and the closing to ensure any issues that are identified are handled appropriately and expeditiously