The Complete San Antonio Home Seller Checklist

We know that selling your home can be a complex process, especially when you haven’t done it before. Even if you have, things change as frequently as the market, so there’s a lot to consider each time. We’re proud to be a resource for sellers in the San Antonio area looking to make the most of their home sales. Our experienced agents average 10 years of experience and sell more homes on average than any other top brokerage firm in Central Texas.

Having a home seller checklist is a great way to complement the process of working with a real estate agent when you decide it’s time to sell your home. We’ve used our background and insight to help set you up for smooth sailing, so all you have to worry about is checking items off the list.

While some things in this list may be common knowledge, like tidying your place before showing it to potential buyers, some of the checklist topics are more nuanced. That’s why we’ve separated the checklist into sections, so you can better manage each step of the process. 

BEFORE YOU LIST

This is the time to look at the big picture. When you’re thinking of selling your home, there are some emotional and logical things you’ll want to consider. What are your goals for the future, and why do you want to sell your home? Answering these questions will help you get a better sense of where you’re going and what you want to achieve. The process is an emotional one, especially if you’ve lived in your house for a long time. This is a good time to take pictures and videos of your home before you begin to move and change things. 

Look at Your Goals

When deciding you want to sell your home, you want to feel sure and confident moving forward. That’s why you should take the time to think about what kind of mortgage has worked for you in the past, and what you would want moving forward. Then, think about where you want to be in terms of things that are important to you, like your family and career, and where you see yourself in 5, 10, and 15 years. 

Address Your Finances

Some people are selling their homes in San Antonio right now because they see the opportunity to make a profit and meet some of their financial goals. Before you decide to sell, you’ll want to take inventory of your finances. You may want to research the San Antonio real estate market to see what the current trends are, how quickly homes are selling and for home much, and to learn what it means that San Antonio is currently a seller’s market. 

Next, you’ll want to see if you have enough equity to sell your home. Equity is the market price of your home minus how much you still owe on your home loan if you took one out. To figure this out, you should first get a sense of what your home is worth. While no two homes are exactly the same, a comparable analysis should get you in the ballpark. Then, check and see how much you still owe on your home. The result is your equity, which many people want to make sure will cover the price of selling their home before they begin the work. 

Get Expert Help

In an ever-changing and increasingly hot market like we’ve experienced in the last few years, working with an expert real estate agent will help you navigate the process of selling your home, including helping you set the price, listing it, and offering insight. While it may seem like you don’t need a middleman, the National Association of Realtors reported that in 2021, 90 percent of home sellers worked with a real estate agent to sell their homes. According to Investopedia, you may actually lose money selling your home yourself, and you open yourself up to legal issues. Additionally, selling your home is a full-time job, and you may not want to or be able to commit that much time. 

Buy Before You Sell 

Another big element you’ll need to check off is answering where you plan to move next. You may be wondering how to sell your home and buy a new one. While you traditionally wait to buy your new home with the money from the sale of your old home, that can add stress. Today, you can buy before you sell. This allows you to sell your home at your own pace, make competitive offers on your new home, and even skip showings by moving before you list. 

Make Repairs and Improvements

To get your home in selling condition, you’ll likely need to make some repairs. If you want to make top dollar selling your home, you may also want to consider some improvements or renovations depending on your timeline and budget. If a potential home buyer spots any problems when touring your home, it may make them reconsider or offer a lower price. On top of that, many serious buyers will get a home inspection. You’ll want to make a list of things in your home that you know need repaired and work from there. No two homes are the same, but some common ones are fixing your floors, windows, doors, and any exterior issues. 

If you want to increase the value of your home, there are some improvements you can consider. Your real estate agent can help advise you on what they see selling the most, but there are also tried and true upgrades that help you sell your home for more. These include adding fresh neutral paint, remodeling your kitchen or bathroom, or adding a deck or outdoor entertaining area. Making your home more eco-friendly can also add value to your home and impress buyers. Lastly, updating your lighting to a more modern style can make a big impact.

Price Your Home

The benefit of working with an agent certainly comes into play when it’s time to price your home. You don’t want to sell your home for less than you can get, and real estate agents are constantly aware of the prices that homes are selling for, how much over asking homes are selling for, and more. They have a variety of strategies to help you price your home competitively, and this involves a lot of experience. A good real estate agent will compare your home to recently sold homes nearby, consider the market, and be aware of how any unique factors and improvements can up your asking price. 

PREPARING TO SELL YOUR HOME

Now that you’ve committed to selling your home, take stock of your finances, make necessary improvements, get an expert on your side, and price your home, you’re ready to start the process of getting your home ready to tour and photograph. 

