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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Justin V

I could not possibly recommend Amanda more. To me, there's five things you want in an agent: to be knowledgeable about the market, to be on top of the details, to be thoughtful about process, to be pleasant to work with (inclu...

Sam F.

Amanda is a fantastic realtor. She was great under tremendous pressure from a really difficult seller's agent. She is exactly the right kind of person to have as your agent.

Mohammad A.

Amanda made buying our first house a very pleasant experience. She also helped us find our rental in the Chicagoland area. Her responsiveness and communication not only helped with the logistics of the transaction, but also mad...

Judy D.

Amanda was great! Very professional and kind. We were moving in from another state and felt very secure having Amanda helping us. It had been a long time since we moved so her help was welcomed and so valuable.

Joe D.

Amanda did a tremendous job from start to finish on relocating us from the Chicago suburbs to northeast Florida. She was there every step of the way and even attended our home inspection on our behalf. Amanda made the entire pr...

Jacob

Amanda was great to deal with! We had a difficult seller but Amanda always swooped in to save the day. She wisely kept my negative reactions to ourselves and was able to get what we needed from the sellers. She speaks softly bu...

Eli T.

Amanda is great! Very pleasant to work with and extremely reliable and knowledgeable! I highly recommend!

Awele U.

Amanda helped me find the perfect apartment in Chicago while I was moving from Boston. It was a big leap to trust her given I couldn’t physically tour apartments but she got me virtual tours and connected me with building staff...

Susi S.

Outstanding experience. We had a wonderful experience with Amanda. She was incredibly responsive and supportive of our needs. Finding a home when you live 1200 miles away is very stressful and has many challenges. Amanda took t...

William M.

I had gone through the wringer with these two agents and traveled 8 times to Florida. I was about to walk away from looking when a friend had given Amanda Legault's number. I explained my situation to her and within one month w...

Edward B.

Her knowledge and precision for detail are uncanny. Her attention to detail is only matched by her follow-up skills and leaving no stone unturned in her profession. My experience with Amanda made my home-buying process smooth a...

Susan D.

First-time home buyer thanks to Amanda LeGault. Amanda was wonderful. She explained the process, took the time to show me countless properties, and steered me to all the right people. It is a tough time to find the "right" plac...

Dimitri N.

In one word, Amanda is Awesome. Working with Amanda was a true pleasure. She helped my wife and me find the perfect home when the Tampa market was on fire. She was always a step ahead and always available. She is calm, resource...