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 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, I 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 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.

Our Testimonials

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Valerie M.

Valerie M.

Andrea Scott has truly earned the title of number 1 real estate agent in Alamo. In a challenging market, she was able to leverage her vast marketing network with a data-driven approach to finding the right buyers for our home, ...
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Anthony R.

Anthony R.

I have never worked with a better real estate agent than Andrea Scott. She does not disappoint at any stage of the real estate process. Whether buying or selling Andrea is the real estate agent for me.
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Charles C.

Charles C.

Poised, confident, intelligent, humble. These are some of the reasons Andrea is the number 1 Alamo real estate agent. Her strategic agility, business acumen, and collaborative ability to bring people together and deliver result...
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Matt K.

Matt K.

We chose Andrea Scott based on her knowledge and expertise in buying our desired area. Throughout the process, Andrea was extremely supportive by keeping us informed of market conditions, and nuances of properties across Alamo,...
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Jeff M.

Jeff M.

Andrea Scott does not disappoint! She took the selling of our home very seriously. Knowing that branding is important in the real estate game, we wanted someone who could represent the quality and lifestyle a potential buyer of...
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Mark O.

Mark O.

I have been working with Andrea since 2011. Her response time is amazing - she makes me feel like I am her only client, even though a drive through Westside Alamo will tell you otherwise. Andrea’s insight on the market is spot-...
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Darrell C.

Darrell C.

I wanted to share our outstanding experience with Andrea. We interviewed the top 3 real estate agents in Alamo and selected Andrea for her superior marketing strategy. Andrea and her team of stagers, photographers, and videogra...
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Virginia E.

Virginia E.

Andrea was amazing. We had a week to get my property ready and on the market to meet a target date. She gave me guidance, provided resources, and followed up to make sure everything was kept to the schedule. I felt confident th...
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Jacqueline G.

Jacqueline G.

I highly recommend Andrea Scott as a real estate agent. Andrea is reliable, trustworthy, and extremely experienced. Working with Andrea is always a pleasure whether you need to sell, buy or invest in Real Estate. If you're look...
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Tonda B.

Tonda B.

Andrea is a total rockstar! She took very good care of me during our time together helping me with timelines and holding me accountable! She cares about her clients and relationships are bigger than transactions to her! I enjoy...
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Kelly R.

Kelly R.

Andrea was a pleasure to work with. We were in a situation that called for us to sell a home from across the country. She kept us informed every step along the way and treated the home as if it were her own she was selling. Eve...
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Sam R.

Sam R.

When my colleague had great things to say about his experience with Andrea Scott, I knew that I had to meet her. Andrea is everything my colleague said and more. Not only is she an excellent real estate agent but she is an exce...
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Barbara C.

Barbara C.

I recently had the pleasure of working with Andrea selling several properties in the East Bay area. She is knowledgeable about the market, extremely hard-working, and gets things done. She is always available to communicate wit...
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Barry N.

Barry N.

I am so impressed with Andrea Scott as a real estate agent. I have bought and sold several houses over the years and personally know many real estate agents. Andrea is amazing and I highly recommend her. Two thumbs way up!
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Sarah M.

Sarah M.

It was such a pleasure working with Andrea! She is extremely professional, responsive, knowledgeable, and passionate about what she does. She was super responsive to calls or emails and texts, even when she was out of town for ...
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Debra Z.

Debra Z.

It was important to me that the agent was accessible and experienced. Andrea filled that need for us. She answered our calls and helped out from our fast start to our quick finish. She was there all the way. Trust in her for yo...
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Eswar M.

Eswar M.

Our home was on the market for 3 and a half months with 2 different real estate agents. It received very few showings and no offers. It had been cleaned, staged, and professionally photographed; what was missing? Then we hired ...
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Susan V.

Susan V.

Andrea gets it done! Professionally, her knowledge of the business and market is impeccable. Personally, her interaction, communication, and availability are stellar. At a time when I urgently needed to sell my home, she came t...
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Igor G.

Igor G.

Andrea was like a breath of fresh air. She was incredibly attentive to our needs and unwaveringly professional we felt completely safe leaving the process in her hands. Andrea protected our interests every step of the way, and ...
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Nichole F.

Nichole F.

We were lucky to find Andrea while viewing one of her listings. Her knowledge of the area is unbeatable. She knows the market and works tirelessly until the deal is done. She is honest, and reliable, and can navigate you throug...
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