Seller's Guide

Everything you need to know about putting your home on the market, accepting an offer, and closing on your home.

A Step-by-Step First Time Seller's Guide

Putting your home on the market can be a stressful process, especially when you don’t know what to expect. Fortunately, with the help of an experienced agent and this easy to follow guide, you can smoothly complete the process. Following these steps will help you prepare so you can get organized and sell your home for the best price possible.​​​​​​​

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Step 1: Understand Why You're Selling

What do you want to accomplish with the sale of your home? Do you want to make a certain amount of money that you can put toward a larger or nicer home? Do you need to sell it as soon as possible to facilitate a move to a new city or area? Once you understand your needs, you can better craft your offer. For example, if you need to sell quickly, you might want to price your home lower than if your goal is to make a certain profit margin. Make sure you convey these needs to your real estate agent once you choose one so he or she can adjust your selling price accordingly.

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Step 2: Determine Selling Price

Knowing how to price your home is one of the most important parts of the selling process. When you set a fair price in the beginning, you’ll get the most interest from other real estate agents and prospective buyers. Overpricing your home could lead to reduced interest, and underpricing leads to receiving less than what your home is worth. Working with a real estate agent is the best way to determine the right selling price for your home. An agent with experience can determine what other comparable homes are selling for, evaluate the current market, and may even suggest a home appraisal.

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Step 3: Start Preparations

If you’ve kept your home in showroom condition since you’ve lived in it, you’re in the minority of homeowners. Once you price your home, it’s time to start getting it ready to be shown to potential buyers. This includes getting rid of clutter, depersonalizing the space so that buyers can envision themselves in the space, making any small repairs, and doing a deep clean to make sure your home is in pristine condition.

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Step 4: Develop a Marketing Strategy

I will develop a marketing strategy that is perfect for advertising your home. This involves listing the home and then driving the right people to that listing through social media campaigns, agent-to-agent referrals, traditional media, or SEO advertising. My team creates a marketing campaign that aims to get the most possible traffic to your listing in the first three weeks after becoming a client.

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Step 5: Evaluate Offers

Receiving an offer is an exciting part of the process, but it doesn’t mean the journey is over. I will evaluate each offer and make sure the party making the offer is prequalified or pre-approved by a mortgage lender and that their offer is acceptable to you. If the offer is too low, you can make a counter-offer or offer other ways to bridge the gap, such as covering some or all of the closing costs, making repairs, adjusting the move-in date, or leaving some appliances or fixtures for the new buyer.

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Step 6: Accept an Offer

Once I deem the offer is acceptable, I will review the proposed contract to make sure it’s all in order and includes the necessary components such as deposit amount, down payment, financing, inspection rights and repair allowances, contingencies, settlement date, and a list of fees and who will pay them. When both parties have agreed to the term, a final contract will be prepared by your agent.

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Step 7: Get Ready to Close

You have accepted an offer and are now very close to the end of your selling journey. But first, you and the buyer must make a list of what needs to be done before closing. In some cases, your home may need to be formally inspected, surveyed, and appraised. In other cases, major or minor repairs will need to be made before the house can close. I will head up efforts to develop and execute this list, get each action item paid for by the correct party, and make sure everything is in order by the closing date. A few days before the closing date, I will call the company closing the transaction to make sure everything is ready to go. If you haven’t done so already, you also need to make arrangements to move out of the home so the new buyer can take possession.

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Step 8: Close

You’ve reached the last step in the seller’s process. When you close on a home you are selling, you are legally transferring ownership of the property to the new buyer. I will meet with the company closing the transaction to sign the final paperwork and go over any issues that have not yet been taken care of. During this time, you can also make plans with your real estate agent to handle final details such as canceling utilities, cable, and lawn or trash services, changing the name on accounts that the new owner is retaining and ensuring the new owner has instructions for all appliances that will remain in the home.

Congratulations!

Once you have sold your home, you’re free to take the next step on your journey. Whether this is relocating to a new city, moving into a larger home, or downsizing and enjoying your life as empty-nesters, knowing all your selling responsibilities have been taken care of will help you achieve peace of mind for your new path.

Our Testimonials

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Ryan B.

Ryan B.

Melissa is one of the hardest working real estate agents in the area. We found her after we lost an offer when she was the seller’s agent on a previous home. I decided to contact her because I was impressed with her knowledge o...
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Natalie M.

Natalie M.

Melissa is very knowledgeable and is an expert in relocation. She has made the move for our family of six very seamless and has been extremely helpful with all aspects of relocating to an area that we are not familiar with. I a...
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Sue

Sue

From my first encounter with Melissa earlier this year, she has exhibited expertise, knowledge, professionalism, and genuine care. My initial encounter with Melissa was not planned but was meant to be. In working with her to se...
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Karie L.

Karie L.

Melissa was great. She provided a lot of industry knowledge and gave us great advice along the way. She was always responsive when we had questions too. I would highly recommend her to others.
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Claman C.

Claman C.

Melissa is remarkable. His breath of knowledge and savvy are incomparable. We have worked together over many years on four houses and all successfully, both buying and selling.
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Pepe

Pepe

Melissa has been in the real estate business for many years. She and Sarah, her team coordinator, were quick to respond to every question from day one to the settlement day. I highly recommend her if you are looking for an expe...
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Sandy L.

Sandy L.

Melissa was so knowledgeable and went above and beyond for us. We appreciated her making everything so easy. From the moment we first met we were at ease having her handle everything. She helped us buy a home and sell ours.
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Buyer & Seller

Buyer & Seller

During the purchasing process, Amy was excellent in every way. She is extremely knowledgeable about the area market and provided sensible guidance and advice to us every step of the process. She was quick to find new listings t...
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Gazda A.

Gazda A.

Mary Ann was very knowledgeable of the buying process and was willing to help with any of my needs. I would recommend Mary Ann to anyone searching for a new home.
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Sabitha R.

Sabitha R.

Kaylin did an outstanding job. We would love to work with her in the future to buy more houses. She has a lot of patience and explains clearly if we don’t understand something. I highly recommend that anyone who is willing to b...
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Jen Healy

Jen Healy

Sandy is the absolute best! So knowledgeable! Been in the business a long time and has contacts for everything you might need. Most of all she is a kind person and truly loves what she does. Her genuine excitement for us made t...
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Mike B.

Mike B.

I have purchased and sold dozens of homes with Sarah as my realtor. Sarah is always on top of all the details. She is a fantastic negotiator and has always strived to get the best result for me, her customer. Anytime I can, I r...
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Mina B.

Mina B.

Anna is a top notch real estate agent. She represented us on the sale of our home. She is incredibly knowledgeable about the market and how to best position your home to get the best offer. Her #1 asset is her communication ski...
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