What Sellers Should Know About Preparing a House for Sale

Selling your home is a major transaction. You will want to make certain you are ready for any potential complications in advance by learning what every home seller should know about preparing a home for sale. Long Island Real Estate Closing Attorney Sandra Radna recently sat down with Mark Schreier, a Century 21 American Homes Realtor, to discuss common questions home sellers have about selling a house and preparing for that process.

“What should a home seller have ready for their real estate attorney to expedite and smoothen the home selling process?”

Attorney Radna shared that you should have ready a variety of related documents, such as certificates of occupancy, mortgage documents, deeds, surveys, and reported code violations. Not sure if such documents even exist in relation to your home? If you know you had work done — such as a new pool installation or the expansion of a section of the house — then there should be permits, certifications, etc. about that work. Related paperwork can be collected from the company that completed those projects, or possibly from County Clerk, even if it was many years ago. In particular, if your home only has one survey and it is decades old, you could face a unique set of complications. Rules and regulations for surveys have changed over the years, and older surveys may not reflect the current state of the house. Depending on where you live, your county might allow a preexisting survey to be grandfathered into compliance, or you may have to replace it with a new survey. Essentially, the more paperwork about your home and its history you have at-the-ready, the better. Your real estate closing attorney is there to move you towards closing as soon as possible, and equipping them with information is the best way to help them help you.