Financial considerations are important when you think about selling your house. There are a lot of reasons why you may want to sell your home: move to a new location with more space, downsize or travel the world! But it’s important to  price your home based on market research and not personal needs.  Research homes which are similar in size, age, and amenities as your own home. This step will help you get realistic about your decision in selling your home. As part of the decision, you need to consider comparable properties in your area, current market conditions, as well as the cost of financing and its availability. 

When you plan to sell your home, the way you market, advertise and present your home plays a huge role in selling your property instantly and at a good price. Weigh the pros and cons before making a decision. In the end, we all want the same thing; the best price with the least amount of hassle. 

Selling a home can be a life-changing decision and knowing if it's the right time depends on many factors like:

1. Upgrade: One of the primary reasons for selling a property is because you’ve outgrown your home. It could be due to an increase in family size, increase in your income due to a promotion or a change in career.
2. Property Downsizing: On the other hand, you would like to move into something smaller as you no longer need the space. This is common amongst empty-nesters, or older couples whose children have moved out of the home.
3. Job Transfer / Promotion: Change in career or a job transfer or a promotion could mean wanting to move into a better and bigger home.
4. Change in Relationship Status: Getting married, moving in with a person, or getting a divorce can mean that one or both the partners will need to sell.
5. Equity Advantage: If you have a lot of equity in your home, you can sell and put it to good use in other investments. That equity may enable you to afford a larger home.
6. Hot market: If the market near you is a seller’s market, it may make sense to take profits on your home while you have the chance.

• What is my time frame?
• Would I like to sell or rent my home?
• What types of payment can I expect?
• Are any repairs required before selling the house and if so, what are they?
• Do you need anyone’s permission to sell the home?
• Is there a date you need to move by?
• Is the real estate in your market very seasonal?
• What are your risks if the total debt secured by the house exceeds the sales proceeds?

First impressions are important! How you stage your home and take care of the little details goes a long way. It’s important to improve and repair your home before you invite prospective buyers into your house. You could easily lose a sale if it’s not in pristine condition. Few minor touch ups can go a long way in making a good impression on potential buyers and hopefully that would lead to clinching that deal. You don’t have to break the bank to make your home look appealing. Small changes like cleaning out the clutter, paying attention to smells, getting rid of personal items, making sure the room is well lit and bright, making minor repairs, all this can go a long way. This will help increase the home value and shorten the sales time. As much as the interior of your home is important, the exterior of our home plays a big role too. It is important to maximize curb appeal. Also, to show off your home’s best assets it’s key to have good and professional pictures taken. To help you stage your home, STONYBROOK REALTY  outlined 4 basic stages of preparing:

Homes that are clean, well maintained, have great curb appeal, and have a neutral décor sell faster and for more money than homes that don't. Therefore it is important to get it in the best possible condition prior to offering it for sale. We’ll help you with Tips, ideas, advice, secrets and staging ideas on getting your house ready to sell:

• Plan Ahead: Walk through each room and criticize the home from a buyer's perspective. Or even better yet, have a friend do it.
• Make updates and repairs to improve your home’s value.  Here are some of the updates you can make and the return you can expect for them.  Not all updates will pay you back when you sell.  It’s often better to focus on the little things like, fresh neutral paint, broken door knobs or a new faucet than a true remodel, which doesn’t usually pay back.

http://www.hgtv.com/remodel/interior-remodel/30-tips-for-increasing-your-homes-value

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/ideas/brokers-tell-all-10-ways-to-boost-house-value

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/money-guides/10-cheap-fixes-to-boost-the-value-of-your-home-1.aspx

http://www.moneycrashers.com/7-home-improvements-to-increase-its-value/

• Clean, Declutter and Depersonalize: Rooms will appear larger if there’s less stuff in them. Remove excess and oversized furniture. Remove family photos, personal collections and medications.  All horizontal surfaces should be as clear and empty as possible.  Put away the magazines. Use one large clear plastic container for each room, this way if you need access to something you can easily find it.
• Maximize Curb Appeal: The exterior of a home has to look appealing. Paint the home's exterior, including trim, doors and shutters, Keep your lawn mowed, your hedges trimmed, put away garbage containers, A few potted flowers can really cheer up the outside.
• Pay Attention to Kitchens and Bathrooms : make sure all toilet seats are down, personal products are put away and fresh linens are out.
• Appeal to the Senses: Fresh flowers on the kitchen counter, Bake cookies or burn scented candles
• Show Off Your Home's Best Features: show off hardwood floors, pull back drapes.
• Schedule a professional photo shoot
• Online Presence: You have to make sure your home is on the local multiple listing service (MLS)  once on MLS it will syndicate to other local agents and national websites such as Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com etc
• Start looking for your next home: In the event that your home sells quickly, you’ll need to be ready to move.

