Selling Your Home In dothan: The Process
Selling Your Home In dothan: The Process
Selling a home in the Dothan, AL real estate market is often very different than in other parts of the country. There are several key features of our real estate market that significantly affect the selling process. In this article, we’ll discuss these market characteristics, as well as the unique features of the Alabama purchase contract, and also the best months to sell your home in Dothan. There are 6 main steps to selling your home, and we’ll break them each down in detail.
Alright, let’s dive into getting your home ready to sell for top dollar. It’s all about making sure your home shines in the market. This means tackling necessary repairs, boosting curb appeal, and even staging your home to perfection.
Repairs And Maintenance
Buyers are always on the lookout for flaws, so you gotta fix those up before listing your home. Any barrier that might stop a buyer from making an offer needs to go. If a buyer sees issues, they’ll either back off or offer less, expecting to spend on repairs after closing.
There are often problems sellers don’t even know about—like faulty wiring, roof issues, or termites and wood-decaying fungus. That’s why it’s smart to get a professional home inspector to check things out before listing. This gives you time to fix any issues and even get a follow-up inspection. Sharing this report with potential buyers shows them your home is in great shape and won’t become their next headache.
Sure, buyers can do their own inspections, but they often accept the seller’s report, saving time and money. This can speed up the sale and reduce repair negotiations.
Improving Curb Appel
Other than price, curb appeal is king when prepping your home for sale. The first thing buyers see is the outside, and if it doesn’t wow them, they’ll likely move on. This also applies to online photos—buyers and agents typically find homes online first.
Sprucing up your front yard, trimming the shrubs, adding mulch and sod, and planting flowers can be quick and affordable ways to boost curb appeal. Repainting the front door or the home’s exterior can get pricier, but a fresh coat of paint can make your home look well-maintained.
Home Staging
Staging is an under-utilized yet powerful marketing tool. It can be pricey, but it works wonders. Staging helps buyers visualize living in the space and understand the size and function of each room.
Staging is best for homes in excellent condition, cosmetically updated, and priced right. It’s not worth it for homes needing major updates or repairs or those priced too high. Staging also works great for new constructions and spec homes.
Getting your home ready for the market is all about making it irresistible to buyers. Address repairs, enhance curb appeal, and consider staging to ensure your home stands out and sells for full market value.
Are There Top Months To Sell In Dothan?
Sellers sometimes ask us what the top months are to sell a house in Dothan, AL. Most people think spring and summer are the best months to sell, and they are right for the most part. But there are opportunities to sell throughout the year, including fall and winter. Fall is probably the worst time to list here but there are a fair amount of snowbirds from up north coming down in the winter to escape the cold temps. In the winter there is also much less competition with most of the competing homes already being sold or withdrawn from the market.
Choosing An Agent
Most people only sell a home a few times in their lifetime, so choosing a listing agent is not something they do regularly. But considering your home is probably your biggest asset, it’s pretty important to choose a agent that is competent, trustworthy, and experienced.
One of the best ways to learn about real estate agents is to read online reviews. Google and Facebook are great resources for this, as well as reviews like these posted on our website.
You could also ask trusted friends and colleagues who have recently sold a home for feedback about their experience with their agent. Would they hire that same agent again? What did they like about their agent? Did their agent help them overcome specific challenges to getting their home sold?
Pricing Your Home
This is the most important step to get right. When homes are priced correctly (and are ready for the market), they often sell fast and sometimes even attract multiple offers. At Big Creek Real Estate, we ensure you get the right price by providing a detailed Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). This analysis shows you the sale prices of similar homes, the ratio of sale prices to listing prices, and other critical factors that help you price your home just right.
Some sellers might be tempted to price their home based on personal needs, like what they plan to do with the sale proceeds. For instance, they might take the correct market value and tack on their outstanding credit card balance. This is a big mistake. Overpricing your home drastically reduces buyer interest and can scare away potential offers. Ignoring market realities and overpricing your home will likely leave it sitting unsold for too long.
At Big Creek Real Estate, we help you avoid these pitfalls and get your home sold at the right price. Let’s make sure your home stands out in the Dothan market and sells quickly.
Photography, Listing and Marketing
Now that your home is market-ready, you’ve picked an agent, and the price is spot on, it’s time to dive into marketing. Almost every marketing effort hinges on great photography, so that’s where we start.
Real Estate Photography
With the exception of fixer-uppers and foreclosures, high-quality photography is essential! Many Realtors still use their cell phones to snap listing photos, and they often miss the mark with lighting and depth of field. It’s proven that hiring a professional real estate photographer can lead to a higher sale price, so why settle for less?
