Your greatest fear when selling your home is accepting an offer, taking your home off the marketing, and then not closing because of some issue with the buyer. Not every mortgage broker can be among the best mortgage lenders in Dallas. (It’s not bragging when D Magazine and Texas Monthly say so). Our suggestion is for you and your Realtor to do a ten minute conference call with the potential lender to avoid accepting a bad offer.  If we were selling our homes, here are the Questions To Ask: About The Lender and Questions To Ask: About The Buyer.

Seller’s Net Sheet

How does a seller determine how much will they will net from the sale of their home?  The answer: a Seller’s Net Sheet. Check out our seller’s net sheet that you can download.

Will You Get An Escrow Refund?

Do you have an escrow account currently setup with your current mortgage servicer?  If the answer is “no” or your don’t have a mortgage then this section isn’t applicable to you.  If you do have an escrow account for your current mortgage then you will be refunded the entire unused amount held by your current mortgage servicer. A refund check is typically issued 30-60 days after the closing. At the closing on the sale of your home the title company will typically have you complete a form that instructs the mortgage servicer where to send the refund check.

Taxes – Yuck!  Will You Have Capital Gains when you sell your home?

Let’s state the obvious to see if this is applicable to you: to incur capital gains tax you will need to be selling your home for a profit.  If you are NOT selling your home for a profit then this section does not pertain to you.  The next qualifier: if you have lived in your home for 2 of the past 5 years AND you won’t net more than $250,000 (or $500,000 for a married couple) then you won’t incur capital gains tax.  If you fall outside of these criteria then you will most likely incur capital gain taxes and we recommend you connect with a CPA to ensure you’re taking advantage of all your tax benefits and calculating the correct cost basis for your home.  If you’re an investor selling an investment home and plan on buying a new investment property then we recommend you look into a 1031 Exchange.