Every homeowner / seller would like to sell their home as soon as possible for the best possible price.  According to the National Association of Realtors, the median days on market for homes sold in September 2015 was only 49 days.

There are a number of factors that can speed up or slow down a sale:

• Market:  The average time in a fast market might be 30 days and the average time in a slow market could be nine months. The location of your home plays a major role in how long your home stays on the market.
• Price: If the price is right, your home should sell quickly. Expensive homes generally sell more slowly, because fewer buyers can afford them. According to the National Association of Realtors, homes priced at market value will bring in 60 percent of potential home buyers who are looking at that price point. Slight underpricing can capture people’s hope and then spark a bidding war.
• Season: Sales normally happen faster during summer, when the weather is nice and before school starts. During the winter, sales can be more sluggish.
• Condition: The condition of your home will also contribute to the length of time your home stays on the market.  A mint condition home may sell faster than a fixer-upper.
• School districts: Homes in neighborhoods with desirable public schools sell faster than houses in other school districts.
• Public Transportation: Your property may be more desirable to more people if it is close to public transportation such as subways, trains or ferries.
• Comparable Homes: Looking at recent home sales in your area is one data point matrix real estate agents use to help determine market time before they start a listing.

• Exterior: Home selling on a budget starts with the exterior. You have to make sure your windows are washed, your lawn is mowed, your front door looks clean and nicely painted, and perhaps Flowers are planted..  There are many cost effective ways to add a little cheer to the exterior.
• Declutter: Remove any excess clutter and furniture in your home. This helps the room look bigger and allows buyers to imagine their furniture in the room. Remove excess personal items like photographs, clean out the closets, make sure your kitchen pantry and bedroom closets are neat and clean.  Organizing by type (or color in the closet) makes them look like retail stores and gives a subtle edge to your home.
• Paint the Interior: You can save a lot of money if you paint the rooms yourself. Choose a soft color that makes the rooms look more appealing.  This is important if you have a lot of uncommon colors. A red living room might be hard to imagine for some, but white won’t offend anyone. Here is an article https://www.paintzen.com/blog/post/1851/the-most-popular-paint-colors-for-selling-your-house
• Repair / Update / Clean: Repair anything that’s broken, update or replace kitchen appliances and clean and polish your floor, wash all light fixture coverings.

Staging Specialist: Staging is a strategic marketing tool designed to show a property in its best possible light. Professional stagers believe in the power of this technique because they believe sellers can get top-dollar and a quicker sale by making the home appeal to the largest group of people. Nicholas Stefanelli also works with a professional stager and is able to provide a consultation if needed.

• Clean & De-Clutter : Both cleaning and organizing require more time than money for a seller to complete, but are worth it because this will make a huge impact on the overall look of the home.  Keep going till surfaces are clear and everything is put away and has a place.
• Rearrange Furniture: Another way to increase square footage is by rearranging your furniture to open up traffic flow and avoid closing off a room.  If people can’t easily walk around a space in a relatively straight line, some may feel cramped.
• Accent Special Features: Place an accent by a home's feature, such as an attractive plant near a fireplace to draw the eye to it.
• Bring the Outdoors Inside: Use a little nature in each room. Create a flow throughout the home using plants or flowers.
• Add Bathroom Elegance: Get some neutral hand towels, flowers or a candle for each bathroom.  
• Curb appeal is vital to attracting buyers
• Let the sun shine in. Buyers love light and airy living rooms.  Turn on all of the lamps, pull the curtains back and make sure all the shades are up.  While you’re at it, clean the windows as clean windows let in more light.

Appraisers: Nicholas Stefanelli  works closely with  

Owner, MDA Appraisals  home appraisal is an unbiased estimate of how much your property is worth. The appraiser is looking at the value of the home. It is performed by a licensed appraiser, who takes into account the property features, the market conditions, and the data on sales of similar properties. Appraisals are normally done by buyers (or their banks), but there are a few benefits to getting one done upfront.  An appraisal can help you figure out what a buyer’s bank will approve.  This is important because a deal can fall through if the buyer’s bank appraises the house for less than the agreed price.  Knowing this ahead of time can help you negotiate with the buyer and ensure that they have the funds to close.

Home Inspector: Once you have executed a sales contract with a buyer, the first thing the buyer is most likely going to do is hire a home inspector to inspect your house.  It is the Seller’s responsibility to provide access to the property to the Buyer and the Inspector during the agreed timeframe. The inspection can be a deal killer if something is found that wasn’t disclosed.

