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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 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.

Our Testimonials

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

Carey C.

We followed Randy’s advice on what needed to be done to get our house ready to sell. We sold our house in seven days for exactly what Randy told us we would. Randy is honest and knows his business. I would recommend him to my f...
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Jimmy & Pam T.

Jimmy & Pam T.

As former clients, and now friends, we would highly recommend Randy White to any buyer or seller. Randy is one of the most honest and professional real estate representatives we’ve ever had the pleasure of working with.
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Holly R.

Holly R.

Randy was wonderful to work with and is very knowledgeable about the metroplex market. His office staff were always easy to speak with and quick to return our phone calls or emails when necessary. The process went as smoothly a...
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Dee M.

Dee M.

Thank you for helping us find a home in the school district we wanted. You were always available for questions on the phone and via email. I am overjoyed that you were able to find our new home so quickly that fit our dreams of...
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Marcy F.

Marcy F.

My husband and I cannot say enough about how happy our family was with Lisa as our Realtor. Our situation was quite unique. We initially had our home listed with another agent yet Lisa brought several qualified buyers through o...
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Don & Sharon C.

Don & Sharon C.

We met Randy White in 1994 and instantly knew we would have a great relationship with him. He has helped us sell and buy three homes since we met him. Randy has always been positive in listing our homes and that they would sell...
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Yaffa & Chase

Yaffa & Chase

As first time home buyers and picky customers, we appreciated her patience and help. We met Lisa at an open house. We had been looking for a house for about 2 months, by then with no luck. She asked us what we were looking for ...
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Joe & Lisa

Joe & Lisa

We would like to especially thank Lisa for all the help in purchasing our home. We will surely recommend her to our family and friends!
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Rosemary & George

Rosemary & George

Our experience with Lisa was great. She is very knowledgeable and worked hard for us.
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Maria & Jim

Maria & Jim

We have known Randy White for many years and have had the good fortune to have him as our realtor on two separate occasions. Randy is a true professional who knows his business and the market inside and out, and has given us ex...
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Cam M.

Cam M.

I recently had the pleasure of working with Jodi Gaines, an incredible realtor, who made my first home-buying experience nothing short of amazing. From our initial meeting, Jodi demonstrated a deep understanding of the market. ...
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Michaela O.

Michaela O.

I cannot thank Jodi Gaines enough for all her hard work and dedication in helping me find my perfect home. From our very first meeting, she was passionate about understanding my needs and ensuring that I found a place that trul...
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Brad T.

Brad T.

From start to finish, Randy White and his team have always delivered outstanding service. Randy, along with his amazing team—Patrick, Brenda, Teresa and everyone else in the office—are all incredibly professional, responsive, a...
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Rachael T.

Rachael T.

Working with Randy White Real Estate Services, with my husband, Patrick, as our realtor, was such a unique experience. I see him approach his work with passion and care every day, and he brought that same dedication to helping ...
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Marissa A.

Marissa A.

Jodi Gaines with Randy White Real Estate Services was awesome to work with. I would highly recommend her and will be referring her to my family and friends. She is very knowledgeable about the local real estate market.
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Wendy S.

Wendy S.

We had a delightful experience with Randy White Real Estate Services when selling our home in Southlake, Texas. Our home was priced right and sold within hours of being listed- for asking price. It is no surprise that Randy Whi...
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Brianna B.

Brianna B.

Randy and his team are not only phenomenal agents but people as well. They are knowledgeable on the market and know how to get the job done by providing premium service. Everyone is so kind a pleasure to work with. I would reco...
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James T.

James T.

Several family members have used Randy White Realty for help in both purchasing and in selling homes-over many years. We would not use anyone else. Highly recommended!
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Harley T.

Harley T.

We are first time homeowners thanks to Randy and his team! They made the whole process stress-free and found us lots of wonderful homes in our price range and helped us find our dream home.
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Shirley H.

Shirley H.

Randy White and his entire office staff were extremely helpful in the sale of our home of over 30 years. We were going through a very difficult time as my husband got sick and had to be hospitalized in the middle of this proces...
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