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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.
Eric

Eric

Alex has done a fantastic job for us with 3 transactions. We sold two homes (both under contract in the first week) and purchased one. He did an excellent job communicating with us throughout the process and was always availabl...
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Nancy M.

Nancy M.

Meredith strikes again! This was my second time working with Meredith on a home purchase, and once again she proved she truly knows the art of the deal. Her strategic approach, attention to detail, and deep understanding of the...
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Sebastian R.

Sebastian R.

We had an incredibly positive experience working with Alex, which led to the successful purchase of our home. Not only was Alex extremely knowledgeable and helpful, but he provided a lot of suggestions and feedback on the wide ...
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Tracy G.

Tracy G.

I can’t say enough positive things about Meredith. I recently embarked on a long-distance move from Portland, Oregon, returning to Chicago. I connected with Meredith early in the process with an inquiry of a new home in the wes...
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Michelle K.

Michelle K.

I highly recommend Alexander Abramowicz to be your next broker or realtor for the sale of your home. Alexander builds relationships, is knowledgeable about the market, negotiates with intention, values integrity, and will have ...
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Erika N.

Erika N.

I had an amazing experience working with Meredith! From the very beginning, she was incredibly professional, responsive, and patient as I navigated the home-buying process. She truly listened to what we wanted and needed in a n...
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Nancy M.

Nancy M.

Alex was an awesome and thorough agent! He was always responsive and available when needed; even after the sale, Alex continues to check in. He is genuinely concerned about his clients and also had great references for our lega...
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Autumn L.

Autumn L.

We had an excellent experience with Meredith! She listened to what our needs were and helped us narrow down what we were looking for. We found our home on our first trip to open houses! She is very responsive, and when we hit a...
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Christine C.

Christine C.

We love Alex! He's helped us buy and sell 4 different properties over the last 6 years. Can't recommend him enough!
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Nayke H.

Nayke H.

My husband and I have worked with Meredith on two home purchases and a sale, and each experience has been exceptional. She is incredibly knowledgeable about the market, highly skilled in negotiation, and consistently patient an...
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Adam K.

Adam K.

Alex is quick to respond, knows the suburban market extremely well, and asks the right questions to make sure you get what you need.
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Jeff K.

Jeff K.

Amazing!
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Richard W.

Richard W.

Alex sets himself apart from other realtors because he truly cares about the individual. It’s not just about making the sale. Taking care of his client is his first priority. He anticipates your wants and needs and does everyth...
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Wendy C.

Wendy C.

Meredith was great to work with. She paid attention to all the details and walked me through the process. She was extremely patient when I changed what I wanted and was always looking out for what was best for me. I would recom...
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Steve C.

Steve C.

Alex was flexible and transparent throughout the entire home-buying and selling process. He got us the most for our money and always fought for our best interests. Would recommend him to anyone.
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Lisa N.

Lisa N.

Meredith was excellent to work with for buying and selling our home. She is knowledgeable, easy to communicate with, and I always felt that she made me a priority as her client. I highly recommend Meredith if you are looking to...
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Margaret S.

Margaret S.

Alex was so helpful and patient in helping us find the right home! He was quick to respond to any questions we had and get us set up to view potential options. We also appreciated his honest advice and input when considering di...
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Daniel C.

Daniel C.

We had the pleasure of working with Meredith in buying our home in Downers Grove. Meredith performed a rigorous search, ultimately identifying an off-market home that matched our criteria in a highly constrained (inventory-star...
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Jessica C.

Jessica C.

Cannot say enough great things about Alex. We have closed on 3 properties with him and his fantastic team of professionals. Alex goes above and beyond to help find the perfect property and sell current properties. He is timely,...
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Siobhan E.

Siobhan E.

I would highly recommend Meredith as a real estate agent. We were in the process of buying our first home, and having Meredith as our realtor was a true game changer. It's such a daunting process in a competitive market, but he...
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