Seller Services

Your home is likely your most valuable asset and when the time comes to sell your home, it’s imperative that you partner with a trusted and professional broker. We have the tools, relationships and experience to market your home properly and ensure that you receive the highest value and best terms possible for your asset!

Red Door Properties @ Compass is uniquely qualified to provide a tailored platform of services to meet your individual needs. Our comprehensive, consistent and transparent approach will ensure that you will receive the services you need to be a well-informed and confident seller whether you’re a first-time seller or a veteran flipper.

Preparation & Education

Gaining an understanding of the current Denver real estate market and that of your specific neighborhood is the first-step in the home-selling process. Red Door Properties will meet with you at your home to discuss timing, home preparation and what is important to you (in addition to price, of course!) when selling your home. We will then create a listing schedule utilizing our cloud-based project management software detailing all of the steps necessary to prepare your home for sale. If repairs or maintenance work are required, we will provide you with recommended contractors, coordinate work on your behalf and even provide you with upfront funds through Compass Concierge to pay for the work to get your house ready for sale!

Pricing

Pricing is a blend of art and science. We are not an insulated listing-only brokerage firm, but instead, we strategically maintain a balance between seller and buyer representation to keep a fresh and up-to-date perspective on the market. We don’t rely on the standard zip-code, off-the-shelf analysis tools that all Realtors have in their back pockets. Instead, we have built and maintain proprietary neighborhood-based tools to provide you with the most accurate and up-to-date data available. We never ask you to simply trust our guts when giving you pricing advice and will never advise you on a list price without walking through your home. Instead, we will thoroughly investigate your unique home and put the data, graphs and analyses in front of you to support all of our recommendations.

Marketing Materials

From the moment we are selected to sell a client's home, we launch an efficient process to professionally stage, photograph and design print and online marketing materials for your home. Our photographer utilizes HDR photography for still images, Matterport for virtual tours and drones as needed for location shots. As former dot.com’ers we understand the power of online marketing and will provide you with top notch exposure in the MLS, on public websites, on RedDoorDenver.com and on social media sites. When we list a home for sale, our marketing materials don’t simply trickle out…they are strategically launched to drive a synchronized wave of demand. Your home will not be listed “when the office gets to it.” Precision is everything in this market and timing mistakes can be costly for a seller. From the day we list your home to the day we present you with offers, we are thoughtful and calculated every step of the way.

Open Houses

Your buyer will likely not come directly from an open house because open houses rarely sell homes! Most brokers hold open houses to find buyer clients for themselves and not to sell your house! When we hold open houses, we do it for two reasons…

1. to create a sense of urgency for “real” buyers and
2. to enable “real” buyers a chance to come back and spend more time in your home before making an offer

We will work with you to determine the appropriate open house strategy for your specific home.

Broker Tours

We don’t conduct broker tours because broker tours benefit the brokerage firm and not the seller. Why would any seller want to limit their buyer pool by exposing their home to buyers represented only by one firm? The internet allows sellers to reach ALL potential buyers regardless of their representation at ONE TIME! A brokerage tour simply limits buyer competition by giving one brokerage firm’s buyers an edge over all other buyers at the seller’s expense. As a Compass team, however, your home will be presented to all Compass agents through targeted internal marketing at the same time it is marketed to the public. 

Offer Negotiation

When you receive an offer or offers, we will thoroughly review them with you and provide you with a contract abstract of the offers pulling out key dates and terms for discussion. We will thoroughly review all contractual deadlines, contingencies, inclusions, exclusions and all details necessary for you to feel comfortable either accepting the offer, countering the offer or rejecting the offer. If you decide to counter, we will discuss potential negotiation strategies and prepare/present your counter-offer to get you the best possible price and terms.

Contract Management

The first step in selling a house is getting it under contract, but a lot happens between signing the contract and sitting at the closing table. We will guide you through the entire process and monitor all of your deadlines with our cloud-based project management software which provides you with a behind-the-scenes, transparent view of everything related to your transaction. Should any issues arise during the inspection, title review, appraisal or survey process, we will notify you and have a recommended solution ready for implementation.

Appraisal & Closing

If we have done our job well and gotten the highest possible price for your home, getting your home to appraise can be a challenge. We do not leave the appraisal up to chance but instead prepare a comprehensive and organized appraisal package detailing offers, comps and special features of your home to help the appraiser see the value in your home and reach the necessary value on paper! Once your home appraises, we thoroughly review all documents in your file and work with the title company to prepare for closing. We will sit beside you at the closing table and be ready to handle any last-minute issues to ensure that the closing progresses smoothly.

