Preparation is the part of a sale you control completely. There is a lot you can do before the photographs are taken that shows up in the offer. Most of it is cheap, and some of it is only time.
Curb appeal
The first look happens from the road, or on a phone screen, and you do not get it back. Keep the landscaping tight and the driveway clear.
Out here that also means the salt-facing side of the house. Rinse the salt off the windows so the view actually reads in photographs. Check the deck boards and railings, the outdoor shower, the dune walkover. Sun and salt are hard on all of it, and a gray, splintered walkover tells a buyer the house has not been kept up, whether or not that is true.
Repairs
Small things first: sticking windows, a fresh coat of paint in the rooms you use most, doorknobs and hinges that work. Then the coastal short list, which is the one buyers here actually check.
- Rusted hardware and fasteners. Visible corrosion reads as deferred maintenance whether or not it is.
- Screens and the outdoor envelope. Siding, soffits, flashing, screening. Coastal weathering is expected; unaddressed coastal weathering gets negotiated.
- HVAC in salt air. Corroded coils and disconnects, and the service records to go with them.
- Mildew and moisture. The north side, and anywhere the crawl space stays damp.
- Decks, stairs and railings. Soft spots, loose boards, rusted connectors. On an elevated house these get looked at first and are the most expensive to be wrong about.
- Under the house. Loose skirting or lattice, and the pilings themselves. Buyers here look under the house. So do inspectors.
Cleanliness and staging
Uncluttered, well lit, and it should not smell like anything. Skip the cinnamon rolls — nobody is fooled, and it reads as covering something up. Put the litter box away, get the carpets cleaned, and get the sand out of the corners.
If it is a beach house, let it look like one. Clean and simple beats decorated. Clear the counters, put the personal photographs away, and open every blind facing the water. I will walk the property before we list and tell you what I would change.
Disclosures
North Carolina puts most of this on paper. Most residential sellers have to give the buyer two completed statements before the buyer makes an offer: the Residential Property and Owners’ Association Disclosure Statement, and the one-page Mineral and Oil and Gas Rights statement. Some transfers are exempt.
I will explain what each form is for and how the process of completing it works. Answer them accurately and from your own knowledge — they are your statements rather than mine. Separately from whatever you put on those forms, I have my own obligation as a broker to disclose material facts about the property that I know or reasonably should know.
The property statement lets an owner answer “no representation” to most questions. That is a real option rather than a loophole, and it is worth understanding what it does and does not do before choosing it — including that it does not change my obligation.
The timing is the part people get wrong. If the statements are not delivered before the offer, the buyer gains a right to cancel, and a cancellation that late costs everybody the weeks already spent. Completing them early is the cheapest risk you will ever retire.
Documents worth having ready
A coastal buyer and their advisers will ask for more than an inland buyer will. Every item below is easier to find now than in the middle of a due diligence period with a clock running, and having it ready is worth real money in the negotiation.
- Flood zone information, and the elevation certificate if one exists
- Current insurance premiums and declarations, including wind and hail, and the deductible
- Any storm damage and the repairs that followed, with permits and final inspections
- Association dues and rules, and any assessment already voted or discussed
- Septic permit and pumping records, or water and sewer account details
- Dock, boat lift, bulkhead and CAMA permits
- Survey or plat, and anything recorded that affects the boundary or access
- Two or three years of rental income and occupancy, and any lease with its deposit records
- Service records and warranties for the roof and the HVAC
A pre-listing termite and pest inspection may be worth considering, depending on the property’s age, condition and circumstances. Knowing early is usually easier than finding out during due diligence.
If the property is a vacation rental
North Carolina’s Vacation Rental Act governs what happens to bookings when a rental property changes hands, and it is worth understanding before you list rather than after you are under contract.
In broad terms, a vacation rental agreement that ends within 180 days after the transfer is recorded generally passes to the new owner, who has to honor it. Agreements running beyond that window are treated differently, and whether they survive depends on what the new owner agrees to in writing.
The Act also sets out what the seller has to disclose to the buyer, the notice that has to reach the tenants, the booking information that has to be handed over, and how advance rent and deposits are transferred or returned. The deadlines are specific and the responsibilities are shared between seller, buyer and agent.
That is a summary of the statute rather than advice about your situation. If there are bookings on the calendar, tell me early and we will work through it with your closing attorney before it turns into a scheduling problem.
Showings
I coordinate showing access — the instructions a visiting agent gets, how appointments are scheduled, and the feedback afterwards, which I will pass on to you straight. Buyers talk more freely when the owner is not in the house, so I would rather you were not there.
If the property is rented, we will plan around the calendar early — which dates are showable, how much notice tenants get, and whether we list in season or wait. That is a conversation worth having before the sign goes up, not after.
Marketing
Before launch, we’ll establish a property-specific photography, video and online-marketing plan based on the property and its likely buyer.
What that plan includes depends on the property, the season and who is most likely to buy it. I would rather decide it with the house in front of us than promise you a package that does not suit it.
Where this comes from
- NCREC — sellers must provide two disclosure statements (opens in a new tab)
- NCREC — a broker’s duty to disclose material facts (opens in a new tab)
- N.C. General Statutes § 42A-19 — transfer of vacation rental property (opens in a new tab)
General information about how a North Carolina residential sale usually works, not legal, tax or financial advice. Every property and every contract is different. Your closing attorney is the right person to ask about your own transaction.