Just make sure you have managed your own expectations and are providing great value for the consumer.
It is super important to make sure you provide all information you can about a property upfront, so that negotiations do not occur during the escrow. These are the gotchas – if you had provided a pest inspection, you might have known about the dry rot. Or, if you do get an inspection, when the inspector calls for test holes, don't fail to do them because you are afraid of what they might find. It is completely sure that if the inspection called for test holes, and you do not do them, the buyer will ask for them. If you refuse to do them, then the buyers will think you are hiding something. If the inspection finds "cellulose debris" under the house- i.e. cardboard boxes or paper products, clean it out, and ask the inspector to revise the report once you do these things. Same thing for anything you clear up in the preparation process – it may cost a couple hundred dollars to have the inspector come back, but it may well make you thousands for showing buyers that work was done.
If you know something about the house, the neighborhood or the next door neighbor, please disclose it- you don't have to elaborate and use long strings of adjectives, but it is absolutely inevitable that if the next door neighbor was robbed, or is a nasty person who does mean things, the new buyers will find out about it. It is also inevitable that if you have had issues with anything, there is always someone who needs to tell the new owners about it, so disclosure is your very best friend in Real Estate.
Make sure you write up something about your time at the house – all the great stuff, the block parties, the easy transit, the beautiful fruit-bearing trees in the yard – these things make a huge difference to buyers, and make them see the property as a home. Having someone draw a site plan that identifies your trees and flowers is a great idea.
Same thing with a floorplan for the disclosures and marketing materials – insist on having one – that will save time for you and other people if they know the floorplan would, or wouldn't work for them.
Because leaves are "falling" in fall, make sure you have a blower or a rake handy to make sure your property is always looking its best for open houses and showings.
Also, since flowers stop blooming in the fall, make sure mulch is fresh, and the yard is neat, even if you don't have the abundance of blooms we had in the spring.
Because today's buyers are actually concerned about the condition of the house, the expenses it may have, and the level of upkeep that will be necessary for them to have a nice looking yard, perhaps gifting them with an annual brush-clearance (required in some places), or six months worth of a blow and go person would be a great incentive for them to decide to buy your property.
Providing buyers with all manuals and any little tricks you know about keeping the place in tip-top shape is great. Even if you cannot do a full-blown walkthrough with them at close of escrow, written instructions are really well received. Buying the buyers a home warranty also can be a small gift that makes them (and you) feel more secure.
Sometimes it is the little things that mean so much to people, and having a happy buyer is a great way to transition from your house safely and feeling great about it.
