Episode 5 - From ‘For Sale’ to ‘Sold’: Navigating the Home Selling Process

Looking to sell your home? This episode features insights from a top-performing realtor with over 23 years of experience, Maureen Connolly with Coldwell Banker. Discover strategies for maximizing your home's value, from smart pricing to effective staging. Learn why choosing the right agent matters and how to navigate today's competitive market with confidence.

Key Insights

• Why professional pricing strategy often leads to optimal sale prices
• The "Coming Soon" listing technique that creates buyer competition
• Best times to list your home to stand out from other inventory
• How to prepare your home for showings without major renovations
• What makes cash offers attractive (and when they aren't the best choice)
• Common seller mistakes to avoid during the selling process

Chapter Markers:

01:37 Meet the Expert Realtor: Maureen Connolly

04:53 The Importance of Pricing and Hiring a Realtor

06:32 Preparing Your Home for Sale

12:18 Evaluating Offers and Cash Buyers

15:15 Common Mistakes Sellers Make

18:04 Handling Offers and Inspections

21:46 Closing Process and Final Walkthrough

25:16 Final Advice and Contact Information

29:07 Podcast Conclusion and Future Topics

Want to know more about our Guest?
Maureen Connolly, CBR,SRES, Certified Real Estate Negotiator

• Associate Real Estate Broker - Coldwell Banker
• International Diamond Society 
• 2023 Top Listing Agent-Coldwell Banker Lower Hudson Valley Office-#1 for Listings Sold
• Top 1% of Realtors in Westchester/Putnam Counties
• Multi-Million Dollar Producer 2003-2023
• Voted FIVE STAR Real Estate Agent by Westchester Magazine  10 Consecutive Years
• License: 30CO0948982 NY
• maureen.connolly@cbmoves.com
• Website: Maureen-Connolly.com
• Cell: 914-419-6251

Filmed and recorded at Studio on the Avenue/LMC Media
Mamaroneck, NY
https://lmcmedia.org/
Produced and Edited by Vekterly
https://www.vekterly.com/

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice, a recommendation for any specific investment, strategy, or financial decision, or legal advice. By engaging with this material, you acknowledge and agree with its intended purpose. Any examples provided are hypothetical and for illustration purposes only. Neither Rich Leimgruber, the EnRich Your Life Podcast, nor its representatives are advising or suggesting any specific action or decision. Before making any financial, legal, or tax decisions, individuals should consult their own financial advisor, accountant, legal professional, or other qualified professional before making financial decisions. All opinions expressed are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any affiliated financial institutions. The views shared may not be suitable for every individual or situation. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and all investments carry risk. Please note that any strategies discussed may not be suitable for all investors, and the appropriateness of any specific investment or strategy will depend on individual circumstances.

Transcript

EnRich Your Life Episode 5 - From ‘For Sale’ to ‘Sold’: Navigating the Home Selling Process

Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to enrich your life where financial wisdom meets everyday life hosted by Richard Leimgruber, a financial advisor with over 25 years of experience. This podcast brings yoSu powerful insights to make smart choices and build your financial future. Get ready to dive into practical strategies to grow, protect, and shape your financial story one podcast at a time.

Rich L: Hello, and welcome to EnRich Your Life Podcast. And I'm your host, Richard Leimgruber, where we have conversations with financial professionals about certain topics that can help you save money in your financial life by providing you financial strategies. And today we're talking with an experienced realtor who has over 23 years experience helping her clients sell and buy homes throughout the Westchester and Putnam County.

Before I begin, and we have our conversation, I'd like to remind everybody to please remember an important tax date coming [00:01:00] up, where April 15th is the deadline to file your taxes, so don't forget that. to make sure that you're, you're sending your tax forms to your accountant. Don't forget. That you can also make a contribution to either your traditional IRA or Roth IRA in 2024. If you're under 50, you can add up to 7, 000 as a contribution. And if you're 50 or older, you can add 8, 000 and you need to do that before your filing deadline of either April 15th or if you file an extension before you file that extension.