At Big Creek Real Estate, we go the extra mile. In addition to stunning still photography, we offer drone photography for those unique properties. While the terrain in Dothan isn’t mountainous like Western NC or Colorado, drone shots can still provide fantastic aerial views that showcase large properties, beautiful landscapes, and unique features of your home. Let’s make sure your home looks its best and attracts the right buyers.
Open Houses
In the Dothan market, open houses are still a common practice. At Big Creek Real Estate, we host both public and broker open houses. Broker open houses are aimed at other real estate agents to spread the word among local pros. These events can be super helpful when agents who frequently work in the area attend and recall buyers they know who might be interested.
Public open houses are the traditional events where anyone can come tour your home. Back in the day, they were a highly effective tool for selling homes. Nowadays, they’re less about selling your specific home and more about generating new buyer leads or satisfying the seller’s desire for an open house. Most buyers will find your home online or through MLS and schedule a private showing with their agent.
However, there’s an exception. Holding an open house right when your home hits the market can create buzz, especially in a hot market or with a particularly desirable property. This can spark excitement among buyers and give the impression that the home will sell quickly.
At Big Creek Real Estate, we tailor our approach to maximize your home’s exposure and attract the right buyers.
Home Showings And Responding To Feedback
Once your home is on the market, it’s showtime! Now’s the time to get ready for showings and to pay close attention to feedback from buyers and their agents. At Big Creek Real Estate, we make sure you get feedback after every single showing. If a particular issue keeps popping up, we’ll help you address it—whether it’s a price adjustment or a minor repair.
Of course, some objections, like concerns about location, are tougher to tackle. In these cases, it’s all about finding the right buyer, and sometimes, it just takes a bit of time.
Buyers’ agents will have plenty of questions when showing your home to their clients. Quick and thorough follow-up from your listing agent is key to turning those showings into offers. We’re here to make sure every step of the process goes smoothly and gets your home sold.
How Long Should My Home Be On The Market?
The time your home spends on the market can vary widely based on several factors—type of home, condition, location, price range, and more. For instance, an updated craftsman home in Dothan might sell the first week, while a 4000-square-foot farm home on 50 acres in a rural community could take several months.
When we prepare your Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) at Big Creek Real Estate, we’ll show you how long similar homes have taken to sell. This way, you’ll have a realistic expectation and a solid strategy for getting your home sold in the right timeframe.
Offer And Negotiations
So, your home has been effectively marketed and shown to buyers, and now an offer has come in. Negotiating an offer can take anywhere from a few minutes to several days. If you’re lucky enough to have multiple offers, you might set a deadline and call for “highest and best” offers from all buyers.
During negotiations, several key terms need to be addressed: price, dates, repair requests etc. At Big Creek Real Estate, we’ll help you navigate these terms to secure the most favorable deal possible. We strategically work to find common ground with the buyer, ensuring that the offer turns into a solid contract.
The Alabama Real Estate Contract
The standard Alabama contract used by agents is called the “State Of Alabama Purchase Agreement.” What sets the Alabama contract apart from many other states is that Alabama is what is called a “caveat emptor” state. What this translates to is “let the buyer-beware.”
The purchase contract is set-up and formatted with this concept being the underlying principle of the agreement. Under the principles of caveat emptor, the buyer cannot recover damages from the seller for defects on a property that rendered the property unfit for ordinary purposes. The only exception is if the seller actively concealed latent defects (hidden defects that are likely to surface later) or otherwise made material misrepresentations amounting to fraud. The seller would have to have known about the defect and this is very difficult to prove.
For sellers, this means you’re largely protected from claims about property defects after the sale, provided you haven’t engaged in fraud or concealment. It places the responsibility on the buyer to thoroughly inspect the property, removing the need for seller disclosures (commonplace in most states ) making the process smoother and less risky for you.
Home Inspection
After the buyer’s have performed their inspection, many times negotiations will begin again with the buyers possibly requesting that certain items be repaired or treated. Navigating this stage of the process is very important to both holding a deal together and maximizing the seller’s net proceeds from the transaction. It can be difficult to weigh out the pros and cons in this situation but having been in this situation many times, we’re very experienced in helping our sellers achieve maximum profit while still getting to the closing table.
The Appraisal Process
If the deal continues forward and negotiations on the home inspection were successful, the next step will be for the buyer’s lender to order the appraisal. (assuming there is a mortage) When the appraisal report has been completed and submitted to the lender for review, the property is given an appraisal value. At this point in the process, many times there will be negotiations yet again. If the value of the home reported in the appraisal comes up short of the agreed upon sales price either the buyer can cover the gap with cash or the seller can accept less if it is justified to do so.
