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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 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.

Testimonials

Danny P.

Danny P.

4 years ago, Chris helped us purchase our very first home, now Chris helped us sell our second Home for $180,000 over listing price! If you’ve been looking to buy or sell, look no further, Chris is the one!
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Grace D.

Grace D.

Chris is very knowledgeable and friendly, a person who cares about his clients. I have worked with him for the past 10 years, with my recent and 2 previous purchases, every time he has been attentive and made sure that all my n...
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Jon A.

Jon A.

In the process of utilizing Sean for his real estate knowledge and expertise. I'm a first-time home buyer who has a lot of questions, and this team has been so patient in answering those questions, but also educating me on the ...
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Andy V.

Andy V.

We couldn't be happier working with The Buchanan Team! Their expertise guided us through a purchase, sale, and 1031 exchange. Our search spanned across Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, and they are extremely knowledgeable i...
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Lupe A.

Lupe A.

My sister and I worked with the Buchanan team, Sean, his brother, and his dad. They were very informative about the whole process of selling our home. They worked with us about home showings due to the fact that we have a large...
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Marcus W.

Marcus W.

My wife and I cannot say enough great things about the Buchanan team and how they essentially made our life and dreams bigger than we could have ever imagined. We first got in contact with Andy, Chris, and Sean in 2017, and we ...
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Jason W.

Jason W.

Chris and the Buchanan Team were absolutely fantastic to work with. I couldn't have asked for a better experience buying my first house. Pleasure to work with, can't say enough good things. Extremely knowledgeable and professio...
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Emily D.

Emily D.

We have done 2 sales with them, both bringing in significantly more than list price, representing us as the seller. The one sale was an off-market pocket listing, which they were able to negotiate favorable terms like free rent...
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Vincent H.

Vincent H.

So many good things to say about Sean Buchanan, where do I start? I met Sean a few months prior to a mutual friend and inquired about his help finding a home for my family. Months went by, Sean and I kept in touch, looking at t...
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Michael R.

Michael R.

The Buchanans are amazing and can do it all. Not only did they sell our house in four hours, but they also found us our dream home in a matter of weeks. We were on an almost impossible time crunch, and they made it happen. They...
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Let the Buchanan Brothers guide you through your real estate journey with experience, integrity, and results. From first-time buyers to seasoned investors, we’re committed to delivering service every step of the way.

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