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Seller's Guide

Everything you need to know about putting your home on the market, accepting an offer, and closing on your home.

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: Free Staging Consultation With a Professional Stager

Some free services offered while working with Kelly include a professional photography of your home to obtain market quality images and the advice of full time Transaction Manager

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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 MY CLIENTS SAY

It was great working with Kelly. He answered all of our questions and everything went smoothly. I would not hesitate to recommend him to others. Thank you Kelly Polasek! Reply1

— B. Spratt

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

We could NOT have asked for a better realtor. Kelly went above & beyond for us, from picking out flooring, paint colors & SO much more! If you are needing a realtor Kelly will not disappoint!!

— K. Raiborn

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

I highly recommend Kelly Polasek for a number of reasons. He is extremely honest, knows the real estate business well, and surrounds himself with a excellent team of real estate specialist.He is highly dependable, keeps up with real estate law, although, he doesn’t practice real estate law. All in all he is one of the best best best realtors I have ever encountered.

— J. Kennedy

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Kelly was great to work with. When we first met, he provided the market research to give me an idea of what the listing price might be. We discussed repairs or updates that would make the house more marketable. He was honest about the things that would improve the price and things that would not be worth the money. Once I was ready to list the property, Kelly provided updated marker research and reco...

— G Hall

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Kelly Polasek has been such a pleasure to work with. He is very professional, knowledgeable, and experienced in all areas of real estate. Kelly kept us up to date on every piece of information and communicated with the buyer’s agent, lender and title company at every step during the process. Kelly is very easy to work with, has a great sense of humor and a great attitude!

— T Swedenburg

WHAT MY CLIENTS SAY

Kelly is great to work with. When my brother passed I had to sell his house and Kelly was very helpful with achieving that goal. His knowledge and guidance were key to a calm and smooth transaction from start to finish. His team of professionals also proved to be very easy to work with and to be very competent. I recommend his services to anyone looking to buy or sell in the Humble, Texas area. Thanks ag...

— Tim Cronin

Work With Kelly

Kelly Polasek of RE/MAX Associates Northeast can assist you with a variety of real estate services, such as helping buyers find their next home, or helping sellers sell their property and get the most for their real estate.