Seller's Guide

A Step-by-Step 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.

Our Testimonials

Charles

Charles

The Khrista Jarvis Team is phenomenal. They embody “Team” in every sense of the word with a crew that is top notch. Hands down the best home sale experience I have ever had. You have restored my faith in the real estate profess...
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Julie V.

Julie V.

I am so glad I chose Khrista and her team to sell my home! Their expertise is second to none; I truly believe they are the best in the business. My experience selling my home with them was smooth and positive throughout. I woul...
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Pranav P.

Pranav P.

Nicole and Khrista’s team is great. We listed our house with them recently, they walked us through the process. They were very responsive during the execution of the same. Their team helped coordinate the agencies required pre ...
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Brittany R.

Brittany R.

Laura, and the Khrista Jarvis Team, were supportive, responsive and extremely knowledgable during the selling and purchasing of our homes. We were guided each step of the way. We were pleasantly surprised at all that that was o...
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Nelson S.

Nelson S.

Khrista and her team did a super job. From listing information to promotional materials and how best to show your home. But best of all she is a negotiator and that's what you really need to sell a house. Not just someone who w...
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Ashley F.

Ashley F.

I highly recommend Nicole and her team. I started working with Nicole several years ago. Nicole produces results. She sold our home quickly and over asking. She is responsive, professional, a go-getter and always gets me the be...
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Seller

Seller

Nicole Jung and her team are true professionals and handled every aspect of our San Ramon home sale with flawless execution. They arranged cosmetic touches and repairs, packing and moving our belongings, cleaning, staging and m...
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Seller

Seller

Khrista and her team were extremely professional in counseling me on what to do related to the sale of my home. She did her research and recommended a listing price that I felt was fair but aggressive. Her knowledge of the mark...
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Jose R.

Jose R.

We partnered with Khrista Jarvis and her team to sell our home in Alamo this summer. It was a difficult period and we can't be more satisfied with the outcome, all thanks to Khrista and team. They were very professional, respon...
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Yang

Yang

Nicole and her team are great! Very professional and helpful, always willing to step out of their way to make sure we get the help needed. Nicole is a very experienced and detail oriented agent, thanks to her professional sugge...
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Jee

Jee

Working with Nicole Jung and her team at Khrista Jarvis team has been the main reason I was able to get into my new dream home. With multiple offers knocking on the door I knew I had to work with Nicole for her network, experti...
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Julie H.

Julie H.

After interviewing the top producing agents in Alamo, Khrista Jarvis is by far in a class of her own! Her preparation and presentation was not only outstanding but more importantly she was able to deliver beyond our expectation...
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Buyer

Buyer

I am so happy to tell anyone about how amazing Nicole Jung and her team have been to work with! It was a terrible time for us to buy a house but we had decided that we needed to. A friend recommended that I speak with Nicole, a...
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