If you're selling a home, I will help you achieve your goals in the shortest amount of time - with the least inconvenience possible.

I will:

	Help establish a reasonable selling price for your home within its fair market value.
	Market your home through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
	Counsel you on the visual presentation of your property and suggest ways to enhance its marketability.
	Coordinate the advertising of your home using Real Living/HER's industry-leading marketing technologies.
	Pre-qualify buyers when possible.
	Coordinate the details of your closing with all parties involved.

Step One: Determining You're Ready

There are many different factors involved that determine if you are ready to sell your home. There could be necessity, such as a job transfer, expansion of family, and/or maintaining the home has become too much to handle. There is also desire, whether it be for more space, a new location, upgraded or remodeled features, and/or a simpler lifestyle. Whether it be a need or desire, being ready means you're willing to do what it takes to make sure your home sells. It doesn't necessarily mean you will do whatever it takes, but having that open mind will make sure your home has a distinct selling advantage over most listings!

Step Two: Prepare Your Home to Sell

When you're ready to sell your home, you must prepare it to compete with other homes on the market. When there is a buyer's market, inventory (especially similar inventory) needs to be distinguishable. A distinguishable home will lead to a quicker sale for a price that's more to your liking. To best prepare your home for the market, you can:

	Clean: Bathrooms (Shower/bathtub, faucet fixtures, mirrors, tiles, toilet), Kitchen (Countertops, refrigerator, stove, sweep floor, wipe down cabinets)
	Vacuum all the rugs and carpets, use deodorizer without a strong scent
	Remove clutter from tables, countertops, desks, and dressers
	Organize closets (It gives buyers a better perspective of how big a closet is)
	Replace any burned out lightbulbs

However, before anyone can see how beautiful your home looks on the inside, they must see how beautiful it looks on the outside. If a prospective buyer doesn't like what they see on the outside, they won't consider going inside. To prevent this from happening, you can:

	Trim bushes
	Plant or fix shrubberies and flower beds
	Mulch flower beds, around trees, beside the walkway to your front door, etc.

You can further prepare your home for the market by doing more in-depth work. Most sellers will be against this kind of work and view it as going beyond the call of duty, but if you are highly motivated to sell your home, it will be worth it. Most buyers are looking for homes they consider to be "move-in ready." Doing these things will further their perception that your home should become their's. Such in-depth work could be:

	Painting the interior/exterior of your home with a neutral color
	Replacing worn carpet
	Caulking bathroom tile
	Repairing any leaky faucets or pipes
	Re-sealing the driveway
	Repairing/replacing the roof, gutters, siding, windows and screens
	Replacing the water heater and/or furnace with one that is energy efficient

Preparing your home doesn't just mean cleaning and doing household repairs. It means taking your home and making it feel it could be somebody else's. The best way to do this is to de-personalize your home. Examples of this are to remove family pictures, lock up valuables, and to put away favorite items. Not only will this help buyers see themselves in your home, it protects you and your valuables from use in negotiations as well as give you peace of mind knowing buyers are in your home while you are not present.

Step Three: Contact Dave Kipfer

Once you and your home are ready, its time to contact me to help you sell it. I will ask you a few preliminary questions about you, your needs, and your home. These questions help me personalize your listing presentation. I view each one of my clients and their homes as new and unique. After we have setup a time and date for your listing presentation, I will do my homework and research your home, the area its located in, other homes similar to it, how best to market it, and how to price it best to compete with other homes on the market. This presentation will take 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Step Four: Listing Presentation

The listing presentation normally takes place in your home. Upon arrival, I will take a tour of your home. During this tour, I will take notes of its features, any updates, and any problem areas that may need to be addressed. I will also make suggestions regarding what you may want to do before listing and answer any questions you may have.

After the tour is complete, we will sit down and begin the listing presentation. The purpose of this listing presentation is to introduce you to me, my company, and to show you what we will do to meet your goals, because your goals are our goals.

I will also define market value by showing you comparable marketed properties and how they are currently priced and what they have recently sold for. After showing you this information, I will explain how I will use that information to market and ultimately sell your home.

The listing presentation will also explain how I will handle all advertising, continuously evaluate and plan around the market and feedback reports, represent your best interests (especially in negotiations), and handle all paperwork from the beginning of our relationship to the end.

After the presentation is finished, I will answer any additional questions you may have, openly and honestly. I believe the most important part about any working relationship is trust, and you can only build trust through open and honest communication.

Step Five: Going Over the Compliance Packet and Paperwork

Once you've decided to go forth and list your home on the market, it is time to go over all the documents that will be involved in the transaction. These documents will be introduced to you through the Real Living Compliance Packet. The documents involved in the compliance packet are the:

	Consumer Guide to Agency Relationships
	Affiliated Business Arrangement Disclosure Sheet (Real Living Mortgage and Real Living Title)
	Preliminary Title Search Form
	Residential Data Sheet (For the MLS)
	Exclusive Right to Sell Form
	Residential Property Disclosure Form
	Lead Paint Disclosure Form
	Relocation Assistance Form
	Homegard Home Warranty Application

Inside the compliance packet is also a checklist of things you and I will need to take care of. I will ask you to provide me:

	A completed Residential Property Disclosure form
	Key to the Property
	Home Layout and/or any other builder provided paperwork acquired
	A list of all updates and improvements made during your ownership
	Any community information you have, such as a homeowner's association or condo newsletter
	A copy of your Title Insurance Policy
	The name of your Primary Mortgage Company
	A copy of the Trust
	A copy of the Property Survey if one is taken

We will also go over a pricing model and I will explain the factors that affect pricing such as:

	Location
	Condition of the Home
	State of the Economy
	Inventory current on the market
	Additional beneficial features of the home and area

Step Six: Listing Your Home

Once all the compliance packet documentation is reviewed and finalized, its time to take the steps necessary to list your home. These steps are very important because the most exposure your home will have to the open market is when it hits the market. Buyers are waiting for your home to come onto the market! We have to make your home appear as their dream home!

