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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.
Nicky N.

Nicky N.

My husband and I bought property in Montana from Joszie. She cares for her clients to make sure she finds you the right place that you're looking for. She has great knowledge of the surrounding areas and was very responsive to ...
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Mike F.

Mike F.

I purchased land in Montana. Joszie was my agent; she was very knowledgeable about everything and helped me find what I was looking for. If you're looking to purchase a home or land, I recommend Joszie as an agent. She was wond...
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Brett P.

Brett P.

My experience with Joszie was amazing. She looked for hours to help me find the right home and even helped with finding a great lender. She would also answer any questions I had for her at any time. She is super friendly and ve...
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Seller

Seller

Joszie Driear was our real estate agent in 2017 when we were selling our house in Harrison, Montana. She took great initiative to help us through this daunting process, regularly checking in on us to make sure the sale would go...
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Buyer

Buyer

Joszie Driear has been great to work with. She is very low-pressure and very knowledgeable of the market. She was extremely helpful with any questions and stayed persistent in helping me over a period of almost 2 years of searc...
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Buyer

Buyer

Joszie is fantastic. She assisted our family through multiple transactions, both buying and selling properties. She is professional and caring and made sure we were taken care of during the whole process, from looking at proper...
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Seller

Seller

Joszie is not only very professional but also very thoughtful with our concerns. I would highly recommend her. She always gets back to me right away when I call or text her.
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Charles K.

Charles K.

Joszie Driear was so awesome to work with! As a first-time home buyer, she made things super easy and efficient! She is very knowledgeable about the market, the people, and what it takes to make the sale run smoothly. She was a...
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Christi B.

Christi B.

Joszie is wonderful to work with when buying and selling your home. She made an exciting and stressful time seamless for us. She is kind, patient, knowledgeable, and willing to help every step of the way. Joszie helped to expla...
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Buyer

Buyer

Jozie was extremely easy and helpful to work with. She went the extra mile to contact other agents, buyers, mortgage, and mortgage insurance companies to coordinate the process so that it went smoothly. Her husband was also ver...
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Mick

Mick

Jason and his wife are amazing! They helped me get into my dream house surrounded by mountains. Jason and his wife remembered me from many months prior. They listened to my dream of one day living in the mountains. They contact...
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Clare J.

Clare J.

We loved working with Jozie and Jason! As first-time home buyers, they answered all the questions one could possibly ask and handled it like champs! They were flexible with changing needs/plans and always made sure we were up t...
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How much is your Santa Monica home worth?

  • Instant property valuation
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How Much is Your Home Worth?

  • INSTANT PROPERTY VALUATION
  • EXPERT ADVICE
  • SELL FOR MORE

Personalized Guidance. Proven Results

We listen, advise, and advocate for our clients with a focus on integrity, local expertise, and long-term relationships that extend far beyond the transaction.

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