Selling a home can be a stressful process and selling a home without representation or with poor representation can be a very costly mistake. Understanding the steps of the selling process upfront, however, can help to ease your fears so that you can focus your energy on where you're headed next!

We will guide you through the process and be with you every step of the way preparing you upfront for the process ahead, establishing a schedule that meets your needs, providing you with the data to confidently decide on a list price, handling any inspection issues to arise during the due diligence process, successfully closing on your home and then helping you to navigate next steps for your family!

1. Get Your Home Prepared

The selling process begins with getting your home shipshape and ready to market. The better your home appears in photos the more showings you will get and the better your home appears in person the more value you can expect to realize!

• If you have deferred maintenance projects, take care of them upfront! A meticulously maintained home shows better and generates more buyer interest. In addition, a buyer will ultimately discover deferred maintenance issues during the inspection, so it’s best to take care of the issues upfront when you’re in control of the budget, contractor-selection and timeline.
• Meet with our professional stager to de-personalize, de-clutter, arrange and accessorize. A well merchandised home that appeals to the largest buyer pool will generate the most amount of buyer traffic through your home.
• Get your home cleaned including windows and ensure everything is in its place for a professional photography shoot. Our photographer utilizes HDR photography for still images, Matterport for virtual tours and drones when necessary to highlight location value. Our print and online marketing materials are high quality and professionally designed.

2. Determine Your List Price

A home’s market price is not based on what you need or want for it. Nor is it based on your County assessment, an appraiser's previous valuation, your Zillow Zestimate or what your neighbor thinks you should get for it. Home prices are based on the market and what a buyer will actually pay for it! Your job is to review all of the data, graphs and analyses produced by our team to determine what price the market will likely yield and how your home should be strategically positioned to realize that price. We will be by your side during this process.

• Review our team's quantitative analyses and check your qualitative gut to determine a list price. The list price will be your decision (with our guidance, of course) and we will provide you with the information you need to make the right decision.
• Discuss non-price related terms such as inclusions, exclusions, desired timeline, etc. that are important to you.

3. Get Ready for Showings

Once your home is listed, buyers’ brokers will contact our showing desk to set up in person showings. Your job during showings is to make sure that the house is “show ready” and then to leave!

• You will receive notice of any requested showings and will have the ability to approve or reject each showing. The more showings you approve, the more potential for offers, so we encourage you to adjust your schedule as much as possible to approve as many showings as possible. Allowing access is extremely important!
• Get the house “show ready” by tidying up, turning on all lights, making arrangements for pets and children to be out of the house, putting down toilet seats, opening window coverings, etc.
• Once the house is ready for the showing, find something fun to do during the showing window so that the buyer has time to properly view your home without feeling rushed.

4. Receive an Offer and Negotiate

Sometimes offers are simply accepted, but in most cases a little back-and-forth can be expected between you and the buyer.

• Receive an offer! We will provide you with a contract abstract that details the key terms in the offer and compares those terms in a matrix with the terms in any other competing offers. Are the price and terms what you want/need to sell and inline with the market value? Do you want to counter, accept or reject?
• Our team will work with you to determine a negotiation strategy to arrive at the most ideal price, terms, dates, inclusions, exclusions, etc. that are ideal for you and acceptable to the buyer.
  

5. Prepare for Buyer Due Diligence

In Colorado, real estate contracts are written to protect the buyer. They will have ample time to conduct inspections, review documents and work with their lender to ensure the transaction can be completed to their satisfaction.

• Your buyer will be spending a long time in your home during their inspection, so it is imperative that you get the home back in “show ready” condition again for the inspection to ensure that your buyer loves it as much as the first time they saw it!
• Your buyer will hire an independent appraiser to provide their lender with an appraised value the home. The appraised value typically needs to be at or above the contract price. Again, it is imperative that you get the home back in “show ready” condition again for the appraisal. Appraisers are people too and merchandising your home properly for an appraisal can help increase their value determination.
• Prepare for your move! Once your buyer's earnest money is non-refundable you can be more certain that the transaction is heading to closing. Now is the time to begin packing your stuff and arranging for cleaners so that the house is move-in ready for your buyer on closing day!

6. Attend Closing

Once we have successfully progressed through your buyer’s due diligence phase and they have received both a title commitment and a loan commitment, you’re ready to close!

• Ensure your home is clean (did we say that twice?) and ready for your buyer. Collect keys and garage door openers and leave them in an organized fashion. Remove all trash and unwanted junk from the home.
• Bring a valid photo ID to closing and arrange a wire for funding. At the closing, you, your buyer, brokers on both sides and the closing agent will sign a ton of documents. The closer will facilitate the closing process.