Sellers

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

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 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. 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 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
We were referred to Francesca by two other families that had hired her to buy/sell homes and we now understand their praise. Francesca is knowledgeable, flexible, and highly professional. She always offered her perspective (on price, staging, marketing, COVID safety, and the like) but ensured that we were comfortable with every decision. Her recommendations on pre-sale repairs were spot on saving us many...

— Buyer & Seller

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Chris helped us buy a new home. It took several months. We lost two in bidding scenarios and lost two during contracts or negotiations after having a signed purchase agreement. I cannot remember how many we looked at - it was a lot of properties! Chris had great patience through it all. He helped us find properties, including those on the private network; and he helped us vet potential properties to look...

— Buyer & Seller

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
As first-time homebuyers (during the crazy market of spring 2021), we could not have asked for a better Realtor®! Ross was always available to answer our endless questions in an easy-to-understand manner, quickly schedule showings as soon as houses were listed, and advocate for us in negotiations. Throughout the process, Ross made sure we understood what was happening and also remind us of what the next ...

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
We had been looking for 6 months prior to the meeting or working with Erin beginning in March 2021. We really appreciated Erin's availability and willingness to show us houses at any time, and help us find new places we did not previously think about. We put a few offers on different houses but lost due to the crazy 2021 housing market (and myself not wanting to overbid or settle). It was all for the bes...

— Brad D.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Stellar job! I worked with another Realtor® for a while, and that person was unable to secure a deal on the property I wanted. I contacted Sarah after releasing the other agent and had a deal on my desired property in less than a week. Sarah is extremely responsive, knowledgeable about the area/properties, and she works with one of the best offices/teams around. I also listed my house with her at the sam...

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Erin helped us in securing our new home. She was quick to respond to my wife and I's numerous questions. She was able to explain the steps along the way, and exceeded our expectations. She was able to answer questions about the neighborhood we were going into and helped us connect with the school for our daughters. We basically had no clue on what to do about how to transfer our daughter into the new sch...

— Buyer & Seller

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The DelBoccio | Marchetti Group's mission is to provide our clientele with the highest level of market expertise and high-tech communication to strategically execute and capitalize on all opportunities fulfilling the sophisticated vision set forth. Contact us today!