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.

Featured Testimonials

Bob and Stacey F.

Bob and Stacey F.

We were referred to the Polakoff team by a family friend and we are so glad to have received that reference. From the moment we met Kim, Keen, and Mollie my wife and I were impressed with their professionalism, knowledge of the...
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Brian B.

Brian B.

"My wife and I worked with Patrick on multiple transactions. He has always been honest and treated us like we were important. We will definitely use him again and I would not hesitate to recommend Patrick to anyone looking for ...
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Robert K.

Robert K.

“Patrick has assisted our family with a sale and two purchases, and he provided a first-rate service each time. From assistance with engaging contractors to prepare our property for sale, to targeted assistance locating new pro...
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Monty F.

Monty F.

"Patrick worked with us for months searching for the right property. Being from out of town, we were fortunate to find someone as professional as Patrick. He was readily available to travel up and down the coast and Facetime a ...
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Kevin A.

Kevin A.

“Patrick was super helpful dealing with the entire home buying experience. This was my first time buying a home so I was expecting some unknowns, but Patrick made everything clear and was friendly answering all my small questio...
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Sue L.

Sue L.

"Patrick Ambrose was exceptional to work with in finding a beach home for us. He is professional and knowledgeable about the area. Once we found the home we wanted, Patrick and his firm made it easy to finalize the deal. That i...
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Amy S.

Amy S.

We had an awesome experience working with Kim and Keen. Very professional and attentive. I highly recommend them for your real estate needs!
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Sunshine M.

Sunshine M.

Keen and Kim Polakoff are just the best. They are a great team and they know their business. I would/will not hesitate to ask for their help and expertise in Anything/Everything related to real estate.
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Martin H.

Martin H.

Keen and his team did an awesome job handling our investment purchase in the Santa Rosa Beach area. Keen was on top of all aspects of the process from start to completion and has continued to assist after the closing.
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Jon L.

Jon L.

Kim and Keen's knowledge, professionalism, and responsiveness are very impressive. Every member of their team goes above and beyond and I would highly recommend them to anyone looking to buy or sell on the Emerald Coast.
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