When it comes to selling your home, there is a lot to get done before you can expect it to sell, and even more work once you accept an offer. Here are the steps involved in selling your home, from making the decision to filling out an RP5217 form and paying the final sales taxes, for which you will need a title company like MacGregor Abstract.
Decide If You Want To Sell Or Not
If you want to sell your home, then doing this should be straightforward and painless. However, if you don’t want to sell your house, then this process could end up being much more difficult than expected because of other people’s interest in buying it from you.
Find Out How Much Your House Is Worth
You should hire someone who specializes in real estate (such as an agent), and such professionals will be able to tell you what the house’s market value is and how quickly they think it would likely sell for that price. Pricing your home is the most critical part of the process, and you need to listen to the professionals accurately.
List Your House With A Realtor
If you are not interested in selling your house, it can be difficult to get professionals to agree with your instincts.
Sell Your House For Cash
There are some private real estate investors who will pay cash for houses, and if that is something that interests you, then you should prepare the home so that it appears attractive to people looking at potential investments of this nature. You need to think about what would make them want to invest in your home over any other one they could choose from the market at large. This might involve making repairs or changes or just cleaning up around the home so that it does not appear poorly maintained. Selling your house for cash depends on how quickly you need to move and what condition the property is.
Once you’ve accepted an offer, the real fun begins.
At this point, you’ll need to hire a real estate attorney who can help you through the sale. They will be responsible for making sure all papers are properly filed and handled, as well as assuring that the closing process is completed with no hiccups.
The real estate attorney or one of their assistants will come to your house so they can obtain a notarized signature from everyone involved in the transaction. This includes you, any co-signers, if applicable, and anyone else who owns an interest in the home (usually a spouse).
Be prepared to answer questions about how much money is owed on the property, what type of mortgage it has, where that payment comes from after closing occurs, etc. If you’ve already paid off your mortgage entirely at this time, you’ll need to provide proof.
You will also need to hire a title company to provide you with the forms you need to file with the state to pay taxes on the sale. These forms include the RP-5217 form. They can also provide title insurance to your buyers.
As soon as possible, after a contract is signed, the buyer will want to have your house appraised by a licensed professional. In most areas of New York State, you can choose from four companies for this service: GAR Associates, Konold Appraisal Company, HomeSight, and American Standard Appraiser. If you have already pre-qualified with one of those listed, they will probably be the company your buyers use as well (after all, it would be illogical and more costly to find another company when you don’t even know if you’ll qualify). You should expect to pay between $350 – 450 for an appraisal at this time, which means that both parties need to agree on how money is going toward repairs before.