The first step in accomplishing this is to take pictures of your home to help assemble a photo tour. Well taken pictures will showcase your home the best when compared with other properties that may not have as many pictures or may not show as well. This is what gets buyers into your home!

I will also fill out the Residential Data Sheet. This sheet has all the specifications and details of your home that will be listed on the MLS and will help me upload your home onto the Real Living website as well as Realtor.com. Buyers start out being very selective and specific. The more details listed for them, the more likely they are to see your home above all others. This information will be posted on the MLS as well as other websites within a few days, however your home will be listed on RealLiving.com within a day!

Once this information is uploaded onto RealLiving.com, I will make property flyers to leave at your home for prospective buyers to take with them. These flyers will have every specification of your home as well as a few pictures to help remind them of your home as they attempt to make a decision on whether to look at more homes or submit an offer.

When you hand me a key to the property, the key will be placed in an electronic lockbox and hung outside your front door or the door of entry of your choosing. Only realtors will be able to access this keybox, giving you peace of mind that a professional will be showing your home to potential buyers.

In order to setup showings for your home, Real Living has partnered with Centralized Showing Service, a nation wide service dedicated to scheduling house showings either by phone or by the internet, giving your home an advantage over others that need to be setup through the listing agent or their office.

Lastly, a yard sign will be placed in your yard, alerting both people and vehicular traffic that your home is on the market wanting to be sold. My name strip with contact number will be on this sign for potential buyers' questions.

Step Seven: Showings and Open Houses

It is extremely rare for someone to buy a home without going inside it. Your pictures and photo tour will bring the buyers to your front door, but the inside is what will get them to want to stay. Make sure your home is ready to show at all times. Take the following steps to assure that its ready for show.

	Leave the home to cover the time window of showing
	Take any pets with you
	Turn on the lights in all rooms
	Open the drapes and blinds
	Light a candle (when it can be attended to) or use an air freshener with a pleasant scent (specifically in the bathroom)
	Leave no dirty dishes or laundry in plain sight
	Lower all toilet lids
	Wipe down the bathroom
	Play soft music (optional, but it creates an ambiance)
	"Dress to Impress"

Buyers and their agents will want to setup showings at any given time. When we setup your home to be showed through the Centralized Showing Service, we will include showing instructions which will let the buyer's agent know when and when not to show as well as what you require they do, such as remove shoes when walking through the home, how to disarm the alarm system if present, if you would like them to leave a business card, and/or anything else you may think of.

After each showing, a feedback form request will be sent to the showing agent's e-mail. As they respond to me, I will present you with their feedback and recommend any changes that should be made to improve your ability to sell. I understand that making changes to your home are difficult to make, both emotionally and financially.

Question: Why should you make changes that you won't get to enjoy?
Answer: Because a buyer's opinion is what sells your home.

The feedback of buyers who enter your home may bring changes that will inspire them or others to make an offer. Buyers view dozens if not hundreds of homes on the internet. Their feedback is extremely important because the homes they view are considered their favorites and worth the time to take a closer look. It is from these homes that they will find the home they want to buy. If making a minor change secures this for your home, would you be more willing to do it?

Step Eight: Fielding Offers

Once a buyer decides they want to buy your home, their agent will submit a contract with their terms along with the Agency Disclosure Statement. Once the offer arrives, I will bring it to you and we will have three options. We can either:

	Accept the terms
	Reject the terms
	Reject the terms and send a counter offer

The most common practice is to reject the terms and send a counter offer. It is my goal to use my guidance to structure a counter offer that contains terms more acceptable to you. Our goal is to have terms acceptable for both parties.

Once the counter offer is submitted, we will wait to hear back from the buyer's agent. We will repeat the negotiation until we are in contract or agree to part ways.

Step Nine: We Are In Contract!

Now that we have procured a buyer for your home, the most important part of the selling process takes place: getting to the closing table!

How do we accomplish this?

We accomplish this by making sure everyone meets their deadline dates. The buyer's agent and myself will keep in touch during this time to make sure you and your buyers are following through on what you need to complete.

My duties during this time are to:

	Call the buyer's lender to retrieve all of their loan documentation for you
	Keep in touch with the buyer's agent regarding inspections
	Contact the title company to schedule a closing date
	Provide the title company with the proper documentation needed for closing (Ex. Copy of agreed to contract, back title insurance, your current loan information, and buyer's information (Name of lender and insurance company, and any additional requested information)
	Keep in touch with the buyer's lender until final loan approval

Once the title company finishes looking over all documentation and the buyer's lender sends instructions to the title company, the settlement statement is calculated. Once the settlement statement is completed by the title company, a copy will be sent to me and I will make a copy for you that we will review before closing day.

Step Ten: Closing Day!

Closing is when all documentation and the sale of your home becomes final.

Closing procedures can either take place in person or by the title company sending the paperwork to the closing agent. Most in-person closings will take place at the office of the title company chosen by the seller. If you cannot attend the closing, we can arrange a pre-signing appointment.

All you will have to bring to closing will be a form of ID (ex. driver's license), all house information and related paperwork, garage door openers and/or other remotes for included amenities, and any other miscellaneous documents requested.

Once we arrive at closing and the closing agent arrives, all documents involved in the transaction will be reviewed and finalized. Once both you and the buyer have signed all the necessary documents and the proper funds are disbursed, the closing is over.

Congratulations! You have sold your home!