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.​​​​​​​

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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 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.

Success Stories

Melania M.

Melania M.

Our experience with Erin as our real estate agent was nothing short of outstanding. From the outset, she demonstrated an unparalleled level of professionalism and dedication that immediately put us at ease. Erin took the time ...
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Giacomo M.

Giacomo M.

My name is Giacomo, and I have a large family of eight members. Finding a suitable home within our budget in Los Gatos seemed like an insurmountable challenge. However, thanks to Erin, an exceptional real estate agent, this dau...
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 Claudio M.

Claudio M.

My name is Claudio, and I am compelled to share the outstanding experience my family and I had with Erin, our real estate agent in Los Gatos. With a family of eight and a stringent budget, finding a home that met our needs seem...
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Manuela P.

Manuela P.

Erin's exceptional skills as a real estate agent made our home search in Monte Sereno a remarkably positive experience. Her ability to balance professionalism with a personal touch was evident from our first interaction. One o...
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Vincenzo P.

Vincenzo P.

Finding a home in Monte Sereno that could accommodate our large family and fit our budget seemed impossible. However, Erin, our incredible real estate agent, made this process smooth and successful. Erin's dedication was evide...
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Federica S.

Federica S.

We are incredibly grateful to Erin for her exceptional service in helping our large family find the perfect home. Navigating the real estate market can be challenging, especially with our specific requirements, but Erin made th...
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Marco M.

Marco M.

I want to thank Erin for her tremendous help in achieving an important goal for me and my family. She guided us from start to finish negotiation, setting clear goals and helping us achieve them with her effective strategies. We...
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LaVonne R.

LaVonne R.

Working with Erin Delacroix who represented the seller for my home purchase, was an absolute pleasure. I had already sold my home and needed to move quickly. She is one who listens and understands the complexities of change. Sh...
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Bobbie W.

Bobbie W.

We found our desert escape, thanks to Blake! It's everything and more than what we had hoped for. Blake handled the step-by-step process with ease, making our experience even more enjoyable and effortless! We’re looking into mo...
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Chad N.

Chad N.

Erin is among the most creative and strategic designers I have ever had the pleasure to work with. At WGT (now Topgolf), she was instrumental in translating our product goals into visual and UI designs that to this day remain a...
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Meg G.

Meg G.

I had the absolute pleasure of working with Erin. She is truly exceptional. Her design and creative skills are top notch but what really sets her apart is her obsession with excellence and focus on truly understanding the "clie...
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Albert T.

Albert T.

Erin is a talented and thoughtful design leader. During the time we worked together, I saw first-hand her ability to lead through chaos and ambiguity, bringing clarity and direction to the team, our partners, and business. She ...
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Lucian M.

Lucian M.

I've had the privilege to work with Erin on several mobile projects at eBay. The most significant was our AR "See It On" feature within the eBay Fashion app for which we garnered a 2011 UK Appy award, tons of press, and high vi...
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Alicia L.

Alicia L.

Erin has a great eye for design and a natural ability to foster those around her to be better. As my mentor and manager, Erin really helped me grow and develop my skills as a User Experience designer. With her proactive attitud...
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Sue W.

Sue W.

Erin is the consummate professional and a joy to work with. She has a unique mix of a keen eye for creative design and a business mind to manage a team to deliver great results. I would work with Erin again in a heartbeat. If y...
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Oliver T.

Oliver T.

As a Sr. Manager for UI, I've had the pleasure of collaborating with Erin on a number of efforts for LinkedIn's infrastructure tools. Erin is a design visionary. Her design thinking is far ahead of others. She does not hesitate...
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Aniruddha K.

Aniruddha K.

Erin interviewed me for one of the core design teams she founded. She set the foundation for the Internal Apps Design team, which I lead today. The team has matured over time and finds its backbone in the definition as set toge...
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Bagath P.

Bagath P.

I worked with Erin on the now popular Fashion iPhone App. Erin has this knack for coming up with innovative user interfaces to effectively present complex and often challenging data, within the smaller screen space, in visually...
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CJ L.

CJ L.

I really enjoyed working with Erin. She is both a great strategic thinker and a visionary manager who provides clear and structured guidance on career development. Erin is never short of ideas that truly connects the creative o...
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Whitney S.

Whitney S.

Erin is a very talented UI designer with vast experience in development of easy to navigate, clean interfaces that maximizes user experience. She's a pleasure to work with and is one of the most hard-working people I've met thu...
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