Sell Your Home in Raleigh | Greenwood Residential

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.

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 Agent once you choose one so they 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 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.

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

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.

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 team of real estate agents.

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.

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 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.

Our Testimonials

Daniela S.

Buying a house was such an intimidating process for me. I didn’t even know where to start which is why I cannot thank Andrea enough!. The whole process was so smooth. It was important for me to buy a nice home that I could not ...

Ayana C.

Ms. Garay was one THE best agent I have worked with . This was our third home purchase and Andrea has been exceptional in accommodating our busy schedules and was willing to listen to our concerns, needs, priorities and made sh...

Jo H.

Andrea helped finding exactly what I was looking for. She takes the time to listen and understand your needs and work around them providing the best expertise knowledge of the industry. She guides you through the entire process...

Ann V.

Andrea is truly amazing. It is clear that she loves what she does and she is great at it. She is a great listener, was very attentive to my needs; she guided me every step of the way through the buying process. She is a great c...

Danny R.

I had the pleasure of working with Andrea during my recent home buying experience, and I cannot speak highly enough of their professionalism, expertise, and commitment to excellence. From the very beginning, Andrea took the ti...

Leslie P.

Andrea helped us to secure the home of our dreams! She was polite, friendly, assertive, responsive, and professional. Without her working diligently on our behalf, we could easily have missed the opportunity to bid on our home....

Jervis N.

We were relocating from Connecticut to North Carolina and had no clue where to start nor what to do. Even though we had researched areas, communities, schools, etc., we did not have the right picture until we were contacted by ...

Grace G.

Vernicia and Rachel helped me buy and sell my home. After interviewing multiple teams. I knew with V's communication and Rachel's vast knowledge of the real estate market that Greenwood Residential would be the best choice for ...

Azelma R.

Great communication and expertise at every step of the process! I had a complicated situation, and Rachel was able to make my dream possible with compassion and good humor. I would highly recommend it!

Phil M.

Having spent her life in the Wake/Harnett County area, Cayla has an incredible knowledge of the local market. She works tirelessly to identify potential purchase opportunities and listens intently to the desires of the buyer. I...

Barbara G.

Cayla led me to my dream home! She was very helpful in finding what I wanted where I wanted and on time. She is great to work with. I highly recommend Cayla!

Subash S.

Cayla was assigned by Zillow. On the very first day, I requested her for a Townhome visit on a specific day, she was able to schedule the visit, whereas other agents could not. That was the first impression and that is importan...

Shady R.

Rachel is fantastic when working with you to find what you are looking for. She is good and selecting homes that fit your requirements. Rachel is fantastic for a local who knows the laws and stipulations for NC when relocating.

Buyer & Seller

Across the country, to an area I wasn't the most familiar with. I inquired on their website with details of what I was looking for and within minutes was paired with an amazing realtor on their team. Cayla was amazing. She walk...

Stacey P.

I was shopping for a new house in NC but with little success. My daughter's daughter recommended a realtor, Cayla Morris. Whom she and husband used to purchase their house. As soon as met Cayla I realized I'd found the right re...

David M.

After working with Rachel to sell my home in 2022, I was convinced that she's the only realtor I’ll ever need. Since then, I’ve bought two properties and sold one, and with each process, Rachel's knowledge, professionalism and ...

Leanne L.

From early on when we were still in California, Cayla worked hard to keep in contact and send us listings to try to find out what we would be looking for when we arrived. When we were ready to start looking for our home, she wa...

James T.

My wife and I had a dream of downsizing from our house in Chapel Hill into a small condo closer to where we work and play in Durham. Rachel and her skilled team helped make that dream a reality. The sale went smoothly, and we j...

Mahlet

Rachel is amazing! So helpful, so quick, and knowledgeable! I am so grateful for crossing paths, I have gained so much! For all your advice and your incredibly positive attitude in approaching the current stressful real estate ...

Chris I.

Rachel is always highly responsive and dedicated to making the sales process as smooth as possible. She is an excellent client advocate and provides invaluable knowledge and experience when negotiating with sellers and builders.

Work With Us

Their deeply empathetic nature, honed through personal experiences, allows them to approach each client's journey with compassion, understanding, and a genuine desire to guide them through one of life's most significant transitions. As a team, they work together to provide exceptional service and ensure that every client receives the personalized attention they deserve.

Seller's Guide