Today, I'd like to introduce us to Maureen Connelly. Maureen Connelly is a licensed realtor with Coldwell Banker. And Maureen is top 1 percent of realtors in Westchester and Putnam Counties for 2024. She's in the President's Circle in 2024 as well, [00:02:00] which is the top 4 percent of realtors at Coldwell Banker.

She's a multimillion dollar producer. She's a top listing agent in the Coldwell banker, lower Hudson regional office in 2023 with number of listings sold. She's also certified by a representative, a certified senior real estate specialist, a certified real estate negotiator, and she's certified to assist corporate relocation, buyers and sellers.

with global luxury specialists in mind. Congratulations, Maureen. And so I always like to start out by just asking, what made you become a realtor? Why are you doing what you're doing? Tell us a little bit about why you get up every day and help clients with selling their homes.

Maureen C: Sure. First, I'd like to say thank you so much for inviting me. I like to do different things, so this is fun. That was some major introduction. I feel like the main thing I want to always say is that I love my job. My husband, kids around and says I would do it even if it was volunteer work. It might sound kind of [00:03:00] corny, but I love helping people.

And what's the biggest thing that people are going to do, but sell their house. I was a flight attendant for 26 years, so I feel like I really know good customer service. And before that, I was a statistician. So as a statistician, you're working a lot with numbers. So I feel like it's a great combination for the sellers, because I'm able to look at the numbers, which is really important.

You want to make sure that you're getting the right price for the house. I'm very competitive, and so I don't look at it as a game, but I like to put the most money in my seller's pockets. And so I think they appreciate the background that I have, and that helps me in the job every day. 

 And then at the end, there's nothing more rewarding than being at the closing and seeing them move on to the next phase of their life. 

Rich L: Seeing their goals come to fruition, right? And I think that's something that I love to do too.

And so whether it's selling a house or helping a client achieve any financial goal, it's really great, a great feeling to be a part of that whole process 

Maureen C: I always recommend this interview a few agents, but after they talk with me for a while. I feel like they tell me about their plans, and I love hearing about their plans. A lot of people these days are moving to Florida [00:04:00] and down to the Carolinas, and someone just this week was going to West Virginia.

And once they start talking about it, their whole face lights up. And we might look back at the house and say, Oh my God, this is so much work. But I look at it as this is a project, we're going to do it in little pieces, but you're going to get it done. And then I'll say, we'll remember this conversation, a month and a half, two months from now when we're sitting at the closing table and you say, Oh, remember that snowy day that we had the conversation and you were right, Maureen, exactly what you told us would happen happened and I'm one that really stands by my word.

Rich L: I think setting expectations is a big part of what you do and what I do, right? Making sure that. The person or people that you're working with understand what the process is going to look like beforehand,

Maureen C: One of the papers that I go through goes through the actual steps.

Uh huh. And, I bring papers still. Some people like, , digital presentations. They bring their computer, their laptop. . But, it seems to work for me, so my manager jokes around, she said, bring all the papers you can, because the people seem to like what I talk about, and they say, oh my god, this was so helpful, no one else really, showed us actually the steps, and I do go through that.

Rich L: So, you know, one of the [00:05:00] common misconceptions I hear about, should I hire a real estate agent to sell my house? Or, why can't I just do the, for sale by owner? Mm hmm. So, tell us a little bit about why, or how you approach that question for somebody who might be considering hiring a realtor to sell their house.

Maureen C: First of all, I feel like they really don't know the price. That's most important. Obviously, you want to get the most money for your house. So, if you're just a for sale by owner, you might say, Oh, my neighbor sold their house for 625. Meanwhile, you've never been in the neighbor's house. You don't know what the neighbor has done to the house.

You can look it up, obviously, anywhere. But you don't know how that house compares. So I feel like the pricing first off and really some people's house is worth more than they even think. So I bring the stats when I'm on the phone with them. Before I go to the house, I ask a lot of questions and then I can do, I call it a two step.

So I bring numbers so that they can see what's happening in the area, but then If it's a different kind of a house, I'll be like, now I'm going to go back to the office, and I'm going to compare you to other houses. But the pricing is most important, and that's why I feel like you shouldn't be a for sale buy owner.

