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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 team of real estate agents 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 team of real estate agents once you choose one so they 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 team of real estate agents is the best way to determine the right selling price for your home. A team of real estate agents 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

We 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. Our 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 team of real estate agents.

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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. We 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 team of real estate agents 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

Christopher T.

Christopher T.

Frank made everything amazingly simple and easy. For someone who had no knowledge of real estate and buying a home, he walked me step by step and checked in with me often to make sure he answered any and all questions. He works...
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Janel C.

Janel C.

As a first-time Home Buyer, we needed a Realtor who communicated well and regularly every step of the way and that is exactly what Frank did. He listened to what our needs were, had the knowledge and understanding of the housin...
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Tiffany G.

Tiffany G.

My parents Mr. Nick Green and his wife Beverly Green used him in selling their home that they recently renovated. They have nothing but positive things to say about how responsive, professional, and dedicated he was. Working wi...
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Dee H.

Dee H.

If you’re thinking about going with Frank and the team. Just do it! I promise you won’t find a harder-working or more genuine person to help your family with the home-buying process. Frank is always reachable via phone, email, ...
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Amanda H.

Amanda H.

Our family has known Frank for years. He is a great realtor and person. He is an expert at what he does and we learned so much from him. He is a trusted advisor for all his clients. He guided us through our first-time home-buyi...
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Itzia J.

Itzia J.

5 stars!
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Monica H.

Monica H.

Was a great experience!
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Robert B.

Robert B.

Loved working with Frank, took the time to explain everything very well and helped us find our dream home.
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Joyce

Joyce

Frank is fantastic to partner with. Easy going. Polite, friendly, and knows the real estate business.
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Stew G.

Stew G.

Frank was awesome! He did comps for me. Then he and his team decided that we should go for more. The day that the listing hit was crazy with 2 over ask offers in less than 12 hours. Closed easy peasy with Frank present and runn...
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Crystal A.

Crystal A.

There are no words for this star realty team! Eight years ago his momma sold us our home. Fast forward 8 years and we need to sell due to relocation. I contacted Ms. Emily to tell her what was going on with our new adventure. S...
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July S.

July S.

Let me first start off by saying he's not your average realtor. He took his time to help guide us through the home-buying process and treated us like family. Even my kids thought he was amazing and called him Uncle Frank when w...
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Terri N.

Terri N.

Frank was amazing to work with when we sold our house! He was always quick to respond to questions and address concerns. He marketed our house beautifully and did a great job grabbing attention for our open house. Our home sold...
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Maria G.

Maria G.

First-time homeowner, Frank and his team made this a great experience. We have a big family, and picking a forever home was not easy. He catered to our family's needs really well and had great houses to show us. We instantly fe...
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Elizabeth C.

Elizabeth C.

Frank was absolutely wonderful to work with. As a first-time home buyer, the process can seem really daunting and overwhelming. Frank did everything he possibly could to curb these feelings. He took all of our home requirements...
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Debbie S.

Debbie S.

Our family is so grateful we chose to work with Frank and Emily! They were so helpful every step of the way. We had previously almost bought a home with a realtor and would have really been messed over! The second experience wa...
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Kevin D.

Kevin D.

I'm very happy I had Frank Herman as my realtor! He is friendly, knowledgeable, and very responsive. He made buying my first home a much easier process. I was impressed with how he was able to find houses and get a string of sh...
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Kyle H.

Kyle H.

Frank made our home-buying process easy and understandable. He put so much effort and time into helping us find our home. He is available any time of the day! Which is so nice when you have a family and working schedule. I love...
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Brian W.

Brian W.

Frank is a master at his craft. From the initial consultation to post-closing, he is very thorough and upfront. Frank will sit down with the buyer and listen to all of their concerns and they begin to come up with a strategy. W...
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Justin H.

Justin H.

5-star Co-op!
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Whether you are first-time home buyer, relocating, moving-up, or downsizing, we’re here to help you from Contract-to-Close.

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