Selling a Home in Indian Hill

As one of the most affluent, historic, and charming neighborhoods in Cincinnati, Indian Hill attracts luxury buyers looking to purchase a home that reflects their elevated lifestyle. Selling a home in Indian Hill requires attention to detail with additional preparation and planning. Potential buyers in this area demand premium features and amenities in the homes they evaluate. Below you will find more information about selling your home in Indian Hill.

Preparing Your House to Sell

As with all successful ventures, preparation is vital when selling your home. Investing the time, money, and research upfront will reap many rewards when it comes time to close on your house and hand the keys over to the new owner. Get started by checking off the following items on your list.

Determine Your Home's Value

To determine your home's value, you must search the available comparison data for Indian Hill. Seeing what other homes in your neighborhood have sold will help you choose the best listing price for your home. You will need to factor in the condition of your home, the number of bathrooms and bedrooms, any upgrades or remodeling work you have completed, and more. Assessing all of these items will help you price your home appropriately.

Interviewing Real Estate Agents

When selling your luxury home, hiring the right real estate agent for your neighborhood is imperative. Take the time to interview several agents. You want to ensure they have experience selling high-end homes like yours. Homes of your caliber can involve more complicated negotiations, appraisals, and contracts, so be sure the realtor you select has excellent attention to detail. Interview former clients to check their references and get a feel for how they work.

Upgrades to Improve Your Home Value

Your realtor can help you assess what upgrades may need to be made to your home to improve the value of your home. Because of their vast experience, they know what upgrades will garner the greatest return on investment and which ones you can skip. By investing in your home, you will successfully compete with other Indian Hill homes for sale. Be sure to include the more mundane items such as roof, gutters, windows, siding, stucco, and fireplace chimneys.

Good and Bad Times to Sell

Traditionally, spring and summer are the best times to sell your home. Families are looking to move during the summer before the school year begins so their children are ready to start school from their new home in the fall. The holiday season and the winter months are the most challenging times to sell your home. Most families are busy with family obligations and cannot dedicate time to looking for a new home.

Staging Your Home and Taking Photos

Once your home is ready to go on the market, your realtor will arrange for a professional stager to display your current furniture and décor most advantageously, highlighting your home's unique features. They may remove some of your furniture, repurpose it in other parts of your home, or rent additional pieces to capture the perfect atmosphere for your home. Additionally, a professional photographer will use various lighting techniques to ensure your home reflects the elevated, luxurious lifestyle awaiting potential buyers.

Selling Your Home

Now it is time to get down to business and see how the preparation you put into organizing, cleaning, maintaining, and upgrading your home will pay off.

Listing on the MLS

The first thing your realtor will do is place your home on the Multiple Listing Service. The MLS is the first resource buyers will look to when searching for homes in your neighborhood. Your realtor inputs all of the data available about your home into the database, so potential buyers and their agents can evaluate your listing and see if it is a good fit for them.

Open House & Virtual Tours

Once your home is on the MLS, your realtor will work with you to determine the best day and time to host an open house. Generally, open houses are most successful on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. Prepare for the open house by ensuring all clutter is stowed away, and your home is tidy and ready for visitors.

Your realtor will also arrange for virtual tours after the staging is complete. They offer potential buyers a view of your home and give them a taste of what Indian Hill real estate entails. Virtual tours will leave buyers wanting to see more and schedule an in-person tour when nicely executed.

Cash vs. Traditional

Luxury home buyers may buy their next home with cash or apply for a traditional loan. If a buyer is financing, ensure they are pre-approved for their loan – not just pre-qualified. The pre-approval process is more involved than the pre-qualification process. It shows greater confidence from the lender that their client is a strong borrower with a solid financial foundation.

Appraisal

A professional appraiser provides an unbiased opinion of your home's value. Whenever a mortgage is processed, an appraisal is a necessary step. The appraisal value must reflect the home's fair market value for the mortgage to be approved. The appraisal report includes an in-person evaluation and evaluates current market trends, home details such as the size, floor plan, condition, and more, and research of recent similar sales in the neighborhood.

Escrow

Real estate language involves the term escrow. It is the legal agreement for a third party to briefly hold money or property until a specific condition is satisfied, such as finalizing a purchase agreement. It serves to protect both the homeowner and the home buyers. This type of escrow account is used only during the home-buying activity. Escrow accounts can provide a place to hold funds for homeowner's insurance and taxes and remain active throughout the mortgage term.

Closing Costs

Closing costs are a necessary part of the home-selling process. They are fees paid to the lender or a third party – such as a title company, inspector, or appraiser – to complete and finance a loan. Most of the time, the buyer pays the closing costs, but sometimes a seller may pay the fees. Closing costs can be a point of negotiation, so your realtor must understand these fees and use them to your advantage.

For a personalized real estate experience, contact The Julia Wesselkamper Group for an experienced realtor in the luxury market. Her attention to detail, dedication, and marketing savvy will make selling your property a reality!

Recommended reading: Indian Hill Real Estate Market Update

_{*Header photo courtesy of The Julia Wesselkamper Group}