Plus, you really don't know who you're letting in the house. You know, there's a lot of people [00:06:00] that think they can buy a house. You want to make sure that they're pre approved ahead of time. And there's so many papers that need to be filled out, especially with New York State these days. There's a lot of regulations and things.

 And really, I think it's one of those things you get what you pay for. 

Rich L: And so there's a value to, giving up a little bit of your sale price to somebody who's going to make sure that all of your, um desires and expectations are met as you're going through that whole process.

 I've sold a couple of houses, in the past in my life. And what I, what I can tell you is that there's nothing more annoying. I guess you could say then having people trail through your house and you know, they're making comments or they're looking at certain things.

So when you're helping somebody prepare to sell their house. What are some of the common, pieces of advice you might give somebody when they're ready to put their house on the market? 

Maureen C: I do a presentation. And one of them is preparing your house for sale.

And we actually, go room by room. And I tell people, once you put your house on the market, it's really a product. So you want your product to show the best. You want to appeal to the most number of [00:07:00] buyers. But these days, the buyers are not as particular as they used to be about certain things.

So some sellers will go online again, or maybe talk to friends, Oh yeah, I have to get all new bedding, I have to reorganize all my closets, I have to paint every room. It's the furthest thing from the truth. It all depends on your house. And I'll go room by room and tell them what they need to do. And usually they're like, Oh my God, I thought I was going to have to do so much more.

And certain things that they didn't think they would have to do, I'll be like, That's really important, you need to move that. 

Rich L: Okay. 

Maureen C: Really getting it ready.

You want it to look nice, and I feel like your photos are your first showing. I'm always there with the photographer, and I tell people, none of the houses look like they do in the brochures. I do a brochure for every house, but when we're there, I say, the laundry basket. We move all the stuff off the counter, and again, not all the stuff.

Certain things should be put away ahead of time. But I want people to still enjoy living in their house. It is their house. So we put it all in the laundry basket, we move it for the picture, and then you can take your coffee maker back out, take your knife set back out, whatever you want to do. But for the pictures you want it to look really good, because that's why people stay on looking at it.

Even the order of the [00:08:00] pictures I feel like is very important. The write up is very important. Like some people just write, this four bedroom, three bath house. I create a feeling. Imagine coming home and sitting on your deck, watching the sunset, and having your family over. And I think that's part of my success.

Um, not just treating every house the same. 

Rich L: Service, right?

Yeah, absolutely. I'm the same way. And what about clutter? That's something where I remember going and looking to buy houses. Some houses were like immaculate, where you're like, wow, this is like, does anybody even live here? And it just made me feel more comfortable, actually. Looking at the house and then sometimes you walk into a house and it's like they're in the other room hiding behind the closet waiting for you to leave so they can just get back to their life and they have Everything all over the place, you know things that you would think that should have gone away months ago are still sitting on the counter, 

Maureen C: well, I like to show a happy home, so I'm a little different than other agents as far as that. I'll let them keep out a couple, not a lot, of family pictures. I feel like people want to move into a happy house, but I don't want like a whole row of pictures. I don't like a lot of collectibles. , because people get [00:09:00] distracted by that, they'll look at the items and start talking about the items instead of looking at the space in the house.

 If they really have a lot of stuff, I tell them, you know, there's very inexpensive storage places, I think it's going to be worth your while. And I used to say, for everything you throw away, think you're getting another 100. When in doubt, throw it out. 

Rich L: Got it. You know, you have to get rid of like too much furniture, right?

Yes. Like you walk into a room and every single inch of the carpet has been taken up by a piece of furniture, right? Yes. 

Maureen C: I went to a house last night and they were saying, should we get rid of this? I said, just like we just talked about, if you're thinking about it, get rid of it. First impressions make a big difference and so this was a huge piece of furniture as soon as you walked in and you should never walk like into the back of a couch or anything like that.

 If you want to draw their eye somewhere. You put something either red or yellow. And I've actually watched people, they'll walk over toward that spot. So in this particular house, the big piece of furniture is semi built in.

And they were like, if we take that down, it's going to be really hard to, take care of the wall. So I said, let's put something over here so that they look this way as soon as they come in. 

Rich L: Great. Okay, cool. And then as, [00:10:00] as far as, looking at.