Stage Your Home

Now is the time to turn your home into a stage where potential buyers can picture themselves living. When it comes to the act of staging your home, you’ll want to ensure you follow a few key steps to interest buyers and make sure your home shines through in photos. Your real estate agent will also impart the importance of staging your home to sell. The main methods are:

• Deep Clean
  You’ll want to give your house a good deep cleaning, whether you hire a company to do it or do it yourself. Pay special attention to areas like the bathroom and kitchen, which are big selling points for buyers.
• Depersonalize Your Space
  While pictures of your family and personal items make your house feel like a home to you, you’ll want to remove them so that buyers can picture themselves living there. Essentially, you want to make the buyers wonder whether someone actually lives there. 
• Add Luxury Touches
  From hidden air fresheners that make your house smell fresh and clean to decorative items, you can make your house feel fancy to impress everyone who enters. Try adding some fresh plants sparingly throughout the home, a plush blanket or comforter on the bed, and small pops of color like accent pillows.
• Consider Curb Appeal
  When staging your home, curb appeal should be a big focus. You’ll want to mow your lawn, trim up your flowers and bushes, ensure your trees look healthy, and even power wash the outside.

Seasonal Checklists

Spring:

• This is a great time to take your spring cleaning to the next level. Additionally, this season is the perfect opportunity to refresh your space with new paint, wallpaper, or features. You’ll also want to get your lawn in shape after the winter, and you may want to power wash the exterior.

Summer:

• Keep in mind that if you’re selling now, it’s good to focus on timing. You’ll see the most success by timing the listing of your home by beating back to school season when many people are busy and put a pause on their searches. 

Fall:

• When you’re selling your home in the fall, you have a special chance to help potential buyers picture themselves in the space. Specifically, decorating for autumn can help interested buyers imagine cooking Thanksgiving dinner in the kitchen or enjoying chilly evenings cozied up in the living room. Emphasizing these spaces and ensuring they are staged properly is key. Sweep up the exterior of your home and get rid of any debris or dead leaves. 

Winter:

• Now is the time to emphasize brightening up your space. Pull back the curtains to allow natural light in, fix anything that may have been damaged by rain or cold weather, and tidy up.

Time to Photograph 

To ensure your home gets the attention it deserves, you’ll want to work with a professional photographer to take pictures of your home after you have it cleaned and staged.

ONCE YOUR HOME IS ON THE MARKET

Now, the moment you’ve been working toward is here! Your agent will put your home online and help advertise your home. If you’re working with a real estate agent, they have access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), a real estate technology that makes the transaction more efficient and gets your listing seen by more people. If you’re doing this yourself, you’ll want to put your pictures and home listing on different websites and market it. 

Set Up Your Lock Box

Setting up a lockbox with your key inside and giving your real estate agent the code will ensure they can show your home without you having to interrupt your schedule and meet them at the property. 

Start Showing

Your agent will let you know when people want to see the home and work with you to plan the showings. If you choose to go the buy before you sell route, you can move into your other home and avoid having to fit your life around the showings. It is best for the seller to not be in the home during a showing, as it can make buyers feel pressured or uncomfortable. 

DURING NEGOTIATIONS 

All of your hard work and smart decisions have paid off, and now you’re getting offers on your home. You may receive multiple offers and even letters from buyers. This process moving forward is known as your home sale being in escrow, which is the process of including a third party to ensure the security of the funds for the safety of both parties. 

Review Offers

Your real estate agent can help you review offers and decide what is the best fit for you based on your priorities. Of course, you want the most money for your property, but you’ll want to consider the entire picture of the offer. You’ll want to consider the buyer’s financing, as one of the main reasons that home sales fall through is financing, according to My Move. This may mean you’ll want to consider cash offers and check the fine print of their offer. 

Negotiate

In the real estate world, negotiations take the form of counteroffers. When a buyer is also using an agent, it is best to communicate through the agents. This can be an emotional process, so leaning on your agent’s experience can be incredibly helpful. In our current seller’s market, you are less likely to be offered less than your asking price, but it can happen. Remind yourself of the main things you want to get from selling your home and proceed logically because you as the seller will ultimately make the decision to accept or reject offers. Other scenarios may pop up, like the buyer wanting you to cover the closing costs. Or, if you get multiple offers, you may wonder how to choose the best one. Your agent can help you with bidding wars or negotiating with the top offer to get more of what you want. 

Accept and Move

After accepting an offer, you’ll want to begin moving everything out of your home. Since it generally takes about 30 days for the transaction to be finalized, this is your time to truly move out. 

CLOSING CHECKLIST

Finally, the moment has come. You have an offer you like and you’re moving forward with closing on your home. You’ll need to make sure that you have completed any agreed-upon repairs, and you’ll prove that the title is free and clear of defects. Then, you’ll sign the necessary documents like the sale agreement, which your agent can help you with. The day before closing, you’ll likely do a final walkthrough with the buyer and their agent and make sure everything is in order. 

As a seller with an agent, you have an easier time and less paperwork to deal with than the buyer at this point, but there are still steps to take. You’ll likely meet at a neutral location and exchange relevant documents for your closing meeting, and funds will be transferred from the buyer to the seller. 

Address Additional Costs

You’re so close to the finish line! At this point, you’ll want to tie off any loose financial ends. You’ll figure out if you owe capital gains tax on selling a home and make sure to pay it if you do. Next, you’ll want to pay off any remaining amount on the mortgage of the house you sold, your agent’s commission, escrow fees, attorney fees, and title insurance fees. After you get all the financials finished, congratulate yourself on completing the process of selling your home and inform USPS and anyone who sends you mail of your new address.