Seller
How the home-selling process works
Selling breaks into five phases: preparation, pricing, marketing, negotiation and escrow. Most sellers focus almost entirely on the third one and lose money in the first two.
Preparation is everything that happens before the listing goes live: repairs worth doing, decluttering, cleaning, landscaping and photography. Two to four weeks is typical.
Pricing is set from comparable closed sales, current competition and what is sitting unsold. It is the single biggest lever on your outcome.
Marketing is the listing going live, syndicating out, and the showings and open houses that follow. The first two weeks generate the most qualified traffic you will ever get.
Negotiation is reading offers past the price: financing strength, contingency periods, close date, credits and who carries the risk if something goes sideways.
Escrow runs roughly 30 days on a financed sale. Inspections, appraisal, repair requests, loan conditions, then signing and recording.
Seller
Preparing your home to sell
The goal is not renovation. It is removing every reason for a buyer to hesitate or mentally deduct money.
Worth doing almost always: deep clean, declutter aggressively, fresh neutral paint where it is scuffed, landscaping and curb appeal, fix anything visibly broken, and make the home smell like nothing at all.
Worth considering: replacing dated light fixtures and hardware, refinishing floors if they show badly, professional staging in higher price bands, and handling small deferred maintenance items before an inspector lists them.
Usually not worth it right before a sale: full kitchen or bathroom remodels, pools, room additions, and high-end finishes the neighborhood does not support. These rarely return what they cost when you are selling within months.
The correct list is property specific. Something that pays for itself in Porter Ranch may be a waste in Reseda, and the reverse is also true.
Seller
How home pricing actually works
Your home is worth what a qualified buyer will pay and a lender will support. Not what you paid, not what you need, not what the neighbor is asking.
Pricing comes from closed comparable sales: similar homes, nearby, sold recently, adjusted for differences in size, condition, lot and location. Active listings tell you about competition, not value. Expired listings tell you what buyers refused to pay.
The appraisal matters. If a buyer is financing, the lender orders an appraisal. A contract price the appraiser will not support means the buyer must cover the gap in cash or the deal renegotiates. Pricing without thinking about that is how deals fall apart in week four.
Overpricing is the expensive mistake. A listing gets its most valuable attention in the first two weeks. Priced above the market, that window is spent on buyers deciding you are not serious. What follows is a slow slide of reductions that usually lands below what the home would have sold for at a correct price from day one.
Seller
Common seller mistakes
Pricing on emotion or need. The market does not know what you owe or what you want to buy next.
Choosing the agent who quotes the highest number. An agent can say anything to get a listing. Ask to see the comparable sales behind the number, and ask what happens if it does not sell at that price.
Skipping photography. The first showing happens on a phone. Bad photos filter out buyers before the address registers.
Making it hard to see. Restricted showing windows and 24-hour notice requirements remove buyers, quietly.
Ignoring the first two weeks of feedback. If showings are happening and offers are not, the market is telling you something specific.
Refusing every repair request on principle. Repair negotiation is a business decision, not a contest. Sometimes holding firm is right, and sometimes it costs you a good buyer over a small number.
Not knowing the net. Get a net sheet before listing so the closing statement is not a surprise.
Seller
What happens after you accept an offer
Acceptance opens escrow. Roughly 30 days on a financed sale, and the calendar starts running immediately.
Deposit. The buyer wires earnest money into escrow, usually within a few days.
Inspections. The buyer inspects within their contingency period. General inspection first, then specialists if something turns up: roof, sewer, foundation, pest.
Repair request. The buyer may ask for repairs or a credit. This is a negotiation. You can agree, counter or decline, and what makes sense depends on the findings and how strong the buyer is.
Appraisal. The lender orders it. If it comes in at or above contract price, that item is done. If not, the deal renegotiates.
Loan conditions. Underwriting asks for documents, then more documents. Most delays live here.
Contingency removal. The buyer releases their contingencies in writing. Their deposit is now genuinely at risk, which is when the deal becomes solid.
