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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 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 I deem the offer is acceptable, I 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. I 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 real estate agent 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 MY CLIENTS SAY

Debbie is very professional and helps us with all aspects of the sales. She is a wealth of knowledge and we appreciate her very much!

— South Shore Estates, LLC

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Even though Debbie Stevenson was the seller's agent, she was very helpful. She was timely in answering questions and proactive in keeping us informed. If she does move into our new neighborhood, I look forward to getting to know her even better. It has been a good experience dealing with Debbie and her company.

— Scott I.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Debbie Stevenson was phenomenal! She got to know me and what I was looking for and was able to deliver on all fronts. I was moving in connection with a relocation and she made sure to advocate for me while I was away and ensured that everything moved forward with the home. Without her on my side, I don't think we would have been able to navigate all the moving parts and keep our closing date. Thank you s...

— Denise N.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Debbie was awesome in helping us find the perfect house for use in Texas. She was very informative and knowledgeable about each home. She kept me up-to-date throughout the entire process. Debbie helped in making this process very easy. It was a great pleasure working with her.

— Lonzell T.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Debbie was very helpful and very attentive to our needs during our home search process.

— David J.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Debbie is a Rock Star! She helped in so many ways getting my home sold. Debbie has great communication when it came to understanding all of the steps during the process, there were many hurdles and she kept me calm and on track.

— Cindy C.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Debbie was such a pleasure to work with. She was professional, knowledgeable, organized, attentive, savvy and personable. She made our buying experience as easy as she possibly could. There was not one thing she could have done differently to make the experience better. Her responsiveness and attention to detail were spot on and we would recommend working with her to anyone purchasing or selling a home.

— Kalissa K.

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Debbie is an outstanding real estate agent. She went above and beyond what was required of her. She helped my wife and I find a home that was within our price range. We had such a good experience that we used her as our agent for our second. She always did her homework before showing us a property and always answered our questions. Her goal was to find us the right property even if it meant her commissio...

— Buyer

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

She goes above and beyond in service to her customers and will go out of her way to help with anything you want or need during your buying or selling. I have used Debbie in buying and selling numerous houses from 2006 through 2017 and very grateful I did. Awesome Realtor.

— Eli M.

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Offering expert guidance, strong negotiation, and personalized service in every transaction. Specializing in Central Texas real estate, farm and ranch properties, and new construction, committed to delivering the best results for buyers and sellers alike.

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Contact Details

Debbie Stevenson

(512) 468-8210

[email protected]


Address

8300 N Mopac Expy

Austin TX 78759

 

Mailing Address

P.O. Box 738
Salado TX 76571