Professional Organizer: When you are too busy, too confused, too tired, or too stressed to deal with your clutter, Professional Organizers come into the picture. Professional Organizers come to your home with all the advice,   innovative products and solutions you need to turn your home into a place that is appealing for prospective buyers.  Many stagers are also professional organizers.

The goal is to showcase your home in its best light and get maximum exposure when marketing your property.. A lot has changed over the past 10 years, online and mobile have changed the role of brokers and real estate agents. Today the internet is everyone’s first stop, since nearly every listing is posted online. These are the tools you should incorporate in your marketing strategy:

1. List your property with STONYBROOK REALTY with Nicholas Stefanelli Realtor ! 973-508-4000 Nicholas@Stefanelli.com: National Association of Realtors says that 92% of buyers use the internet to house hunt.  Having your listing show up on sites like Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com is the first place you should start. So with the help of  Nicholas Stefanelli, Realtor your listing will appear on all these sites along with your local  MLS.
2. Set the stage for your property:  Stoneybrook Realty will help you describe your home which is the key to attracting prospective buyers. Use the description of your home to paint a picture they can imagine and that they can see themselves in. The better you can tell the story of your home and neighborhood  the more likely a prospective buyer is to raise her hand and show interest in buying it.  
3. Take beautiful pictures inside and out: Professional photographs can go a long way to help market your property.  The goal should be to get potential Buyers excited to visit your home by showing them, through pictures.  Nicholas will also have this arranged for you. 
4. Connect with your social circles: chances are that you already know potential buyers for your home: they could be your friends, your neighbors or people that live nearby and are looking to move into your area. Social sharing through Facebook, Linkedin and other social platforms (Pinterest is growing fast), you can share your listing with hundreds or thousands of potential buyers that already know you or know friends of yours. Nicholas Stefanelli will assist you so he can work effectively to sell your home.

https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-market-your-house-1799084
https://www.auction.com/blog/how-the-internet-changed-the-real-estate-industry-forever/

1. Set yourself up for Social: Make sure you have social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, & Pinterest. This will enable you to share your listing with Nicholas Stefanelli @ Stonybrook Realty on all your social media accounts. Social sharing helps you reach a lot of people who may be interested in buying your property. Encourage friends to share your post, especially on Facebook.
2. Make yourself easy to contact Nicholas Stefanelli, Realtor 973-508-4000: Make sure if people want to know more about your property, they can easily contact Nicholas Stefanelli. That means using a cell phone instead of a landline so that buyers can always  call or text him.
3. Hiring us to get professional Photographer: Bad photography can diminish interest, even in the greatest of properties. It’s important to hire a good photographer that showcases your property in the best possible way. Even many agents just take cellphone photos, but listings with professional photography get up to twice as many showings. Creating  a virtual tour: Virtual tours are a great way to give a comprehensive, accurate preview of the property for potential buyers.
4. Response time is critical: Any kind of delay will result in the client going elsewhere. The time it takes to respond to an inquiry from an interested buyer can make the difference between selling your home and a missed opportunity. Respond to every contact as quickly as possible, ideally within 5 minutes, so that potential buyers are 50% more likely to come see your home.

1. Real Estate mobile marketing: Mobile marketing is the next big thing in real estate marketing, with more than 50 percent of all digital time now spent on mobile devices, according to the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). Mobile Internet usage is growing faster than Internet usage in general,  it's up 23 percent compared with just 8 percent.  50 percent of home buyers used a mobile website or application in the home buying process last year, according to the NAR.
2. 3D Tours: When so much of real estate marketing depends on visuals, 3D tours are a game changer, so if you don’t have the time or patience to read any further, a virtual tour is the next best or only option. In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors, 38% of millennials made an offer without stepping foot inside, using only the photos and videos at hand.
3. Tracking potential buyers: With the help of digital marketing, agencies will be able to access detailed information about customers visiting their properties and know exactly what they are looking for. So it will be important to keep these prospective buyers engaged with targeted advertising.

When you’re selling your home, the process of negotiating with prospective buyers often involves a volley of offers and counteroffers before both parties agree. An offer and subsequent negotiation is where the real action starts. As the seller, if you receive an offer that you don't like, counter offer the offer with terms that you feel are more acceptable. It's a time for rational thought, consultation and action where required, to hammer out a golden deal.