Final walkthrough, signing, funding and recording. Then it is sold.
Buyer
The home-buying process
1. Financing first. Get pre-approved before you look. It sets your real budget and makes your offer credible.
2. Define the search. Areas, size, must-haves versus preferences. Being honest here saves months.
3. See homes. Enough of them to calibrate what your budget actually buys in your target areas.
4. Write an offer. Price, financing terms, contingency periods, close date, and any credits. Strong terms sometimes beat a higher price.
5. Open escrow and inspect. Deposit goes in, inspections happen, and you learn what you are really buying.
6. Appraisal and loan. The lender verifies the value and clears your file.
7. Remove contingencies, sign, fund, record. Then you get the keys, usually the same day or the next.
Financing
Mortgage basics
Your payment has four or five parts: principal, interest, property taxes, homeowners insurance, and mortgage insurance if you put down less than twenty percent. HOA dues sit on top of all of it.
Fixed rate keeps the same interest rate for the life of the loan. Predictable, and the default choice for most buyers.
Adjustable rate starts lower and adjusts after an initial period. It can make sense on a genuinely short horizon, but the rate risk is yours.
Conventional, FHA and VA are the common paths. Conventional generally wants stronger credit and allows mortgage insurance to be removed later. FHA is more forgiving on credit with a lower down payment but carries its own insurance rules. VA can require nothing down for eligible service members and veterans.
Points are money paid up front to lower the rate. Worth it only if you keep the loan past the break-even point.
Financing
Pre-approval explained
Pre-qualification is an estimate based on what you tell a lender. It is nearly worthless in a negotiation.
Pre-approval means a lender reviewed your documented income, assets and credit and issued a letter. This is what sellers want to see.
What it takes: two years of tax returns and W-2s or 1099s, recent pay stubs or a profit and loss statement, two months of bank statements, identification, and documentation for any gift funds or unusual deposits.
What it tells you: the ceiling on your budget, the payment at that price, and any problems in your file while there is still time to fix them.
How long it lasts: typically 60 to 90 days before the documentation needs refreshing.
If you were declined before, that is not the end of it. Declines usually come down to how income was documented, a fixable credit item, or the wrong loan program for the situation.
Financing
Closing costs explained
Buyers typically pay somewhere around two to five percent of the purchase price, depending on the loan and how much is prepaid. That covers loan origination and lender fees, appraisal, credit report, escrow and title charges, recording fees, and prepaid property taxes, insurance and interest. Some of it is a real cost and some of it is money you would have paid anyway, just earlier.
Sellers pay commission, escrow and title fees, county transfer costs, any agreed credits or repairs, and any payoff amounts on existing loans.
Things worth knowing: closing costs are negotiable in a purchase contract, credits from a seller can cover some or all of a buyer's costs, and lenders can sometimes cover costs in exchange for a slightly higher rate. Whether that trade is smart depends on how long you keep the loan.
Ask for a written estimate early. On the buy side it is the Loan Estimate. On the sell side it is a net sheet.
Want a net sheet or a cost estimate?
Ask Harry
Both
Buyer and seller FAQs
Do I need to sell before I buy? Not necessarily. There are several ways to sequence it depending on your equity, income and tolerance for risk. This is worth a conversation before you commit to an order of operations.
Is now a good time to buy or sell? The honest answer depends on your situation, not on a headline. Timing the market perfectly is not a realistic goal. Understanding what your specific move costs and gains right now is.
How much is commission and is it negotiable? Commission is not set by law and is negotiable. What matters more is what you get for it, so ask what the marketing plan actually includes.
What is an ADU worth? It depends on whether it is permitted, its condition and whether it can be rented legally. A permitted, rentable unit can add real value. An unpermitted conversion can complicate financing.
Can I sell a home with a tenant in it? Yes, though it changes the buyer pool, the showing logistics and the timeline. California tenant protections apply and need to be handled properly.
What if my home has permit issues? Very common in the Valley. It is usually manageable with disclosure and sometimes with retroactive permitting. What you cannot do is ignore it.