Getting the top dollar for your clients. What are some of the strategies that you'll talk to them about? How does somebody get their top dollar? Here in Westchester, I don't think it's too hard, right? , but if you were somewhere else, that maybe , there wasn't as much as a 

Maureen C: one thing we have in our area that I really love.

 We probably started it maybe a year and a half, two years ago. It's called coming soon. And so what it is, the whole listing goes on so people can see it online, but they can't quite make the appointment yet. So I tell people, let's put you on as coming soon, like Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. And then when the people see it, they can make their plans.

We're going to start showings on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. So now Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, you have a lot of people going in, going out. A lot of people will be like, honey, We lost the last three, let's go $30,000 over on this one. We like this one better anyway. So seeing a volume of people in the house makes people increase their offer.

And these days, I think a lot of sellers think, Oh, we better start high because people are going to low ball us. That's not the market that we're in right now at all. People actually offer over [00:11:00] if you're at the right price. And again, I really pay attention to the price. Some people might say, Oh, I really want, $550k.

I'll be like, you know what? Five 29 is your number. I think we'll end up over $550k, but it's based on facts. Here's the houses that sold, here's how they compare to yours. And and usually within five minutes, they say, you're the expert. We're going to listen to you. And I tell them, we never use this term in real estate, but I feel like it's very true.

I'm your trusted advisor. You're hiring me for a reason. You are paying the real estate agent a lot of money, their company, but I feel like it's One of those things that's really really worth it. 

Rich L: Is there a better time to list a house? 

Maureen C: Sure some people think spring But I've done really well with people putting their house on in February March April like a lot of people say Oh, I want to wait till the trees fill in I want to wait till my flowers bloom and things like that when you're waiting till then you're gonna be coming on with maybe ten other houses Whereas, if you're coming on now, February, March, where there's still snow on the ground, the house might not show the best from the exterior, but you're going to be one of only a few.

And right now, there's so many buyers, the inventory is still really low, and so it's a [00:12:00] great time to put your house on the market, you're going to get multiple offers. Traditionally, what's been happening with me is your first few days, and again, this is on every house, people are like, how could that be?

But it's very true. The first like 15 days, maybe 10 days, you get like 20 showings, and you get three to four offers. It just keeps happening over and over and people say to me, I remember you telling me that, but I really didn't think that would happen, and that's the way it goes, because the buyers want to move to our area, , a lot of them have relatives that are up here already, they like the parks, they just want to come to the country.

Rich L: One of the things you always hear is I've always been outbid and or, or always cash as a seller. Why is it better to have somebody who's coming with you all with cash that maybe somebody who's got a mortgage or, and vice versa, like, why did the Cash buyers always win out, 

Maureen C: right?

And they don't always win out. And it's one of the scenarios that I go through with the people. So say it's a husband and wife and I'll pretend I'm one of the buyers too. I'll say, I'm going to tell you right now, say we get three offers and one is all cash. A lot of times, um, we'll have to find out [00:13:00] where that cash is coming from.

So we asked for a verification of funds. Obviously if it's coming, someone's coming with a mortgage, we'll ask for their pre approval letter. And I really go through the things. So say on the verification of funds, once you start really questioning the cash buyer, they're like, well, I was going to take it out of my 401.

And actually my mother's selling her house. So we're going to use some of the money from that. So when they present all cash, you really have to make sure it's really all cash and really available. And then say on the other two, they're number might be 10, 000 less than the other people, but the mortgage broker is a great mortgage broker.

Their credit scores are in the 800s. He's been doing it a long time. They're solid as they come. Now, the other one might be offering a little bit more, but the man owns a gas station. He just opened it six months ago. His wife's going out on maternity leave. They think she's going to get her job back.

So I feel like one of the things that I really do is analyze the offers that come in, because you don't want to pick one of the wrong offers and then two weeks into the deal, find out that's not really the best buyer. to the other ones. Sometimes they've moved on 

Rich L: Is that something that the realtor provides in value is [00:14:00] like, how do you know about each buyer who's presenting an offer?

 Do they send you a story of why they want this house or? Is that you really diving in and talking to the mortgage broker, talking to , the sellers, I guess the buyer's agent, right? Yeah. 

