Sellers

The first step in any smart home sale is a walk-though and in-depth assessment of your property alongside a trusted agent. While you may know your home intimately, an objective valuation based on experience and timely market analysis will help anticipate its likely sales price and serve as the foundation for your sales strategy.

Deciding to sell a house is a big decision — but deciding how to sell a house involves a series of cascading, important decisions. You’ll work with your agent to develop a tailored marketing strategy as you prepare your home to look its best; this includes considering staging, painting, gardening, big and small repairs, and more. Your Generation agent will help you scope, solicit, and review bids for any work required. 

With your data collected and your strategy set, you’re ready to approve bids, schedule work, and — in most cases — move your personal belongings to create a fresh slate. Over the next weeks, depending on the extent of the work your property needs, you’ll bring out the best in the home you’re preparing to sell. 

When everything looks just-so, it’s time to bring in a real estate photographer and an inspector to give the property a careful look. With the help of these professionals, your agent will create on- and off-line marketing and disclosure materials so your home can be listed most effectively. Generation agents will send eBlasts to interested buyers, schedule and broadcast open houses, and list your property on MLS and other channels. 

It’s time to begin showing your home. We start with a weekend open to spread the word and, from there, branch out to broker’s tours, weeknight twilight tours for buyers, and personal showings to serious buyers. Homes can sell before the first open house and other times this process can take a few weeks. How many open houses to hold and when and how to accept offers are answers you and your agent can determine together.

Buyer’s agents will deliver their client’s offers to your agent, sometimes with advance warning and sometimes without. When offers are all in, we’ll review them carefully and report back to you — how many, how much, and more. If there are a number of competitive offers, your agent will help you assess factors beyond which is the biggest, so you can choose the right one or making a counter-offer as appropriate. 

When you accept an offer, we open an escrow account to hold the buyer’s deposit. The buyer then has an agreed period of time (21 to 30 days is typical in San Francisco) to get their financing squared away and to take care of any other contingencies described in their offer. If you haven’t already, this is when you’ll move out and take care of any other details that the sales contract requires.

And then, once everything has been handled and the buyer’s financing is finalized, the sale will close. The buyer’s lender will pay off your lender and you, with amounts going to taxes and fees as well. Your agent will hand over the keys to the new owner and all that will be left to do is celebrate. Congratulations! You just sold a home!