Seller's Guide

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 REALTOR® 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. We 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 we deem the offer is acceptable, we 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, we 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. We 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 REALTOR® 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.

Testimonials

Jordan R.

Jordan R.

Sal and his team were incredible. They are diligent professionals and problem-solvers and take the time to make sure clients get what they need. Would recommend them to anyone!
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Cam L.

Cam L.

Sal and his team are the best you could ask for. We have had a wonderful experience working with Sal and his team. From start to finish, they have helped us buy in Florida and CT, and will recommend them to my family and friends.
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Maria R.

Maria R.

Great experience working with a team of professionals! Took away many stresses. Great attention to detail to ensure our purchase of an out-of-state Florida home came true. I highly recommend it! Thanking you all again for makin...
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Keith R.

Keith R.

Sal and his team were available when we needed them, this included evenings and weekends. They were patient answering many questions and walking us through the process and ultimately helped us get our offer accepted for our dre...
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Marc F.

Marc F.

Sal and the team are amazing advisors and high-value add contributors to our real estate journey. We have had the pleasure of partnering with Sal and his team on purchasing our primary and vacation homes, and find ourselves app...
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Joanna S.

Joanna S.

I moved from CT to FL this summer. They had their fingers on the phone and computer whenever I had a question or needed a document. Sal was just amazing! Florida was just a thought, Sal guided me to my dream. Sal was with me ev...
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Sara A.

Sara A.

The best experience a client could have. Professional, timely, consistently keeping me informed, always available for questions, and very personable. It was clear from the beginning that they were working to have my purchase do...
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Jessica D.

Jessica D.

Salvatore and Luisa were our very best friends through the home-buying process. They were recommended to us by a colleague and we could not have done better. As first time home buyers, we had a MILLION questions and they were a...
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J. Thomas

J. Thomas

Words can't describe how grateful my family and I are for Sal and Luisa. They took their time to make sure we understood everything and that we were comfortable throughout the entire process. Not only were they amazing professi...
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Craig D.

Craig D.

In a field that can be confusing and a purchase that is likely the biggest one you'll ever make, I cant thank Sal and his team enough for guiding me through the entire process. He is super knowledgeable and just has a gift for ...
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Biomich

Biomich

Sal helped my wife and I purchase our first house in 2013 and he made the whole experience very enjoyable and pain free. We actually saved money using Sal and I would highly recommend him to anyone seeking to find a great dedic...
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B Goldstein

B Goldstein

Sal and his team did a great job with 2 home purchases and 3 re-finances from 1999 to 2013. Never missed a closing, support staff very helpful, follows up on every detail.
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Lisa D.

Lisa D.

As first time home buyers, my husband and I needed someone who would take the time to walk us through every step of the process. After receiving many referrals from friends and family for Sal, we knew we were picking the best! ...
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