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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.

Client Feedback

Zoe A.

Zoe A.

John and his team were able to find me an amazing home and negotiate a great deal. He looked at several homes with me and was always helping me weigh aspects of each home, remembering exactly what I was looking for and posing q...
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Whitmore W.

Whitmore W.

John was very professional and knowledgeable. He was very skilled at negotiating fairly. He carefully walked me through the whole process of selling a home. My property sold quickly, and I would highly recommend him.
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Damian

Damian

We cannot more highly recommend John and his team at JBRE Group. As first-time home buyers, we had a whole lot of unknowns. We felt comfortable with him right away and knew we wanted to work with him from our first consultation...
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Buyer

Buyer

With the crazy house market these days, John and his team had a lot of patience with my family and me. He was able to find the perfect home for us in the perfect location. John worked a miracle on the contract for my home, whic...
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Jeremy T.

Jeremy T.

John was extremely knowledgeable about every aspect of the home-buying process. He connected me with the best mortgage companies, and his home inspector was the most detailed and knowledgeable inspector I have ever seen. John i...
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Daniel H.

Daniel H.

Very professional and nice guy. He know he’s stuff and is very good at keeping in touch during the whole process. Would definitely recommend him and use him again when I buy another home.
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Seller

Seller

Of all the agents I have dealt with, John has been the most impressive. He went above and beyond in customer service to help me sell my home. His in-depth knowledge, expertise, and honesty, along with his experience on the lend...
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Buyer

Buyer

He was willing to show me multiple houses until I found the right one. He was right there through the negotiations, inspections, and closing, helping me through it all.
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Misty S.

Misty S.

Love, love, love John! He has gone above and beyond our expectations. He kept in constant communication with us; he met with us anytime we wanted to meet; he made calls on our behalf even after we closed and moved in. I would r...
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Seller

Seller

Very knowledgeable about the Dallas Market. Haley was with us through every aspect of selling and buying our condo. Highly recommend John and his team, especially if you want someone to get back to you and walk with you through...
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Cecelia G.

Cecelia G.

We could not have been blessed with a better realtor throughout our first home-buying experience! John and Grace went above and beyond to find us the perfect home. Being first-time home buyers, we had so many questions and did ...
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Kal K.

Kal K.

My experiences with John have been brief, but amazing and insightful. As a first-time homebuyer, I was completely in the dark about what to look for, especially the small details that can really make or break what qualifies as ...
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BJ Porter

BJ Porter

JBRE is a blessing to sell your home! They took awesome care of every single thing for me! John and his assistant were exceptionally professional in every way.
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Hassan A.

Hassan A.

John was extremely responsive and professional throughout the entire selling process. He was also extremely knowledgeable and went above and beyond to get my home sold. Highly recommended!
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Michaelal Y.

Michaelal Y.

John and his team were great from start to finish. They stayed in touch and kept me informed throughout the process. I was pleased with his effort from start to finish. I will recommend him to others.
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Domenique D. F.

Domenique D. F.

John and his staff were very knowledgeable. Communication is important, and John did an amazing job and was always there to answer my phone calls and texts. I highly recommend John Busch.
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Alxia M.

Alxia M.

We worked well together; John was responsive and committed to us. Made helpful suggestions for us to do at our home. He showed up multiple times, always letting us know the time.
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Dan C.

Dan C.

John and Grace handled issues expeditiously and often handled issues that I never thought of. They were very thorough in answering questions and keeping me apprised of the issues and process statuses. Their efforts made this a ...
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Burress Estate

Burress Estate

Look no further. John and his team are truly exceptional in a highly competitive industry. Attention to detail, professionalism in every aspect, and a willingness to go above and beyond when any question or concern arose made n...
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Tim W.

Tim W.

John was very nice. Knew lots about the property, the area, and all. He is definitely a person I will do future transactions with in the future. Highly recommended if you're buying a home.
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