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

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. 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. 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.

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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

"Ivonne is the real deal! We were connected with her by chance and we are so grateful! She did an outstanding job guiding us through our purchase while we were states away. We were well informed about all the nuances and she had great contacts/recommendations for the are. And to top it off, she was amazing with our young children while we were focused on things like inspections. Thank you Ivonne!"

— STEFANIE B.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Hi, Amanda. My name is Tom Bromley. I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate the representation that you gave me in selling my Harbor Lights condo on Destin Harbor. It’s been a good experience. You have been very professional. You have done a lot of running around and errands and special favors and I surely appreciate that. I look forward to doing more business in the future. Thank you so much.

— DONNIE K.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

My name is Robert Mead. I just purchased a unit at Palazzo Condominiums. I became aware of the unit through Nathan. Nathan Abbott is the finest Realtor®️ I’ve ever dealt with anywhere. I live in Kentucky but I own property in several states and have lived several places. Nathan really goes beyond the call of duty as a representative of the property for both the buyer and seller. I think anyone would be v...

— ROBERT M.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Hi there, my name is Kim, this is my husband Dave, and videotaping us is the most fantastic Realtor®️ in the world and we speak from lots of months of experience. We bought our first condo not too long ago in Panama City Beach, and loved the area so much – the people are friendly, and the beach was gorgeous. We decided to put our 2 bedroom unit on the market, which Amanda will be handling and just today,...

— KIM E. & DAVE S.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Hello. My name is Calvin Starlin. This is my wife Sherry. I would like to tell you how happy we have been with the Nathan Abbott Team. We have bought, over the last 15 years, several properties. He (Nathan) has always and his team has always represented us in purchases and also represented us in sales. And it is absolutely outstanding. I am telling you this, not for any other reason, but because I want y...

— CALVIN & SHERRY S.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Hi, Amanda. My name is Tom Bromley. I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate the representation that you gave me in selling my Harbor Lights Condo on Destin Harbor. It’s been a good experience. You have been very professional. You have done a lot of running around and errands and special favors and I surely appreciate that. I look forward to doing more business in the future. Thank you so much.

— TOM B.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Hi. I want to say how thrilled I am that I bought a property here in Bluewater Bay. I absolutely love the Nathan Abbott Team. Nathan and Oksana took me everywhere. We looked at 18 properties. And I picked one. It’s the perfect house for my family. Frank has been wonderful in helping me get all the paperwork. And I can’t be more thrilled with this team. Thank you very much, Nathan Abbott Team!

— TRISHA K.

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