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 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 Real Estate Agent 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

I 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. My 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. I will evaluate each offer and make sure the party making the offer is pre-approved by a mortgage lender, has proof of funds, 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

We will review the proposed offer to purchase 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, closing date. When both parties have agreed to the terms, a final contract will be prepared by your attorney and sent out to the buyers' attorney for signature. The seller then countersigns. 

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Step 7: Get Ready to Close

You are now very close to the end of your selling journey. In some cases, your home may need to be appraised. In other cases, major or minor repairs will need to be made before the house can close. A few days before the closing date, there will be a walkthrough. You also need to make arrangements to move out of the home and leave any items agreed upon in the contract 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. You will meet with your attorney to sign the final paperwork and go over any issues that have not yet been taken care of. You can also make plans 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. You should prepare a list of Service Providers and vendors who have helped maintain your home for the new buyer.

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.

Testimonials

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  • Jackie guided us thru the process of selling our house of 44 years. She was open, honest in evaluating it, and firm about what we had to do: get rid of everything we would no longer need in our down-sized space, remove the clutter. She helped us find our next home while transitioning out of our old home. She honored all of our questions, gave straight answers and gained our trust. We felt confident that we were in good, experienced hands. Whatever we needed house inspection, lawyer, supplier for window replacement, etc. she had several ready recommendations. We appreciated the care in presenting our house in a most appealing way. Her physical presen...
    — Pam and Bob
  • We have used Jackie Hammock on three separate real estate transactions, and we have been extremely pleased with how she has represented our interests. Her expertise in both the selling and purchasing sides of our transactions was very much appreciated. She is a true professional!
    — Seller
  • We met Jackie 11 years ago when we were living in NYC and house hunting in Greenwich. We met her at an open house and I knew she was the broker for us! She knows the area inside out both as a professional and as a mother and most recently a grandmother. She is patient and most of all not "pushy". Last year, when we decided to move to a larger house, Jackie was our first call. Buying a home is such a stressful process, but Jackie helped us navigate the waters and provided helpful insights along the way. Jackie is also a shrewd negotiator but she has a calm drama free demeanor, which is refreshing and most welcome during the stressful house hunting/bu...
    — Buyer
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Jackie is dedicated to assisting you in finding the ideal house. Allow her to be your advisor to profitable real estate investments! Call her today and discover what she can do for you.

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Jackie Hammock

Phone

(203) 561-0690

Email

[email protected]

Address

66 Field Point Rd. Greenwich, CT 06830-6473

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