Maureen C: The buyer's agent sometimes doesn't even know they haven't talked to the mortgage broker, 

and I'll say to the buyer's agent, do you mind if I call the mortgage broker? And she'd be like, you're going to call my buyer's mortgage broker. I said, well, I'm representing the seller. And that's what we're doing because we have the multiple offers right now. A lot of times I'll know the mortgage broker, but even if I don't, I'll just start with, calling all the offers, , all the mortgage brokers from all the offers that we have. And, , just tell me a little bit about the people.

The mortgage brokers usually like talking and I think they think they're probably going to get business from me in the future. So they'll just tell me and I say to them, I'm not looking for the people's W 2s. I don't need you to tell me, but just give me a warm feeling that these are going to be the best.

buyers. And they answer right away. So I feel like some other agents are hesitant about doing that, but I feel like it's very important. And I think the sellers appreciate that when I tell them that. 

Rich L: Yeah. And that's, again, going back to [00:15:00] what we had said before about why you would want to hire a realtor to help you sell your house is that extra value that you're providing, right?

To help them make the best decision that they can. Right. 

Maureen C: And the all cash. Sometimes it is good. And I tell them that you don't have to worry about the appraisal at that point because they're not a bank involved, so we don't have to worry about that. But again, be very careful when you get an all cash offer, but we do get a lot of them in westchester and Putnam.

Rich L: And then as far as some common mistakes that a seller might make, we've talked a lot about what you should be doing, but what about what you shouldn't be doing as a seller? 

Maureen C: So I feel like picking the right realtor is most important. You want to really start on, on a good footing there.

 But following the people around in the house is not good and, I deal with a lot of elderly people and I love working with them. They're my favorite clientele. They've lived in the house for a long time. They bought it for, , a hundred thousand. I'm sure you've heard a lot of 

Rich L: stories, right?

Yes, 

Maureen C: yes. And I love helping them. And I think they appreciate it too. They'll start talking about other things and I love listening to them. They're, a great source , of information. Nice [00:16:00] history and they can tell a lot of things, but, don't follow the people around. Don't start showing them how certain objects work and, and don't tell stories.

 I always like to tell the story, , the man thought he was pointing out good things. He's like, you're in the deer in the backyard all the time. And the buyers were like, I hear there's a lot of deer ticks up here. They're right in people's backyard. This isn't good, so you have to really I say, , answer their questions , and point out things, but I also tell people they don't have to leave.

 I'm a little different that way too, so say they know they're going to have an appointment between 1 and 2 on a Saturday, I tell them don't leave at 12. 30 and come home at, 2. 05. , wait until people knock on the door, and then you can go out, usually people stay, which we think 15,20 minutes.

Right. My son kids around and says, I think I look longer at my car than I did the house. But they really stay 15, 20 minutes. And unless you have back to back appointments, just go out, go get a cup of coffee, walk the dog, whatever you want to do, and then come back home. So really, it's still your house.

So enjoy your house, but don't follow them around. 

Rich L: Some people always say. Be careful of who you let in your house, but should [00:17:00] you allow somebody to come into your house that is not doesn't have a realtor? Or should you expect a realtor to be there with them, 

Maureen C: So the realtor is always going to be with them. We do put a sign out and I tell the people in my 22 years, I never had anyone knock on a door and say, I want to see the house. God forbid that does happen. You just say Maureen Connelly's cell phone number is right on that sign. She's my agent. Just call. 

And so they would always come with an agent. Some of the agents, I hate to say, don't bring a card. I'm really big about leaving your card because, say the people are out for the day and then they'll come home and they'll be like, I don't know if they even came, Maureen, because there was no card here. So I like when agents do as they should and leave a card.

Rich L: And so what you're saying is, and to be clear, That whatever somebody is coming to look at your house, they should also have the realtor with them. In other words, you're not gonna, you're not gonna let somebody come see the house that isn't represented by a realtor. Why is that? 

Maureen C: Because you want to make sure that they're really qualified to see the house.

The only time they would come without a realtor is if you have an open house. We used to have a lot of open houses, [00:18:00] when the Sales weren't as robust as they are now, but lately we don't have as many open houses at that time. You are letting people in your house, but usually I have a mortgage broker with me and two other realtors.

