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 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 REALTORS® 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 REALTORS® 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.

Our Testimonials

See why our clients love working with us.
Brian C.

Brian C.

Working with Alan Ramirez was an absolute pleasure from start to finish. His expertise and professionalism guided me seamlessly through the entire process of buying my dream home. Alan Ramirez was attentive to my needs, proacti...
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Chantel C.

Chantel C.

We have used Kristina for over 3 years and appreciate her knowledge of all aspects of real estate. We will always go to her in the future.
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Armando V.

Armando V.

It was a pleasure working with Shawn Jolly. He went above and beyond to make sure that we were taken care of in every aspect of the home buying process. Shawn is extremely knowledgeable and at all time we felt like we were in g...
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Jima S.

Jima S.

Very good. Helped me set up everything. Kept me informed on what was happening. I would have been lost without them. Kept updated after everything was complete.
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Vicente A.

Vicente A.

Shawn was very knowledgeable and helpful, service oriented. Great agent, explained and walked me through the whole process. I would highly recommend him if you are buying or selling.
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Trevor H.

Trevor H.

I'll admit, I'm hard to please at times which causes a lot of undue stress on others. Honestly, I haven't been stressed one time in the 7 properties Kristina has helped us buy.
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Eli G.

Eli G.

Shawn was a great person to work with. He had already helped me with my first time home purchase over a year ago and found him on a top agent list for El Paso. He made the selling process now so easy and painless! Knowledge is ...
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Lupe R.

Lupe R.

K2 Realty has been great to work with! The whole staff is very attentive and are quick to respond to all our questions. They are knowledgeable and professional. Highly recommend.
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Jarom C.

Jarom C.

Shawn was amazing. We had to leave El Paso before getting things finished and he went above and beyond and took care of everything. Professional but he felt like a lifelong friend because of his easy going manner and confidence...
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Melissa P.

Melissa P.

My husband and I were relocating to New Mexico from Wyoming. Kristina did everything possible to help us find a home with an easy transition. We highly recommend using K2 Realty Team.
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Buyer

Buyer

Shawn was extremely professional and went above and beyond to help us secure our El Paso home. Being Military we had to do most of the process remotely which could have been problematic but between Shawn and his transaction coo...
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Gary G.

Gary G.

Kiki and Kristina worked very, very hard to find me the exact home I wanted. They were extremely polite, helpful, and patient throughout the entire process. I strongly recommend them to everyone.
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Buyer

Buyer

Shawn helped us with our recent home purchase and he is someone that I would highly recommend to anyone looking to buy a home. Shawn is a true professional who advocates for his clients and communicates with you every step of t...
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Kyle C.

Kyle C.

Best experience! Compared to other realtors, this team is willing to go to bat for their buyers, work with your schedule, and make things happen! No regrets working with Vickie and the rest of the K2 team!
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Robert C.

Robert C.

Shawn made our home buying experience as easy as possible despite these times we are in. He worked tirelessly to find the right home for me and my family. Always had open communication at all times of the day and prompt respons...
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Krista Z.

Krista Z.

This made the process less stressful. They were extremely helpful and were there with us in every step. If you need a team to sell your home, you need to call K2. Get the professional service with team that cares as a friend.
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Kenneth

Kenneth

In my experience it is very rare to come across an agent that has it all. Shawn Jolley definitely does it all! ???? and he can help you buy or sell your home fast and head ache free because of his breadth of knowledge and numer...
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Seller

Seller

We were extremely impressed and pleased while working with Kristina. She is immediate on fulfilling requests and offering solutions to obstacles. It feels as if she is working around the clock to close on your sale or purchase!
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Buyer

Buyer

Words cannot convey how much I appreciate Shawn expertise during the big decision of purchasing a home. It felt daunting at the beginning, but Shawn smoothed the way and explained everything so clearly. I appreciated the time y...
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Jeff E.

Jeff E.

The K2 team was wonderful. They were honest and helped step by step throughout the process of finding a home, the inspections, and making sure we had what we needed at all times. They were quick to respond to any questions we had.
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