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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 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.

Our Testimonials

See why our clients love working with us.
Bob & Kim J.

Bob & Kim J.

We have sold several homes and real estate over the years and have dealt with many realtors. Courtney was the best we have ever had dealings with, and we highly recommend her. We have given her five stars in every category and ...
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Pat G.

Pat G.

Christy is very knowledgeable and very pleasant to work with. She was very willing to show us homes in many areas of the county. We would be very happy to recommend her.
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Buyer

Buyer

Christy is a great agent! She and her team were very willing to accommodate us. She put herself in our shoes on every decision. She brought a level of excitement for the process that was refreshing.
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Rebecca A.

Rebecca A.

Alison is fantastic to work with. Very knowledgeable about the local market, and is really responsive to calls and questions. The best decision I've made to list with Alison. I look forward to working with her in the future.
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Charland J.

Charland J.

If you want the best deal for your home, contact Alison. She is a skilled professional who knows the market and works hard for her clients. In our opinion, Alison and her team are the very best!
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Jake Z.

Jake Z.

I am the VP of Sales for a mid-cap company, so I understand the complexities that come up during negotiations, buyers, sellers, etc. This process is not only about getting top dollar for a home or finding a great home, but havi...
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Leslie L.

Leslie L.

Alison is the quintessential businesswoman. She exudes confidence and professionalism. She does whatever it takes to create the essence of your home and markets that in all the best ways, using every tool in her arsenal! As a b...
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Buyer

Buyer

This was our third transaction with Alison. Two buying, one selling. We took a lot of Alison's time over the course of a year, finding the right fit for our home. She was always highly responsive and made time for us. During th...
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Bob M.

Bob M.

Courtney is a professional. She made our purchase very enjoyable. It is not easy trying to purchase a home when you live a good distance away from the area you are looking to buy in. Courtney was always available to answer ques...
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Buyer

Buyer

My husband and I have been looking in the Low Country for nearly 3 years. We live in New York, so navigating this process of finding exactly where we wanted to be and having very limited time to look would have been impossible ...
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Patti R.

Patti R.

Alison swiftly assisted us in finding our dream home. She is highly experienced, knowledgeable, and conducts herself in a very professional manner. She is extremely assertive with excellent communication throughout the entire p...
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Seller

Seller

Alison Melton has been our real estate agent twice in 2018 and now in 2021. Alison is extremely professional, very knowledgeable, and able, and provided us both times with Excellent customer service. I would highly recommend he...
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Kelley and Casey W

Kelley and Casey W

Courtney was a pleasure to work with and made our rocky purchase a breeze! Extremely kind, knowledgeable, informative on the process, but most of all- PATIENT with me and not Pushy! Her insight and guidance made a huge differen...
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 Frances and Jack D

Frances and Jack D

Courtney is an amazing person and a consummate professional. Her knowledge and her heart made me feel secure. She made what is normally a stressful and exhausting process actually exciting, helping me achieve a lifelong dream.
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Bubba and Lisa M

Bubba and Lisa M

Courtney was our agent when we were moving from Nashville to Richmond Hill. She was fantastic about keeping us informed throughout the process and made our transition very smooth. I highly recommend her, and I know that you wil...
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Tania S

Tania S

We bought our home with Courtney and had an amazing experience! She was knowledgeable, responsive, and guided us through every step with patience and care. Thanks to her, we found a home we absolutely love. Highly recommend!
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Gerri P.

Gerri P.

Courtney is professional. A good listener. She makes every effort to find the perfect home for her clients or buyers.
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Brian

Brian

Results, Results, Results! What a great selling experience we had with Courtney Heidik. Her knowledge of the area, the market, and the inventory of homes and expertise really was apparent. It was obvious that this team really k...
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Bob M.

Bob M.

Courtney is a professional. She made our purchase very enjoyable. It is not easy trying to purchase a home when you live a good distance away from the area you are looking to buy in. Courtney was always available to answer ques...
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Seller - Russ & Pennae J

Seller - Russ & Pennae J

After listing with a different agency for 6 months ( during Prime selling season) we were unsuccessful in even getting an offer. I had met Alison at a neighbors open house and decided that when our listing expired we would hire...
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The Agency is a boutique brokerage with a global reach, defined by our strength of character, rebellious spirit, and passion for reinvention. Breaking away from the traditional brokerage model, The Agency takes a collaborative approach to the business, offering boutique local services, a vast global network, creative marketing, and cutting-edge technology. After all, more of the same is never an option.

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