Sellers

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

Freddie

Freddie

Kathy is awesome, funny, and very professional. When she says she will get something done, she will strive to do so. She succeeded in selling our house very quickly. I would recommend her if you are selling or buying a property...
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Jim H.

Jim H.

Kathy just sold our home recently during this real estate market downswing at the best price that we could get. She and her team have worked very hard for us. She is prompt, hardworking, and patient and has a good understanding...
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Chris H.

Chris H.

As a first-time buyer, things can be scary and stressful. Kathy made sure I felt comfortable, stress-free, and well-informed. She helped to make sure I was getting the home I wanted and treated me like family. Even after my off...
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Margaret F.

Margaret F.

Kathy was a pleasure to work with during the recent listing and sale of my home. From our first meeting I was impressed with her professionalism and organization, I could tell that she had done her homework prior to our meeting...
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Cynthia R.

Cynthia R.

We are so happy we went with Kathy as our REALTOR. She is caring, knowledgeable, professional, and an absolute joy to be around. She assured us and made us feel comfortable from the beginning to the end, and went above and beyo...
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Lina L.

Lina L.

Kathy is the best. I cannot thank her enough. Our family relocated for work to Boston, I left the key to Kathy, and that's it. She helped clean up, patch up, and paint, managed to put the property on the market, and in less tha...
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Nate A.

Nate A.

Kathy is a true real estate professional. I've known Kathy for years and have always been the one who treats her clients the best. Trust me, some REALTORS can be interesting. Kathy is always on top of the real estate market so ...
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Ken R.

Ken R.

My wife and I had thoughts of selling our home for 16 years, we made some improvements over the years, and so we decided to call Kathy Zajac Real Estate to guide us through the process. After that first visit, we were so amazed...
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Chip M.

Chip M.

In this very rapidly moving sellers' market, we wanted to purchase a new home. We were concerned about purchasing a new home with no sales contingency as most sellers would not accept a contingency. We met with Kathy prior to m...
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Connie L.

Connie L.

Kathy made the whole process of selling my deceased parent's house seamless and easy. She handled everything concerning the trust instructions and went above and beyond what we expected of a REALTOR. Miss Zajac is a very capabl...
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Christina M.

Christina M.

Kathy and her staff went above and beyond to make the sale of our house happen. We had some hiccups along the way but we always felt well taken care of and trusted that Kathy and her team would see us through. Everything was ...
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We offer ultimate privacy and security, speed, and efficiency. Our years of full-time experience have given us a clear understanding of the mindset of home buyers and sellers and a thorough understanding of the regional marketplace. Contact us today!

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