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Home >> Selling a Home in Indiana Selling a Home in Indiana Selling a Home in Indiana: VIP Realty Company, Tammy Bookout, Indianapolis, IN, Personalized Service, Marketing, Closing, Home Inspection, Title Insurance

Table of Contents
(links scroll to the appropriate section on this page)

• Getting Started
• Choose a Realtor
• Marketing Your Home
• Assess Offers
• Closing
• Packing Up & Moving Out

Welcome to VIP Realty Company, LLC, where you are always treated like a Very Important Person. VIP Realty's founder, Tammy Bookout, a long-time resident of Indianapolis, focuses on providing that extra step of personalized service that makes all the difference in the world when dealing with the stresses of selling your current home in Central Indiana.

Selling a Home in Indiana: Getting Started

Selling your home, packing up a lifetime's worth of possessions and moving from familiar surroundings can be stressful and full of mixed emotions. It's important to remember that no matter how much you and your family love it, your house is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.

We serve homeowners throughout Central Indiana. If you have a home for sale in Indianapolis or the surrounding communities, such as Carmel, Fishers, or Zionsville, VIP Realty will work day and night to ensure that every possible tactic is employed to make your home as visible and saleable as possible in the Central Indiana real estate marketplace.

Before you put it on the market, it's important to spruce up your house and maximize its sales appeal. Houses that are clean, uncluttered and in good repair bring better offers and tend sell faster.

You may want to consider having a professional home inspection done before listing the home. Having an inspection completed before showing the home has benefits for both the Buyer and the Seller. Your VIP agent will provide you a list of reliable, qualified professional home inspectors in the metropolitan Indianapolis area, if needed.

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Selling a Home in Indiana: Choose A Realtor

While you sell your home, your Realtor acts as your personal representative. You will work closely with your agent, communicating often. Therefore, it is important that you choose someone you feel comfortable with, is easy to talk to, and leaves the impression that they will represent your interests well. The sale of your home is one of the largest financial transactions you will make. You should choose your Realtor based on their marketing plan, skill, and professionalism, not on some exaggerated claim about the price you you can get for your home.

Things to Consider When Choosing a Realtor:

• Are they a full time, professionally trained agent?
• Are they knowledgeable in the Central Indiana market area?
• Do they offer an effective marketing plan?
• How many years of experience do they have selling homes?

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Marketing Your Indiana Home

Arcadia Avon Brownsburg Carmel Cicero Cumberland Danville Fishers Franklin Geist Lake Greenfield Greenwood Indianapolis Lawrence Lebanon Litzon Martinsville Mooresville Morristown Noblesville Pittsboro Plainfield Shelbyville Sheridan Southport Trafalgar Wanamaker Westfield Whiteland Whitestown Zionsville

Marketing the home effectively is key to the success of selling your home. Our agents work closely with the seller to determine the correct initial listing price and other issues to develop a marketing plan that best benefits from current Indiana market conditions. For more information on the differences between a Buyer's and Seller's Market, read Know the Market. As your real estate agent, VIP Realty will:

• Help you set the listing price - using comparative market analysis to determine what homes in the area have been selling for. Setting the initial Asking Price too high can discourage potential buyers and delay the sale.
• We will make asking price change recommendations after the first month, if needed, based on the number of showings and feedback from other Realtors who have shown the home.
• Develop a comprehensive marketing plan, utilizing all available resources to sell your home, including the Multiple Listing System (MLS), the Internet and local media.
• As your Agent-of-Record, we provide a full package of listing services, including:
  • Complete and sign a listing agreement
  • Fill out required government disclosures and other needed documents
  • Design a showing schedule so our agents and other Realtors can show your home with as little disruption as possible
  • Put it in the Multiple Listing System (MLS), and on the Internet, and into appropriate print media, as determined in the marketing plan
  • Install and monitor a lockbox to provide other Realtors access to show the home.
  • Implement other aspects of the marketing plan

For information about what to do to prepare your home for sale, and while it is on the market, please read Tips for Selling Your Home.

When you list your home with VIP Realty, buyers will see your home at:

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Selling a Home in Indiana: Accessing Offers

When an offer is received we will accept it, reject it, or make a counter offer with some of the buyer's terms changed. This process could continue indefinitely, but normally negotiations take two or three rounds to complete successfully. Once an offer is accepted we begin to prepare for the closing.

The buyer will make the sale contingent upon having the home inspected by a professional home inspector to identify problems that might exist as well as to learn about the general condition of the home. We can provide a list of reputable home inspectors in the Central Indiana area, if needed.

After the inspection we will get an inspection report with requests to repair or replace certain items that are identified in the report. Most items are small like repairing a piece of loose trim or caulking around the bathtub. However, large fixes like replacing a roof or repairing termite damage are also possible.

At the same time the buyer will be getting final mortgage approval and the mortgage company will have the home appraised to make sure the buyer is not paying significantly more than the home's worth.

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Selling a Home in Indiana: Closing

The final step to home ownership is closing the offer and settling the title transfer and ownership. For detailed information, you can read Settlement Costs and Helpful Information from the Federal Consumer Information Center: (opens in new window)

As the seller, we decide where the closing will occur and make arrangements for title insurance with a title company (for more information, read About Title Insurance). Your agent will review the settlement statement with you just prior closing so that you will know exactly what funds you will receive at closing. We then attend the closing with you to transfer the home to the new buyer.

For more information, read the section Closing & Settlement.

Closing costs are usually associated and distributed at the time of transfer. While most closing costs are the responsibility of the buyer, the seller may elect to pick up a portion of these costs during contract negotiations. For details on how much these can total, read About Closing Costs.

Some of the closing costs you may expect to participate in include:

• Title insurance fees - depends on sales price of the home
• Broker's commission - a full-service fee and will cost anywhere between 5% to 7%
• Taxes - including:
  • Local property transfer tax
  • Country transfer tax
  • State transfer tax
  • State capital gains tax

    Credit to the buyer of unpaid real estate taxes for the prior or current year are variable and depend on when you close and when your taxes are due.

• FHA fees and costs
• Home inspections fees - including termite / pest, radon and other inspections
• Miscellaneous fees due to problems noticed during the home inspection.

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Selling a Home in Indiana: Packing Up & Moving Out

Moving is considered one of the most stressful life events you can face. There are, however, ways to make your move less intimidating and easier on the nerves. Organization is the key! Carefully plan your move well in advance, giving yourself at least eight weeks to complete the project. Outline all tasks on a week by week basis, and track each task's progress.

Read the VIP Moving Guide, an eight week moving plan with a representation of the steps you will need to take before leaving your home.

For more information about how VIP Realty can help you sell a home in Central Indiana, call Tammy Bookout at (317) 345 - 8269 or toll-free at 888-VIP-0002 (888-847-0002), or send Tammy an e-mail, or submit the Request for Information form below.

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