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.

Our Testimonials

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Buyer

There are honestly no words to describe how thankful I am for AK and Susie. This was my first time buying a home, and I was terrified since my parents don’t live in Colorado (yes, I’m 33 and still need my parents 😉). AK and Su...
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We recently had the pleasure of working with Susie Warta and the AK Riley Group while searching for our new home in Sterling Ranch, Colorado, and we couldn't be happier with the experience. From our very first meeting, Susie im...
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Seller

Seller

Susie Warta is a fantastic relator, she not only sold my home during a difficult divorce it never hit the market and sold over asking price. She took the time over quite a few months to help me narrow down and figure out what...
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We are so grateful to have had AK Riley represent us for the recent purchase and sale of our family’s homes. Even though it was a tough market, with high interest rates, AK worked hard, remained positive and used creative metho...
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Seller

Working with Susie gave us the confidence to make informed financial decisions in a competitive real estate market. We had not bought/sold a house in 20 years, so we relied on Susie's expertise to navigate the market today. We ...
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Seller

AK was a huge help in selling my home in Homestead. She was extremely responsive and always willing to help. Her professional expertise is vast and her knowledge extensive.
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Buyer/Seller

We have worked with AK several times and would not consider any other Realtor® she is unbelievably responsive, knowledgeable, and really cares about her clients. Her integrity is unmatched!
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Buyer/Seller

Buyer/Seller

We worked with AK to buy and sell in the same month. She is the best, will always go above and beyond, and made our experience smooth and fun! We highly recommend her if you are looking to buy or sell your home.
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Buyer/Seller

Buyer/Seller

AK represented us selling our house and building a new house with a regional home builder. In both cases, she was incredibly helpful, knowledgeable, and added value. We won't buy or sell a home without her again.
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Buyer

AK was such a delight to work with not only on a personal level but professionally her knowledge of the homebuying process and the areas I was shopping in made the process smooth and significantly lowered my anxiety!
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Buyer

AK was relentless in finding our second home. Considering it was in the midst of the Covid pandemic, she found "The One". Definitely a go-getter and went the distance to find it Silverthorne, CO all the way from Texas.
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Buyer

AK was amazing throughout this whole process! We looked at over 40 houses and she was so pacient and helpful. She gave us very honest feedback and helped us find the perfect home for us. I would recommend her to everyone!
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Buyer

Buyer

AK is great, helped us navigate a new city and find a home we loved. She negotiated a good price in a competitive market. Very knowledgeable and good at what she does. Always available to guide us through the home-buying process.
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Seller

Seller

AK helped me and my sister during a very difficult time after the loss of our father to sell his house. She was kind and professional. She helped us find people to complete repairs in a timely manner and she was very efficient ...
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Buyer

Buyer

I’m so lucky to have found AK to help my find and buy my first home. She’s amazingly helpful and knowledgeable, and she made the whole process (from showing me listings to sitting next to me at closing) painless (and even a lit...
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Seller

Seller

AK sold our house in less than 1 day! She was a pleasure to work with. Ak is very knowledgeable and will find the right person to buy your house too! She is dedicated, hard-working, and a very talented Realtor®! If you are thin...
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Buyer/Seller

Buyer/Seller

AK was my agent for buying and selling my first home, and I couldn't have been luckier to find her. Not only is she an expert in the process but she's a calming, helpful presence when things get stressful. She always kept me in...
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Buyer & Seller

Buyer & Seller

AK is the best Realtor® we’ve ever had! Her knowledge and expertise about the home buying and selling process is exceptional. We appreciated how she was always there for us during the entire process, and that we could get a hol...
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Buyer & Seller

Buyer & Seller

AK is an amazing Realtor®! She doesn't pressure, is extremely easygoing, and very knowledgeable about the market! She was very helpful in finding us exactly what we were looking for and didn't make us compromise on any of our m...
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Buyer

Buyer

AK was such a pleasure to work with! She made the buying experience much less stressful. I always felt that she was there for me and had my back. She responded very quickly to my calls, questions, and concerns. Her attention to...
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