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The Most Important Document Your Agent Won’t Show You
Real estate is a document-intensive business. You’ve got, at minimum:
- A listing agreement, 5 pages plus…
- A Seller’s Disclosure Statement, 5 pages plus…
- Legal Description, 1-3 pages plus…
- Plat Maps and Profiles, 10 pages plus…
- The first offer, 20 pages plus…
- Counter-offers…
- Subsequent offers…
- A home inspection report…
- Inspection Response…
- Appraisal report…
- And the list can go on.
Good agents will provide you with a system for keeping these documents organized and easily accessed if they’re needed. Of course, a good agent will de-mystify each and every one of these documents as well. They’re typically NOT written for ease-of-understanding (read: written by lawyers!)
But in the midst of this mountain of documents, there is one that could be considered the MOST important document of all, and it’s one that your agent may not even show you. It holds some of the MOST valuable information of the entire transaction — likely even the key to your future buying potential, or not. So what is it?
The Seller’s Estimated Net Proceeds sheet.
The single-page “net sheet” as it’s called, is NOT part of a Purchase and Sale Agreement and need not be included in any contract or disclosure during negotiations with a buyer. But it holds critical information pertaining to what it’s going to cost you to actually sell your house.
Selling for $329,900 does not net you $329,900. There are expenses involved in selling a house, including:
- The balance on your existing mortagage(s)… usually the biggest chunk of change off the top…
- Real estate brokerage fees, typically 6% of sale price…
- Excise Tax, set at 1.78% of sale price…
- Title insurance, paid by YOU, the seller, and ranging from $500 to several thousand dollars, sale price dependent…
- Half the escrow fee, (the buyer pays the other half) and again, several hundred dollars on up…
- Unpaid property taxes…
- Any other liens against the property…
- Incidental fees like document prep and recording fees for the Title Company, perhaps a septic inspection if your house is on septic, a health certificate for the well, and others specific to your property…
It all adds up. The balance on your mortgage aside, the rest of it typically equates to 8.5 to 9% of sale price as a cost to you, the seller, to sell.
This is important information for most sellers. A lot of agents either don’t know how to calculate this sort of spreadsheet, or don’t necessarily want you to see the “bottom line” for fear you’ll walk away.
I always bring several different “net sheets” to the first meeting I have with a seller. The earlier we can get on the same page and address your expectations, the smoother everything will be at the end of the sale.
