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.

Our Testimonials

Veronica S.

Veronica S.

The Tello Team helped us to do a short sale on our property and then to find a rental. They are very knowledgeable and explain the process in a way that is easy to understand. Natascha will promptly respond to any questions we ...
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Melissa L.

Melissa L.

I am very perplexed about any review less than five stars for this team. The Tello Team helped us with two short sales plus the purchase of our current home we live in now. My husband and I appreciated all that they did and wou...
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Lazaro D.

Lazaro D.

There are not enough stars for this Tag Team. They helped me find the house that I thought was out of my reach Reachable, I am forever grateful to them and their team.
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Sharon S.

Sharon S.

I have to agree that there are not enough stars for this Tag Team! We have used them 3 times and the people I have sent have been just as happy with them. They are honest (hard to find) and really care about you finding or sell...
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Buyer

Buyer

The Realtors we worked with were very helpful and committed to finding us the right home. They were very conscious of our wants and needs. The office team was also very helpful and attentive. They were quick in responding to an...
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Seller

Seller

The Tello Team covers South Florida with a cohesive network of professional real estate experts and support staff. They were very helpful in getting our home ready, listed, and shown quickly - we had quite a few hits in the fir...
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Buyer

Buyer

Two Thumbs Up for The Tello Team! The Tello Team found us our dream home and negotiated an amazing deal on our behalf. They were patient and answered the millions of questions we had. I would highly recommend them to anyone loo...
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Fernando A.

Fernando A.

Thanks! You guys are the best! Very professional, knew how to handle situations and solve all the issues that arose during the process. I will use you for all my real estate transactions.
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Christine E.

Christine E.

The Tello Team helped us to do a short sale on our property and then to find a rental. They are very knowledgeable and explain the process in a way that is easy to understand. Natascha will promptly respond to any questions we ...
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Buyer

Buyer

I was looking to buy my first house here in Pembroke Pines. Your team tremendously helped me narrow down my search area to a complex that I liked and had a shot at affording. My issue was being young I had a slightly limited bu...
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