Are you considering selling your home or any other type of real estate? If there’s ever a time to sell in Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra, or Saint Johns, it’s right now! St. Johns County, is one of the fastest growing counties in the country. From 2010 to 2020, the County experienced 44 percent growth, and developers are working feverishly to keep up with the housing demand.
If you are planning to sell your home, the spring buying season presents one of the best opportunities for sellers to market their property. Consider these tips on ways to increase your chances of getting top dollar for your house.
1. Work With An Experienced Listing Real Estate Agent
If you want to maximize value when selling your house, consider working with a real estate agent. The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) recently reported that on average, a seller nets more money by working with an agent vs selling For Sale By Owner (FSBO). The NAR explains that there are several factors connected to this increased value. NAR reports that 9 out of 10 Buyers work with a Realtor. As such, Sellers that sell FSBO miss out on a large pool of potential purchasers. The NAR also points out that Realtors bring additional expertise and value to their clients during the home-selling process, including:
- Applying a competitive market analysis to maximize the price of your home.
- Negotiating on your behalf. Not only do the best Realtors understand pricing trends, they are aligned with the Seller and motivated to get the best sale price possible. This is elementary – the higher your sale price, the larger their commission.
- Offering objective support and experience in staging your home. Don’t be surprised if the Realtor tells you that bright orange room probably has to go.
- Access to the best marketing channels and tools to market your home. These include proprietary listing services, websites, social media, videos, drone shots, flyers & open houses.
When selling your house, you want to choose your Realtor carefully. A reliable agent is your closest ally in this process. Visit here to learn more about the how Realtors can benefit from partnering with St. Johns Title.
2. Practice Patience
We understand that you are probably eager to sell your home, but patience pays! You may be very excited when you receive your first offer, but take time to consider all of the details before you accept it. By now, you may have heard stories about bidding wars between Buyers that are driving up home prices across the country. In some cases, Sellers have been receiving all-cash offers that are $50,000 above the asking price! Will that happen to you too?
Here’s where patience can be a virtue. Frequently, Sellers can expect an offer that is significantly below what they are asking for. These tend to come early in the process and play on the fears of the Seller that this may be the only opportunity.
Consider waiting before accepting one of these “low-ball” offers that can come early in the process.
A quick offer should be considered within the context of many factors: the buyer, the market, and your house. If you are working with a Realtor, your agent should review any offers and advise you whether they are worth accepting within the framework of these factors. This is another reason why you should strongly consider having an experienced listing agent on your side.
When considering an offer, it’s good practice to let interested bidders know whether or not you’re accepting or declining their bid within a reasonable time frame. Most offers will include a written timeframe within which they need to be accepted or they are automatically withdrawn. In cases where those time frames are left open, consider when they were received. For offers received during the week, a good rule of thumb for a response is 48 hours. If you receive an offer over a weekend, you should let buyers know by Monday evening (or Tuesday if the offer came in during a holiday). If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the thought of not knowing what else might come in, think about setting an offer date (see Tip #4!).
3. Be Aware of Escalation Clauses
Some offers may include an “escalation clause.” An escalation clause on an offer sets forth the terms where a potential Buyer’s offer price will automatically increase to the “highest and best” offer. These can be found in situations where there is a lot of interest and multiple Buyers are competing for your house. Escalation clauses help Buyers avoid getting outbid by having their offer “leapfrog” over other offers in pre-established increments. Escalation clauses typically include the amount of the escalation value and price cap on how high the offer may go.
Here is a simple example:
- Buyer A: Offers $200,000
- Buyer B: Offers $208,000
- Buyer C: Offers $205,000 with an escalation clause that will increase their offer over the highest offer by $1,000, up to a maximum of $216,000.
Assuming all other factors are the same (closing date, financing, etc), Buyer B’s offer of $208,000 represents the highest initial dollar amount. As such, we can probably eliminate Buyer A’s offer of $200,000 from consideration. Similarly, Buyer C’s offer of $205,000 is well below Buyer C’s offer however, because Buyer C’s offer includes an escalation clause it automatically increases and “leapfrogs” Buyer B’s offer by $1,000 and becomes the most highest offer of $209,000 ($1,000 over $208,000).
From a Buyer’s perspective, this clause may provide a competitive advantage in an environment where it may be difficult to predict the amounts of the other offers that may be coming in.
As a Seller, escalation clauses are useful because they clearly establish the maximum value that the prospective buyers are offering and can help you secure even more for your property in a competitive market. Using our example, if a new Buyer comes along with an offer of $215,000, the escalation clause would automatically increase Buyer C’s offer to the established $216,000 maximum.
Knowing that Buyer C has an escalation clause, unless there are other offers that might exceed their offer maximum of $216,000, you can easily eliminate the competition.
4. Consider Setting An Offer Date
As a Seller, you may want to think about listing your home with an “Offer Date.” Not only could this increase competition, but it could also have the effect of making the offer comparison process easier.
An “Offer Date” (or “Offer Deadline”) is a scheduled deadline for the submission of offers. On the Offer Date, a Seller will have the opportunity to review all the offers made on their house and decide which represents the most desirable terms. Setting an Offer Date allows you to see all offers together and compare them side-by-side instead of making a hasty decision as the offers trickle in.
The downside of setting an Offer Date is that it may ward off an aggressive offer from a motivated Buyer. If you decide not to go the “Offer Date” route, you will need to make yourself as available as possible during the selling period to review and negotiate offers as they come in. Because of the current competitive housing market, you might find yourself with multiple offers as early as the first day of showing your home. Your ability to respond promptly to those offers could be the difference between finding the right Buyer or them moving on to another home.
Final Thoughts
Late Spring and early summer is considered the “buying season.” And if you haven’t noticed, the housing market in Jacksonville, Ponte Vedra Beach, St. Augustine, and Saint Johns is getting busier by the day! When it comes to selling your house, choose to partner with professionals that are client-focused and experts in the industry. Whether you are a buyer, seller, or whether you’re working with an agent, or going it alone, by choosing St. Johns Title, you are choosing an attorney-owned title company staffed by experienced and friendly real estate experts that work with local families during the sale and acquisition process. Visit us here to learn more about our closing process, our team of professionals and how you can leverage our expertise to make your closing as smooth as possible.