Rich L: So it's never that the people are wandering around your house by themselves. Okay. 

 Help me explain to our audience what should somebody expect as far as the whole process of, hey, we have this buyer, they put in a qualified offer, now what?

Maureen C: So I like to keep it really moving along, and one thing that I provide, is when I meet with them the first time, I give them this name of a person who will do a pre sale home inspection and I highly recommend it to my sellers. He comes in and sees the house through the eyes of the buyer.

It doesn't cost my sellers anything. I take care of that. Oh, wow. And so he comes in and he goes from top to bottom, looks at the electric, the plumbing, the attic, all the appliances. He checks everything out. At the end, he does not give them a written report, but he'll give them an email and talk to them.

These are the five things that I found at your house. So I feel like it's really helpful to the seller because they might be [00:19:00] able to, take care of that problem before a buyer comes in with their home inspector and then says, Oh, now I want to take $1,000 off or now I'm really worried about this because I found this.

So a lot of my sellers will take advantage of that, but say. Yeah, we're at the home inspection. The buyers are doing their home inspection. I don't want to hear at the end of the inspection. we're gonna get the report in 48 hours and then we're gonna read it and then we're gonna show it to my dad and then we're going to a wedding this weekend.

So on Monday, we'll get back to you. I want to hear. Everything was good, Maureen, or we have these two things that came up during the home inspection. These are some issues that we want to talk about. And if they do the opposite and say, oh, we're going to think about it for a little while, I'll remind them two other offers are breathing down your neck.

They called me during the inspection to see how things were going. And again, that's always the way it is lately, that there's other offers waiting in the wings. And so I tell them, , anything that you want to talk about, we should talk about now or tomorrow morning. I'm not going to really press them.

But then once they say, okay, we're good, I need their attorney information. I want to keep this moving along. You don't want them to go to a [00:20:00] party that weekend and then get buyer's remorse. Oh, you're moving all the way up to Westchester. I thought you were looking in Jersey. My uncle's selling his house in Jersey.

You don't want to go all the way up there. Aren't the taxes high? I like to keep it. 

Rich L: Or even you're at a party and you're like, oh, the house across the street is for sale from your best friend. Why are, why would you look at that house? So there's a lot of things that could actually derail. Yep. Somebody from giving the offer.

Yes. One of the questions I have always tried to figure out, and I think I've actually called you on this, is what if somebody's signed a contract with another realtor and they're just not happy with the selling process or what's being provided? What are the rights of a seller to fire their current realtor and hire a new one?

Maureen C: I don't think it happens as much as you would think. , I did get a call on that maybe, , a year and a half ago, and it was a personal family friend of them, of theirs, who wasn't, , from the area and dabbled in real estate. , in fact, now that I think about it, I got another call. It was someone's brother.

really recently, and the deal was falling apart after two months. And these people had plans to move to Delaware and had to close on the Delaware [00:21:00] house. And so they said, We should have called you in the beginning. , I never try and take another agent's business. I feel like there's enough business to go around.

I'm very respectful and have a great, , reputation with all the other agents, and I like to keep it that way. So my first thing would be try and talk to the agent. , ask them what they're gonna do to try and help you sell the house. What's going wrong here? So again, it doesn't happen as often as you would think, but every once in a while, but again, , they should pick the right agent from the beginning.

Rich L: That's a good interview process. , for somebody like, like for myself, I happen to know a lot of realtors, you included, and it is hard to determine, well, who am I calling? There's realtors, I belong with the chamber of commerce and there's, I can't tell you how many realtors are there.

There's a lot of realtors and everybody wants to help and everybody has their own story. What do you think is the most 

Maureen C: this week one man said to me, , I interviewed somebody else and it's a good friend of mine who works at another company. And he goes, , could you two do it together?

I wish we could. I said, I would like to work with her, but She's with a different company. So you make your decision and like I said from the beginning I always tell them interview a few realtors 

Rich L: And I [00:22:00] guess as far as the closing process, you're showing up in person to an attorney's office. Do they come to your house? What do you typically recommend to your sellers as far as where you want to have the closing? Is it early in the morning, late in the afternoon?

