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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. I 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.

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.

Client Reviews

Denny A.

A great realtor with an excellent understanding of marketing a house to get buyers in the door. Ideas regarding staging the house for the photos provided on the listing presented the home well and made it very marketable to sel...

The LeBlancs

Jennifer was absolutely wonderful to work with—she was always prompt in responding, and always had our best interest at heart. She went above and beyond trying to help us find our perfect home, and was always our advocate. She ...

The Pittengers

What a pleasure it was to work with Jennifer on the purchase of a new build home and the sale of our existing home. From great tips on how to prepare our house for sale to insights on selection choices for our new home, Jennife...

John R.

Jennifer Sims is the best! She was thorough and professional and great to work with. She kept us apprised about available appointments and always let us know as soon as a new one came on the market. She was honest and forthrigh...

Scott K.

Jennifer was an absolute blessing to work with during our home-buying experience. She was there for every step of the process, from start to finish (and even after!). We never felt pressured during a chaotic time, she caught/re...

Nicole K.

Jennifer was absolutely indispensable in our search for our first home. She went above and beyond, always accommodating our schedule, taking us on numerous property tours, and patiently revisiting homes with us multiple times. ...

Stefanie G.

My husband and I had a wonderful experience working with Jennifer Sims. We just bought our first Texas home and she made it easy on us, there was no pressure and she was extremely honest with us which is what we appreciated the...

Chelsea R.

Being a first time home buyer can be stressful, especially when moving to a new city. So when looking for a home, I was wanting a realtor that could help guide me in looking at areas that were suited for what I was wanting, as ...

Corinne F.

From the beginning to the end of our home buying process, Jennifer was always there to inform and guide us. She was very patient and understanding when houses were not the right fit, and encouraged us to wait to find the perfec...

Cole E.

My wife and I worked with Jennifer Sims, and she was spectacular! We are first time home buyers, and Jennifer took the time to thoroughly answer our questions and explain the process clearly. We particularly appreciated how res...

Shawn G.

Jennifer went the extra mile for us time and time again. In what was a complicated closing of both the purchase of our new home and the sale of our old, she made it so easy for us by doing the hard work on her end. She was dili...

Mark S.

I can’t say enough about the amazing experience we had looking for our new home and the professionalism and attention to detail that was put into finding exactly what was needed. Jennifer Sims both listened to what we wanted an...

Paige S.

As first-time home buyers, we knew we were going to need a lot of help to find the house that was just right for us. From the first time we met with Jennifer, we were confident that she was the right person to help us find our ...

Leslie D.

Working with Jennifer was an absolute dream come true. My husband and I were looking to quickly relocate from Dallas to The Woodlands for work. Due to the timing, we only had one weekend with Jennifer to find a home. Jennifer w...

Brenna R.

Jennifer was beyond helpful. My husband and I were first-time homebuyers and knew very little about the process. With Jennifer’s help, we were able to see several homes and narrow down our search to what we really wanted. She w...

Patrick H.

Jennifer is amazing. She made the sales process very smooth and took care of numerous items that we thought we would have to handle. Jennifer was always available to answer our questions and respond to anything that came up. Je...

JoAnn B.

We have been long-time residents in Montgomery County and have bought and sold many homes over the past 30 years. Our experience with Jennifer was by far the best we have had with the many brokers and agencies we have used, and...

Skye M.

My husband and I worked with Jennifer to purchase our home here in Spring and we could not have been more pleased with the entire transaction. She is incredibly professional and knowledgeable and was able and available to answe...

Colin A.

Jennifer was extremely helpful during the entire process from start to close. We relocated from Canada, so purchasing a home in Texas had some slight differences. She helped us navigate and understand the entire process along t...

Tim G.

Jennifer did a great job helping us find a house. She listened to our needs, found us the house we loved, and negotiated a great price. She even helped with the inspection. We highly recommend her.

Work With Jennifer

Jennifer is here to support your "Why". Every home upgrade, downsize and even 'right-size' represents a new season of life. Jennifer considers it an honor to be invited into your journey because it represents the possibilities for full living.

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