While most appraisals end up meeting value, it’s important to keep in mind that an appraisal is simply an opinion of the value of the property. It’s also important to have a qualified listing agent that can help you price the home correctly from the start to help you avoid this problem at this important stage. There’s nothing worse than meeting all the deadlines, rearranging your life for showings and inspections, only to get to this point and have the deal fall apart because the property wasn’t priced correctly.
After successful appraisal negotiations (if there were any) the lender will then let all parties involved know when the appraisal report has been underwritten and we’re clear to close.
preparing To Close
After the appraisal, the parties prepare to close the sale. For sellers, this typically means signing a few documents and finish moving out of the house. For buyers, they’ll need to move their closing funds to their closing attorney’s office. Depending on the law firm’s policies, this can be done by wire transfer or a certified check. If a mortgage is involved, the lender will use this time to send loan documents to the buyer’s closing attorney. Also, the closing statement is prepared for both parties to review prior to closing.
How Much Are Closing costs?
- Real Estate Agent Commissions: Typically 5-6% of the sale price, split between the buyer’s and seller’s agents.
- Title Insurance: Often covered by the seller, this protects the buyer against any title issues. The cost can vary but is usually around 0.5-1% of the sale price.
- Transfer Tax: In Alabama, the state transfer tax is $1.00 per $1,000 of the property value.
- Attorney Fees: If an attorney is involved in the transaction, their fees can range from $500 to $1,500.
- Prorated Property Taxes: Sellers will need to pay property taxes up to the closing date, which will be prorated accordingly.
Why You Need An Agent
Choosing a Realtor to sell your home, land, or commercial building is a big decision. At Big Creek Real Estate, we get it—you’re not just hiring someone to list your property on MLS. You need an advocate who will showcase your property in the best light, market it aggressively to a targeted audience, attract qualified buyers, and ultimately sell it fast.
Once your property is under contract, there can still be plenty of hurdles to clear before closing. Handling appraisals, inspection issues, and title problems are just a few examples. That’s why you need an experienced local agent with the knowledge and contacts to navigate these challenges. At Big Creek Real Estate, we’ve got the expertise to see your sale through to the finish line.
Why We're Different
At Big Creek Real Estate, we believe every transaction is a learning opportunity. With over 20 years of combined experience and hundreds of sales around Dothan and Houston County, we’ve gained a wealth of knowledge. You can count on our expertise to find buyers and tackle any obstacles to get your property to the closing table. We’ve discovered what works and what doesn’t, leading to a more efficient, results-driven listing and closing process for our clients. Let our market knowledge and ability to navigate the process ensure your sale goes smoothly.
Being Small Means Being Flexible
There are larger and older companies out there, but one of the best things about a small firm like ours is our flexibility. We don’t follow the “business as usual” mindset or do things just because that’s “the way we’ve always done it.” We believe in doing what works.
For example, the traditional Sunday afternoon open house is mostly a thing of the past in many markets. But we’re always on the lookout for new marketing opportunities to give your property maximum exposure. When we find a new marketing medium that could help, you can bet we’ll give it a shot and evaluate the results. At Big Creek Real Estate, we’re all about innovation and efficiency to get your property sold.
We Use Technology To Make Things Easier
Statistically, there’s a very high chance that your buyer (or their agent) will find your property through an online search. So, shouldn’t your listing agent know how to market your property on the internet and make it appeal to online shoppers?
In the Dothan market, many real estate sellers don’t live locally. This can lead to headaches with listing and purchase contract paperwork, staying on top of buyer feedback, and keeping up with market trends. At Big Creek Real Estate, we use electronic signature software, an automated buyer feedback program, and provide real-time market stats and analysis to keep you informed and make paperwork a breeze. But if you’re not tech-savvy, don’t worry—we’ve got a fax machine and know where the post office is, too!
What Our Clients Say About Us
We pride ourselves on top-notch customer service, but don’t just take our word for it. Check out what our clients have to say. The best way to evaluate an agent is through the experiences of previous clients.
When you’re ready to talk about selling your property, get in touch with us. We can help you get started right away. But we also understand that sometimes you just need someone to listen and answer your questions, and maybe now isn’t the right time for you to sell. Either way, we’re here for you. It’s a privilege to have that conversation, and we look forward to helping you.
Contact Us To Sell A Home in Dothan
If you’re thinking about selling your home, land, or commercial property, we’d love to help you out. Many folks just want a better understanding of their property’s worth, what selling might cost, or which improvements to start on. We’re here to discuss all those topics and more. Let’s chat!