Should you take the day off from work if you have a full time job or Is this something you can slide into and take a couple of minutes in the morning to do? 

Maureen C: Okay. So another thing, picking the right realtor, but also picking the right attorney. So in my packet that I bring to their house, I have a list of real estate attorneys.

Great. A lot of times they'll say, , my cousin's brother's sister's uncle is an attorney. I think he mostly does wills. Maybe he's retired, but I'm going to use him and I'll be like, , you really should use a local real estate attorney because they're going to really be helping you throughout the process.

And it ranges anywhere from $2,000 to $3,000. I feel like in the big scheme of things, it's definitely somebody that you should use as a professional real estate attorney. And again, I have a list , of those that I recommend and then they'll guide you toward the end. You don't get to pick where the closing is.

It's usually. The [00:23:00] bank attorneys or the buyers or the seller's attorney's office. Taking the day off, it all depends on what time, again. I think in the morning is better in case there's any problem with the money transfer from the bank. Like closings that are late in the day. These days everything is so structured and really organized if you have a good real estate agent and a good attorney.

 So that, , the closings usually take an hour or two. Oh wow, that's great. And then they do the walkthrough, the buyers do the walkthrough either the day before or that morning. I always am the last set of eyes on the house. I like to go there and get the lockbox off and in case they came up with anything that they saw during the walkthrough, I like to go by and like, Where did you see that problem?

I just went by, I didn't really see that. I'm taking a video right now. There's no problem there. And I tell the agent, the buyer's agent, Call me after the walkthrough. Because I want to hear, Oh, we couldn't get the, , the heat to come on. Or they seemed like the faucet was dripping. Because then I want to go by there before the closing and call the attorney and say, I did see it.

So maybe we have to have a plumber come by. Maybe we'll leave some money in escrow. But you really don't want to leave money in escrow. You [00:24:00] want everything to be a clean deal and be done. 

Rich L: The walkthrough is really the purchaser's basically last review of the house to make sure everything was working in good order.

That's when they're turning on their faucets to make sure they're not leaking. That's where they're. How much time do you think you would need for that? And that's always right before closing, 

Maureen C: right? Before closing. 

Rich L: Yeah, 

Maureen C: I'll tell the, , the sellers, , a day before, two days before, as soon as we know when they're going to do their walkthrough, do you want me to come by and check everything?

I feel again, doing something, , So you make sure that there's not going to be a problem, and the walkthrough doesn't take as long as you would think, obviously it depends on the size of the house, but again, they're turning on the appliances, every agent seems to do it differently, , some of them just walk in and let the people walk around the house, I'm very thorough, I want to make sure that I don't get a call, three days later, something's not working, so again, making sure nothing's dripping, making sure everything works, 99 percent of the time the house is in great shape when you get there, but every once in a while they haven't really cleaned out the attic.

I've found clothes in the dryer, maybe they were just [00:25:00] finishing up. 

Rich L: Where'd those socks go? 

Maureen C: Exactly. Exactly. Yes. Yes. Yes. 

Rich L: That's great. And , every once in a while you do hear of a failed closing, right? And as somebody who's representing the seller, , is it a pat on the back?

Like we'll get them next time. It never gets to that point. What do you typically recommend? You never? No. 

Maureen C: It might be a delay because their money didn't come through or I can't even think of another reason but it's usually, , just delayed till the next day. Okay. Like I haven't had one that didn't close.

Rich L: Great. Great. Yeah, 

Maureen C: once you get to that point it's definitely going to close. 

Rich L: . That's good. Is there any piece of advice that you can offer somebody that maybe we haven't talked about yet that, , you want to share with everybody? 

Maureen C: Use a local attorney. A local real estate agent, will I go to other areas?

Maybe, but I'd rather refer to someone that's very familiar with that. It's better because you can answer all the questions and you really know the numbers up there. Obviously, you can look up anything these days, but I feel , like I'm not going to cross the river.

Other agents might feel completely differently, but, I'm not going to Rockland. I'm not going to other [00:26:00] places. I'm going to stay where I know. And where is that? I just want to help them. Sure. So Yorktown, Putnam Valley, most of Westchester, low Westchester, I would probably refer to other agents.

