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 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.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
"Kelly and her team did an excellent job at walking us through how they came up with our listing price. They then also did a fantastic job at making sure everything went smoothly with the purchase of our new home. I've already referred one person to Kelly and her team and will not hesitate to refer more! I feel as though my family and I made friends for life rather than just finding a realtor."

— Gina L.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Kelly and Team were absolutely amazing! Everyone we had the pleasure of working with throughout the process on the team was extremely welcoming and knowledgeable. They made our home buying process a breeze. Their availability or flexibility to show homes at times that fit our schedule was an absolute plus. They were always available for any questions we had and communication throughout the whole process ...

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Kelly and her team were very helpful and very quick to show me any house I was looking at. They did a great job giving me advice and helped me with any of the questions that I had about the properties. The process was smooth and they were able to get me any information quickly and correctly. Using Kelly and her team will give you the edge that you will need for all the new houses that hit the market. The...

— Jonathan S.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Kelly and her team were a pleasure to work with. They showed us tons of homes, and they were always able to make it happen quickly, which is huge in today's market. Whenever I had questions, Kelly was always there to help even at the late hours of the day. Kelly and her team exceeded all our expectations! I would highly recommend her to anyone looking to purchase a new home.

— Daniel S.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Words cannot describe how helpful Justine has been through our whole buying and selling experience. She went above and beyond to help us out when any ordinary Realtor® would have gone "that's not my job". I can and will recommend her to anyone and everyone looking for a house. I would like to thank her from the bottom of my heart for the amazing service she has provided.

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Justine went above and beyond! She was such a pleasure during every show we went to and so patient with us as we saw house after house! If it wasn't for her we wouldn't have found our dream home and we appreciate all the work that went into making it happen! Even when things went wrong last minute, Justine was right there to save the day! 10 out of 10 would recommend!

— Anastasia Z.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Nicole is amazing. She had such a thorough process with my home buying experience, to make sure I found exactly what I wanted. She answered all of my questions and if she didn't know the answer, she found it out quickly and efficiently. I felt very well taken care of, she was amazing during the offer and negotiation process. I will definitely use her again!

— Maddie G.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Justine was great to work with. She was very knowledgeable about the whole home buying process, which was extremely helpful as first-time homebuyers. She helped us find our perfect home. We look forward to working with her again should we decide to buy again in the future.

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Fiona was top-notch! She helped my fiancé and me close on our house within weeks of our first showing. Her knowledge of the market, attention to detail on our needs, and quick responsiveness helped us land our home. I would recommend her to anyone looking to buy or sell.

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
I'm a first-time homebuyer. Without Fiona's help, I would not get my home. My first lender was making it very difficult to get approved with the help of Fiona and her connections I was able to get the house I wanted. Thank You Fiona my family and I are home now.

— Xiong L.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Professional, prompt, courteous. Easy to get along with. Navigated me through my first home purchase without a hiccup even after having the closing date moved up a couple of weeks. Introduced me to my lender and worked closely with them. Highly recommend.

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Allie is very personable and easy to work with. She always got back to us promptly for any questions we had. She is a ball of energy. She is a cheerleader, a consoler, and a tremendous worker. We really felt she was always in our corner! Thank you, Allie.

— David S.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Nicole was very accommodating with our schedule, and a pleasure to work with. Her professionalism, knowledge, ability to respond quickly gave us confidence in our home search. We will be recommending her to our family and friends going forward.

— Josh A.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
I mostly worked with Justine who is absolutely amazing! She always advocated for what was in my best interest, is incredibly honest, and is so fun to work with. The whole Davies team is fantastic and I can’t recommend them enough!

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Fiona was great to work with! She is exceptionally knowledgeable about the market and was able to get us a full-price offer on our house within a week of listing. We highly recommend Fiona to anyone looking to buy or sell!

— Allie

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
The entire team at Kelly Davies is absolutely amazing! They helped us at every step of the way to find our first home, and were always very quick to answer any questions or concerns we had! We cannot recommend them enough!

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Bryanna was a fantastic help at finding potential places for my Girlfriend and me. She managed to meet every detail with every property we looked at. She was quick to respond always down-to-earth and honest with you.

— Buyer | Seller

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Extremely helpful and very knowledgeable Helped the entire process, as a first-time buyer I wasn’t sure what to fully expect and Nicole was extremely helpful and patient and answered every single question I had.

— Jonathon A.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Very knowledgeable about the industry especially with the crazy market right now! Great to work with and always has a positive attitude! Fiona knows a lot about homes and their potential downside of them.

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
I really enjoyed working with Fiona, she has always been upbeat and honest. She answered all our concerns with anything. Our purchase has been very smooth. She is a doll.

— Buyer

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