7 Tips for Selling Your Home Safely

Hello!

My name is Alessandro and I have been a real estate agent in Verona since 2009. If you are reading these lines you are probably considering selling your property in Verona.

Get ready because in this article you will find mooenty of information that can be helpful to you in selling your home.

I have summarized the whole process of buying and selling real estate in 7 easy tips for selling your home.

1. Finding the documents you need to sell your home

As a first step to begin the process of selling your property, it is FUNDAMENTAL to know all aspects of it and to have available in a user-friendly manner all the necessary documentation to inform the buyer about the real nature of what he is about to buy. Floor plans, title deeds, documents relating to particular events in the property, etc etc.

Finding and cataloging the documents needed to sell a house is the first step to take so that you can avoid having problems in the immediate future and so that the buyer can evaluate all aspects before making you an offer.

You should tend to have a complete file with everything you need when you bought the house you wish to sell.
Otherwise, (if the house has a different provenance from the purchase) you will need to retrieve the following BASIC documentation in order to begin the path to sale:

• Cadastral planimetry: this is used to identify the distribution of rooms and the area of the house, as well as to identify the location of any outbuildings such as garages, cellars or attics.
• Deed of Provenance: also called a deed, this is the notarial act by which the property became your property. There are various ways to become the owner of a property, I will list them for you below

These two are just the basics so that we can begin to understand how and where to find the other documents, such as:

• Urban planning documents: building permit, practicability, amnesty amnesty etc.
• Documentation related to the house: compliance of installations, APE, docs related to works done

Having these documents provides you with a basis for beginning the long journey to the final sale of your home.

I write this to you because, putting a house on the market without knowing whether it is legal or has all the documentation in order can get you into serious trouble, with associated legal fees and stresses attached.

Most sellers are convinced that their house has all the papers in order to be sold, strong in the belief that"it has always been this way" or"I never did any work on it" or the classic"but I bought it this way." Well, the fact of the matter is that more than 70 percent of the properties on the market have zoning or cadastral discrepancies that can render the purchase and sale null and void, it is good to check all l e papers before promising a property for sale.

I have already seen people who have done the preliminary, collected deposits and then found out that the house papers are to be settled. The bureaucratic process to regularize a property can take up to 6/10 months!!!

Try to think of the repercussions that this unplanned time lapse has on the parties...

• Delay on the deed
• Delay in moving
• Delay with the bank that has to make the mortgage and possible

You know the damage caused to the buyer?!! all lawyer material!!!

2. Calculate the square footage of the house

Even just knowing exactly how many square feet you will need to sell is basic information to know and communicate to your buyer. There are several parameters for counting the square footage of different parts of a house.

The "weight" that the square footage of the interior of the house has, are not the same as the square footage of the garden or outbuildings. If you don't know how to communicate correct square footage to your buyer this may get the wrong idea about the house, believing it to be larger than it actually is, wasting time on unnecessary appointments for nothing.

It tends to be the following common custom:

• 100% interior surface area of the premises
• Surface area of outbuildings 25% - 30%
• Garden area 10 % up to house area then 2%

If you want to learn more, I have written a specific article on this topic.

3. Checkthe legal compliance of your property

It is important to understand the provenance of a property, because ownership of a building can result not only from buying and selling, but also from donation, inheritance, inheritance, exchange, division and more.

Knowing the provenance of a property can serve you to avoid obstacles for buying and selling.

Usually these aspects are underestimated, and one finds oneself at the last minute having to scramble to remedy the situation. If no one pays attention to these aspects, the papers are taken to the notary only at the final stage of the negotiation, close to the deadline to conclude the sale and, often, with down payments already made. If a legal problem comes out regarding the legitimacy of the property's provenance, everything comes to a halt with the inconveniences already mentioned.

4. Evaluate the tax aspects of selling your home

Provenance can also determine relevant tax aspects as far as the seller's taxation is concerned. Studying the economic impact the sale of your home will have on personal or, family finances is something that many people underestimate and ignore ( until the next year's tax return ).

Knowing whether you will have to pay taxes on the sale of your home, whether you will enjoy a tax credit or whether it is the right time to sell your home, will help you avoid wasting the money realized from the sale.

Failure to do these analyses leads you to make decisions based on offers that do not take your position as a seller into consideration at all, thus leading to a possible reduction in the gain you derive from selling your home.

5. Establish the sale value of your home

Once you become aware of what you are about to sell, it is important to assign it the correct market value that will allow you to find a buyer in the time frame you need. The famous " I'll put a higher price, which to lower you always do in time" is a risky strategy, which risks compromising the value of what you are selling and devaluing in the eyes of the buyer your property.

With the current market, a properly appraised property finds a buyer within the first 3 months of sale. Add another 2 to 3 months related to paperwork and miscellaneous paperwork, and you arrive at the classic 4 to 6 months of sales time that is reported by statistical agencies.

To determine the correct sales value of a property, several pieces of data must be cross-referenced:

• Similar properties for sale in the area market
• Area average statistical property values
• Amount of the real bought and sold in the area for similar properties
• Number of inquiries by type of property you want to sell
• Enhancement of any peculiarities of the property
• Possible seasonality of the area market

All of these aspects must then, be "intertwined" with the seller's needs and quantified in a well-defined price.Having an accurate valuation of your property is one of the pillars for stress-free selling and realizing your desires.

6. What to do once you find a buyer for your home?

Do you think getting this far was "easy"?

Now the good stuff begins!

Once you have found the person interested in buying your property, and once you have agreed on the price, you need to contract the agreement with a preliminary understanding whether it is worth doing a transcribed preliminary or in the form of a private writing. From the time you sign an agreement, to the time you are in front of the notary for the deed and delivery of the sold house, several months often pass. During this time, there are 1,000 variables that can interfere with the parties' willingness to proceed and conclude the sale. Which ones?

1. The needs of the seller or buyer change
2. Change the buyer's financial situation
3. Unforeseen events happen that compromise the need to purchase that specific home
4. You discover previously unknown features of the house that make you lose interest in it

etc. etc.

Having an "armored" contract that protects you from a legal standpoint, vis-à-vis the other party, allows you to sleep soundly throughout the phase leading up to the final deed of sale and purchase.

7. Collecting the deposit, time and manner

Usually upon signing a preliminary contract, the buyer makes a down payment to commit to the purchase. Knowing in what capacity you collect that down payment and knowing what to specify in the preliminary contract for buying and selling a property allows you to do the right thing at the right time.

Knowing the difference between price down payment and deposit and the related taxes to be incurred when registering deeds or whether the deposit left on deposit at the time of the offer is penitential or confirmatory serves to protect and secure your purchase and sale.

The collection of the deposit is an action that establishes a point of no return in a real estate purchase and sale. From there on, any modification, reconsideration, or variation of agreements involves specific negotiation and possible expenditure of money.

8. Last step: Deed and notary

Once the negotiation, bargaining and contracting phase of the agreement is over, it is time to take the papers to the notary and coordinate all those figures necessary to sign the final contract of sale. In addition to a legitimacy check of the documentation provided by the seller, the public official also verifies the family property aspects of the parties and also draws up the buyer's mortgage deed ( if a lender intervenes for the purchase).
Coordination of notary, bank officer following the mortgage file, additional documents required by the notary's office and/or the bank must be handled with scrupulous care because one missing document can jam the mechanism and cause the deed date to slip to a later date.

In my experience, it is necessary to have a "facilitator" who constantly monitors the status of the practice and makes sure that everyone does their work on time. Otherwise the various interlocutors will be busy following the other 1200 practices their management and will bounce blame and responsibility off each other!