Okay, great. Yeah, 

Rich L: because obviously you want the realtor to know all the great things about where somebody's looking to buy or sell, right? And 

Maureen C: it's a great time to be a seller. I mean, the inventory is down so much, but the prices are still up. Yeah. So if people are thinking about selling, do not hesitate.

Now is when you're going to do really well. We don't know what the future is going to bring. 

Rich L: And if somebody were potentially interested in selling their house, they interview realtors, but how do you come up with an approximate amount that you should probably list your house for? You come in, you view the house, you look at it, and then you look at comps, obviously.

But what's ultimately the deciding factor on what you're going to list the house for, 

Maureen C: Looking at the comps because you always want to make sure that the house is going to appraise. The majority of the buyers are going to be getting a mortgage, so you don't want to have the wrong price. And then that's disappointing for everybody if it doesn't appraise.

Lately, the appraisals are coming in. [00:27:00] And again, when you hire me, you're getting someone who has the experience and has seen most of the other houses. And I'm very good with the numbers. And then, , I give people a little book in the beginning, this kind of walks them through selling the house, it answers a lot of questions, but again, I feel like there's nothing that's gonna come up that I haven't, , experienced, and I tell people, the septic fails, , there's a leak, you found molds in the attic, and Some people will be, Oh my God, the whole deal is falling apart now.

I look at it as a bump in the road. Obviously, you don't want these things to happen, but everything is fixable. And I feel like I have a great, , group of contractors in every kind of field that can help them. And they're always like, wow, Maureen, you know, everybody, , even last minute, some people just can't get everything out of the house.

I've walkthrough, I go two days before and I'm like. You didn't empty the cabinets yet? And it's an older person. He, , really didn't want to do it. He was putting it off, putting it off, putting it off. I have this great guy. 

John Brennan. It's called J. K. Junk. And he's been a godsend. People love him. He'll come to the house. He'll squeeze me in. Come with a truck. He starts taking things [00:28:00] out. He has a whole crew. And, , it's just something That has to be done sometimes. And 

Rich L: that's all your connections. So that's why you would want to hire.

So speaking of that, how can somebody reach out to you? How do they get in touch with you? 

Maureen C: Sure. So I'm everywhere. People laugh all the time. I'll run into people in the store, you know, anywhere I am. And they'll be like, I think I've seen your face somewhere. I know your name, Maureen Connelly. So, you know, my number, 914 419 6251.

You can text, I have a great website. , I'm very easy to find. And I'd say the 75 percent of my people, , come from other people, but I got a lot of random calls where I was looking up agents and I chose you because. , I saw your presence and then once they meet me, usually I get the listing and I love it.

Like I said, great. 

Rich L: Awesome. Well, thank you very much. Thank you for inviting me. Yeah. This is a lot of fun. I always say it's always a pleasure to work with clients who want help, , and it's the same thing with you. I'm sure where the worst thing that can happen is somebody sits down with you and goes over things and then you never hear from them again.

And those are the people you don't want to. And usually I always hear from 

Maureen C: them, like people be like, [00:29:00] I met you two years ago and I held onto your card and my manager laughs. She's like, only you, Maureen, , and again, people can ask me to give a market analysis and I'm not the type that's going to be like, I have the sign in the car, I'm ready to put the lock box on the door.

So I'm here. That's not me at all. It's a relationship and you can have me come in and then two years from now we can talk again. , it's good to have somebody in your back pocket that you know is really going to help you. 

Rich L: Absolutely. Well, thank you very much again. For coming in and sharing your wealth of knowledge and with our viewers and Please folks, don't forget , to check out , our latest podcast where we talk to financial experts about different fields.

We have several upcoming podcasts that we're going to be talking about we're going to be talking about why should you convert some of your traditional IRA into a Roth IRA. , and don't forget to please like, share and follow us on our Facebook page @EnRichLifePodcast

and we're also available on YouTube. We have a YouTube channel, EnRichLifePodcast, , where you can find all of our podcasts. Thanks very much, and I look [00:30:00] forward to, , seeing you soon.