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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 agent.

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, 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.

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 Real Estate Agent 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.

Testimonials

Julio G.

I highly recommend Westgate to anyone in the area. They managed our home with such good care, from finding a great tenant to great communication along the way. The team is the best!

Cheryl T.

Westgate to the rescue! I have managed my rental property for over 23 years it was time to let go. Keri and Michelle did a wonderful job of placing a new tenant. It was done quickly and professionally and not one ounce of stres...

Shannon A.

Bridget is the most thorough agent I've ever worked with. Every single detail was attended to in both the sale of our prior home and the purchase of our new home. She is passionate about making sure her clients get the best exp...

Sally C.

I have used Westgate Reality to find a tenant for a granny unit twice. The team was professional, informative, kind, and very helpful in guiding me through the process. We spoke about my expectations and what was going on with ...

Joy C.

My family has used Westgate Real Estate for our last two real estate transactions. I cannot say enough good things about Bridget Lyons. Service is her middle name. Her professionalism and knowledge guided us throughout the tran...

Alicia D.

We had the best experience with our Realtor® Westgate Real Estate. From her professionalism to her personalism, she truly rocks. Our house sold in under two weeks, over asking. Everything was so seamless. She truly cares and wi...

Michael R.

We had a fantastic experience with Westgate Real Estate. The owners are both very kind and welcoming as well as professional and quite knowledgeable about the area. The property we rented was both clean and in great shape. Ther...

Mete S.

Searching for a house is not an easy process, but I had a good experience with Westgate Real Estate was very helpful and professional. All my questions were answered promptly and accurately. She made the whole process from view...

Andrea B.

Just wanted to give a quick review of Bridget Lyons from Westgate real estate. Bridget was fantastic we applied for our apartment she contacted us in less than 24 hrs. Called and spoke to me over the phone was very friendly and...

Emily B.

We were so happy using Steve, owner of Westgate Real Estate, as our Realtor®. He went above and beyond to make the sale process easy for us and gave us a lot of personalized attention. We received multiple above-list offers on ...

Harris W.

I own rental properties in several locations and have used different rental brokers over the years. Simply put, Westgate is one of the best I have had the pleasure to do business with. She was able to find us a fantastic tenant...

Scott T.

We chose Westgate Real Estate and agent, Bridget Lyons through a referral from a friend. We are so glad we did. We had to manage the remodeling and sale of our house in Penngrove from Virginia. Bridget was on top of every detai...

Patrick K.

We sold and bought our house with West Gate Real Estate almost 20 years ago. Steve Gavriloff was knowledgeable, professional, and extremely helpful back then and still is after all these years. We have called on Steve for advic...

Kathleen V.

We enlist the services of Westgate whenever we need real estate advice or representation. We purchased properties with the assistance of their agents and then smoothly transitioned into working with the team to find tenants. Ou...

Leanne M.

Keri made the prospecting process so easy. It can be stressful finding a new home, in a new area. My husband and I looked to relocate to Petaluma from San Jose and it was tough getting up to the area during the midweek. Keri an...

Tom V.

Westgate has been managing my property for over 7 years. Westgate is by far the most complete property management company in the North Bay. She handled everything from tenant screening, applications, interviews, walkthroughs, a...

Mary M.

I called multiple property management companies when searching for one to help me list my property. As a tenant myself, I wanted to make sure the company I hired for the property I own had exceptional customer service. I knew a...

Ed B.

We have worked with Bridget Lyons as a buying and selling agent for two investment property vacant lots. On the buying side, she did a nice job finding properties that matched our criteria and bid what we felt comfortable payin...

Robert W.

Westgate Realty is the best Property Management company we've ever worked with. My wife and I have been homeowners and renters in the past. We moved to Petaluma in 2015 and decided to rent a home before purchasing so we could g...

Nancy S.

My family and I cannot thank Steve enough for all their efforts. As the Trustee and legal owner of my Mother's property, I went through many hurdles over a long period of time preparing for the sale of our family home. They bot...

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Westgate Real Estate agents have an average of 20 years of full-time professional real estate experience that includes all types of transactions and market conditions. It is that experience that creates their level of superior service that sets them apart from others.