The Home Selling Process     

Call Richard and Jan Lappan to sell your home! 904-386-9994 or 904-386-3529

The Home Selling Process and What We Do For YOU!


#1. Marketing Your Home

Your home will be advertised on the local North East Florida MLS. Thousands of agents throughout the Northeast Florida area search the MLS daily to find homes for their buyers. Searches are conducted by specific area and/or price range and/or various other criteria. This is the most powerful advertising for your home. You will receive your MLS listing by e-mail as soon as it is completed. Please check it carefully and your suggestions are welcomed! Your home will also be advertised on REALTOR.COM, RE/MAX.COM, (local and national RE/MAX web sites), on Craigslist and on our web site at www.thelappanteam.com. Re/Max.com is the 2nd most searched site for home buyers. Our web site receives an average of two inquiries per day from potential home buyers throughout the country. Your home will also be shown on the local Real Estate TV show (Cable 20) every third week.

Open House: We will conduct open houses on selected Sundays from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. The dates will be established so as not to inconvenience you.
The showing process: Agents wishing to show your home will contact our office for appointments. Our office staff will then contact you to be sure that the appointment time is convenient for you. If you aren´t home, they will leave you a message stating the date and time of the appointment and the appointment will be made. When you get the message, please contact the office at 260-4550 if the time is not convenient for you.

NOTE: We are notified by e-mail each time an agent schedules a showing. After the showing, we call the agent and ask the agent for feedback and then communicate that feedback to you. (Each time the lock box is opened, the name of the person opening the box is recorded).

#2. Offers and Negotiations

Agents will contact us directly with offers. Normally offers are faxed or e-mailed to us. We verify the offer with the agent and insist that the agent provide a pre-qualification letter from his buyer´s lender and that an earnest money deposit is made of at least $1,000.00. We then communicate the offer to you and discuss the offer with you, explaining the pros and cons of the offer in detail. If appropriate, we make a counter-offer or, in some cases, simply reject the offer. We negotiate the offer on your behalf to make it as advantageous to you as possible.This process is sometimes lengthy, depending on the availability of the parties, etc. Offers and Counter-offers are time sensitive, so, it´s important we are able to contact you during this period and your access to a fax machine during this time is very helpful! Our fax numbers are (O) 904-260-6026 and (H) 904-260-9310.  

#3. After Offer Acceptance to Closing 

Once repairs are made, there is will be re-inspection to be sure the repairs have been completed properly.
Closing- You the seller choose the Title Company that will close the loan. We recommend using one of three title companies we work with because we know that problems will be minimal. About 2 days prior to closing, the title company will provide all parties with a HUD-1 Settlement Statement showing closing costs attributable to each party, net proceeds and cash required from the buyer at closing. We will scrutinize this document with you to make sure all the figures are correct and will be at closing with you.


After we have a completed contract in writing (an offer or counteroffer accepted in writing by you and the buyers), the process of Inspections, Appraisal, Survey and, if necessary repairs begins. During this period, the buyer makes application for the loan and the underwriting process begins. The Home Inspection (and WDO Inspection) is scheduled through us by the buyer´s agent and the time and date are approved by you. The Appraisal is scheduled through us as well, normally after the buyer´s loan is approved. The seller is required to provide a current Survey. This is normally scheduled by the Title company. We will determine whether an existing survey will be accepted by the lender.

Repairs Request 
Most contracts provide for the seller to pay up to a certain amount in repairs (typically $500.00). The repair items are listed in the home inspector´s report and the buyer makes a written request for repairs. Cosmetic items like a room that needs paint or worn carpet are not repair items. We go over the report and the buyers request with you to determine together what will be repaired and how. Typical repairs would be repairing a leaky faucet, a faulty switch or ground-fault receptacle, cracked boot on a roof vent, a disposal that´s not working, and the like. (Major structural defects or defects in major mechanical systems discovered during an inspection will be discussed with you if any are found). If the Wood Destroying Organism inspection shows wood rot, termite damage, etc., the seller is responsible to repair the damage up to 1% of the contract price or the buyer may cancel the contract.