1. Set a realistic price
2. Examine the offer from the potential buyer and consider it carefully
3. Avoid emotional decision making
4. Determine which terms you find acceptable in the offer. These are the terms that you will accept and that you will not address in the counteroffer.
5. Examine the terms you do not find acceptable to decide how you wish to counteroffer.
6. Utilize a “give-and-take” approach in the counteroffer
7. Research the lender and call them directly to understand how they qualified the Buyer and if they can meet the dates outlined in the offer.
8. Draft your counter offer, putting every detail in writing. Sign and date the counteroffer
9. Analyze any counteroffers that you receive from the buyer. You might accept a counteroffer or you might counteroffer a second time.

It is the last phase of the home selling process. But before you can breathe a sigh of relief there are few other steps to be completed before the deal is finally done. Once a buyer has decided to make an offer on your home, the buyer will most likely require an home inspection and appraisal to be performed. Depending on the results of the appraisal process, the buyer may attempt to renegotiate the purchase price.  Nicholas Stefanelli can help you manage all the documents that need to be signed and sent to the buyer to make sure to keep you on track for an on time closing. Nicholas Stefanelli  who  is   a licensed  Title  Insurance Officer, Insurance Broker and Loan Officer has  all the Real Estate Expertise to guide you through the process and explain the steps along the way.

Buyers have to pay prepaid closing costs for their mortgage. Closing fees average around 2% to 5% of the purchase price of their home in closing fees.  Nicholas Stefanelli at Stonybrook Realty will  provides the laundry list of closing costs you should be aware of.

Closing costs are fees paid at the closing of a real estate transaction. Therefore at closing point, the title of the of the property is transferred from the seller to the buyer. This is in addition to the down payment made. Closing costs are incurred by either the buyer or seller.

• A fee for running your credit report.
• Mortgage Application Fees, paid by the buyer to the lender, to cover the costs of processing their loan application
• Attorney (Lawyer) Fees, paid by either or both parties, for the preparation and recording of official documents.
• Charges for any inspection required or requested by the lender or you. This is usually paid by the buyer
• Discount points, which are fees you pay in exchange for a lower interest rate.
• Appraisal fee.
• Survey Fee for a survey of the lot or land and all structures on it, paid by either party.
• Recording Cost, paid by either party, charged by a governmental entity for entering an official record of the change of ownership of the property.
• Survey fee, which covers the cost of verifying property lines.
• Title insurance, which protects the lender in case the title isn’t clean.
• Title search fees, which pay for a background check on the title to make sure there aren’t things such as unpaid mortgages or tax liens on the property.
• Escrow deposit, which may pay for a couple months’ property taxes and private mortgage insurance.
• Pre-paid Homeowner's Property Insurance, paid by the buyer in advance to protect the home against fire, earthquake, flood
• Underwriting fee, which covers the cost of evaluating a mortgage loan application.
• Pro-rata Interest, paid by the buyer but may be reimbursed by the seller.

As a rule, you can estimate that they typically total between 2% to 7% of the home’s purchase price. So on a $350,000 home, your closing costs would amount to anywhere from $7,000 to $24,500. Closing costs cover expenses such as settlement fees, lender fees, and title insurance. Both buyers and sellers typically pitch in on closing costs, but buyers shoulder the lion’s share of the load.

This calculator will help you get an estimate of what your closing costs will be to help you better prepare yourself financially for all the costs of your new home loan.

https://smartasset.com/mortgage/closing-costs

Home buyers typically pay between 2 to 5 percent of the purchase price of their home in closing fees. So that’s not exactly small change. When you’re negotiating a home sale, your lender will provide you with what’s called a Loan Estimate (mentioned above) detailing what your closing costs are likely to be. we have six tips for cutting those costs down to size:

• Compare Costs: Shop around for the lender who offers the lowest closing costs. Nicholas Stefanelli as a Loan Officer also can ask a lender to match low closing costs offered elsewhere. Do some research, make some calls and see if you can find cheaper options and have Nicholas try to beat it.   Nicholas Stefanelli is your Real Estate Agent for a ONE STOP SHOP! 
• Evaluate the Loan Estimate: Have the lender walk you through each charge and discuss what it includes. This is a good way to identify padded or unnecessary fees. Some third party charges, such as appraisals and credit report fees, are pretty much set in stone. Other costs, such as title insurance, legal fees, and rate lock fees are more flexible.
• Close at the end of the month: One of the simplest ways to reduce closing costs is to schedule your closing at the end of the month
• Wrap the closing costs into the loan: Lenders charge more for this, but if you don’t have the cash, it’s a way to get into the house with less cash upfront.  I hope this finds you well and helps you, please free to call me on any questions you may have at 973-508-4000 or contact me via email Nicholas@Steafnelli.com