Selling a home?

Here’s how you start.

Preparing to sell a home can seem like an overwhelming proposition. From marketing and staging to closing, our agents have the knowledge and skills to set your home apart from the competition and get you top dollar.

What do I need to prepare before selling?

If you own a co-op or condo, we recommend having these documents on hand:

  • House Rules
  • Purchase Application
  • Recent Financials for the building
  • Offering Plan

If you own a house, have these documents on hand:

  • Property Deed
  • Property Tax Receipts
  • Mortgage Loan Documents

How long will it take for you to sell my home?

We wish we could tell the future—for multiple reasons, most of which aren’t related to real estate. Sadly, we cannot. What we can do, however, is offer you our expectation based on years of experience and knowledge of other sales in your specific neighborhood. If you allow us to price your home competitively, we should effectively secure a buyer for you within the first few showings. We know how to highlight your home’s best features and market your property widely to qualified buyers and a broad community of buyer’s agents and real estate professionals (including 13,000+ REBNY members).

Not quite telling the future, but about as close as you can get.

What can I expect as a selling timeline?

From offer to closing typically takes around 60-120 days. That usually breaks down as follows:

  • Negotiate Offer & Acceptance: 2-5 days
  • Buyer’s Due Diligence/Contract-Signing & Escrow Deposit: 7-10 business days
  • Buyer’s Loan Application/Appraisal/Loan Approval & Commitment Letter: 2-4 weeks
  • Buyer’s Co-op Board Package & Interview/Condo Application: 4-6 weeks
  • Bank & Attorney Closing Preparations: 1-2 weeks
  • Buyer’s Final Walk-through: Day of Closing
  • Transaction Closing: 2-3 hours

What is my property worth?

Many factors determine the market value of your home, such as the state of the current sales market (overall global economy, interest rates, lack/surplus of inventory, buyer confidence, etc.), your location, the condition of your home, square footage, amenities offered in your building and the surrounding neighborhood, recent comparable sales in the area, and other factors. We’ll share with you our thorough market analysis of your home with you, and advise pricing your property competitively with the aim of generating multiple bids from qualified buyers.

How can I increase the value of my home?

We have an experienced eye towards offering you cost-effective solutions to spruce up your home’s appeal and value, getting you more bang for your buck. We know the right professionals to get the job done for a price that makes sense. From clearing clutter to staging, washing walls to a fresh coat of paint, re-glazing a tub to modernizing your fixtures, re-facing kitchen cabinets to installing new appliances, possibly even adding another bedroom or bathroom—we can advise the best options to generate the highest sales value within your budget.

Why stage my property?

Staging makes an excellent first impression and helps buyers feel an emotional bond with your home the moment they walk in the door. Even more than the walls that contain your home and the fixtures within it, buyers want to fall in love with a sense of what’s possible for their lives inside that home. Anything you can do to create a sense of warmth, elegance, comfort and ease, maximize your home’s best features and minimize any imperfections, will go a long way towards helping prospective buyers envision their lives in your property. Statistics attest to the value of staging, and we’ve certainly found that it helps our properties sell faster and often up to 10% more in price than comparable vacant homes. We love helping you find solutions to optimizing your home’s potential.

Where do you market my home? And who pays for that?

Your home will be featured in a variety of media outlets, most prominently in Streeteasy, and on our website and window display on highly trafficked 7th Avenue in the heart of Park Slope. We pay for all advertising costs.

Why do an open house?

An open house allows the buying public an opportunity to view your property in person at their leisure during a set timeframe, typically on a weekend or weekday evening outside of regular working hours. The more buyers we can bring to your home collectively, the greater sense of urgency we can generate among buyers to bid favorably on your home. It’s human nature to want what we see other people want, and an open house is a prime example of this theory.

What’s the best time to market my home?

Springtime is the ideal season to sell property, followed closely by Fall. The weather, school schedules, and holidays all affect buyer turnout. But serious buyers are looking for homes to buy year round. If your home is priced right, it will sell regardless of the season. We will work with you to optimize your home’s selling potential and advise you on the best marketing strategy for your property.

How much is the broker’s fee?

The standard commission due is 6% of the sales price. This fee is often split 50/50 with a REBNY-affiliated buyer’s broker.

What can I expect my closing costs to be?

See our financing guide for a breakdown of closing costs for sellers.

What’s a listing agreement?

Our Exclusive Right to Sell agreement is a contract engaging Garfield Realty as your broker, offering us the right to sell your property for a designated length of time (i.e. 4 months to a year), for an agreed-upon asking price and commission (6% of the sales price is standard).

What is your sellers guarantee?

Our Sellers Guarantee is our pledge guaranteeing quality of service related to our approach to pricing, advertising, a determination of the net proceeds from the transaction, and support and guidance both before and after the sale. We are proud that we deliver on our commitments—so much so that we put them in writing.

Contact us today to get your home on the market and get a selling plan in place for you.