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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 REALTOR® 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, 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. 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 REALTOR® 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.

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Toby C.
Khanh L.
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Joel F.
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Buyer
Sara R.
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Sara C.
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Kenneth D.
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WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Florence was the best gift I got in 2020. Talk about classy, knowledgeable, kind, honest, and a woman of her word. She is the epitome of perfectionism when it comes to realtors and what the bar should be set at for others to strive to work towards. I didn’t think I needed a realtor for new construction but was I wrong! Florence was there to probe the builder and ensure they were on time, doing what they ...

— Stephanie S.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Florence is hands down the best at what she does. She is the epitome of professionalism and efficiency. She made my entire experience seamless and stress-free. She always got back to me if not instantly, within a reasonable time frame. She is trustworthy and the absolute sweetest person. I would recommend her 110% to anyone looking for a REALTOR. Literally the best. Thank you, Florence. Thank you for eve...

— Chelsea W.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Florence is an exceptional agent. She went above and beyond for us before and during closing. I absolutely recommend.

— Seun A.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Florence is absolutely amazing. I could not ask for better. She made our experience easy and worry free. She went out of her way to make sure every step of the way was easy and worry free.

— Trista B.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Florence is the best REALTOR out there. I always looked at her work and admired how knowledgeable she is. I knew one day I wanted to work with her. So when we decided to sell I immediately contacted her and it was the best decision we made. She is super professional, on point, organized, she truly knows what she’s doing and she will go above and beyond for you. She will work until she makes it happen. We...

— Neysha H.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

We have used Florence as our real estate agent for both buying and the selling of our home. We have been pleased with her efforts each time. She is always available, is an excellent communicator, and will work quickly to answer your questions or resolve any issues. When we bought our home we were first-time home buyers and she was very patient with us and helped us navigate this big step in our life. Whe...

— Brittany P.

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What Florence does is essentially magic. My husband and I found Florence through an Instagram search of Orlando REALTOR and I am so grateful for how much our lives have changed because of one simple action; Florence is the entire reason my family was able to find our first home. Florence and her dedicated team member, Bhavna, took their entire weekend to tour multiple houses for my husband and me (we are...

— Laura P.

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My fiancé and I moved to central FL in hopes of finding a home in the Winter Garden area with limited knowledge of the home buying process and with fears that we may have already been priced out of the area. Florence was recommended to us by some friends who were recent clients of hers with ringing endorsements all around. Florence did NOT disappoint. Florence is professional in every sense of the word. ...

— Toby C.

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We are out of town investors and were looking for a reliable real estate agent. Florence was extremely professional, replied to email/text/call instantly, hard working, and very knowledgeable about the market. By the way, she is a beast at getting comps data for your decision making. Florence will always have her clients' best interest as her top priority. Working with Florence and her team has been a re...

— Khanh L.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

If you're not working with Florence, you should be. Florence has a high attention to detail matched with a strong, working knowledge of the area and superior customer service skills. While other REALTOR may show up at showing and closing, Florence is present throughout the process always working to be sure her clients are well prepared and ready to purchase. Buying or selling, Florence is the REALTOR you...

— Christina C.

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We had a client in Maryland that wanted to continue their real estate investing journey in FL, and we were able to connect to Florence, and she and her team absolutely knocked it out of the park for us. Constant communication and updates as we navigated the home search process and the actual contract and home loan process. I would highly recommend if one needs guidance on the Short term rentals.

— Joel F.

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Florence is absolutely amazing at her job. She worked tirelessly to help my husband and I sell our townhouse and buy a new construction home. We fully believe that we would not have been able to do all of this without her expertise and help. She is so wonderful and I highly recommend her if you are in need of a REALTOR.

— Racheal C.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Florence is the absolute best. My husband and I bought our first home with her and she just helped us sell our home. She made the whole experience such a breeze. She explained everything to us newbies in a way that we would understand. If you don’t use her as you're REALTOR you are crazy. She is the best in the business and you can’t change my mind.

— Alyssa W.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Florence actually made house hunting fun. She really dialed into what we were looking for and we found a house in a few days. We started this journey expecting it to be painful and prolonged and we never expected that having Florence by our side actually make it fun and exciting. Look no further if you're in the market to buy a house. Florence is the one for you.

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

We all know that buying a home can be stressful, but with Flo by our side, it was an amazing experience. She is not only kind and professional, but she's definitely on top of her game. She was in constant communication with us, answered all of our questions throughout the process, and of course, got us the home of our dreams. Not only was her service 5 stars, but her entire team was extremely pleasant to...

— Sara R.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

It’s very rare that you come across people who have your best interest at heart and are genuinely there to help you, especially through such an important process as buying a home. Florence was with us along the whole way and the sole reason we were able to find our dream home. She was always ten steps ahead and there to answer any questions we had. She always kept our needs and wants at the forefront. He...

— Sylwia B.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Best REALTOR in the game, hands down. Her professionalism and work ethic is unmatched and her team works as fluently as she does. She is extremely detailed in her work and her communication is just as important to her as it is to you. With her impressive skills and dedication to the grind, she found us our beautiful home in our dream location. It’s a competitive market out there, but her negotiating tact...

— Sara C.

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Most wonderful REALTOR we've ever dealt with. So accommodating and helpful with everything. It was a simple and quick process and felt actually fun. Highly recommended.

— Xavier B.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Absolutely a pleasure to work with. So attentive to our needs and went above and beyond for my family and I. Will recommend her, always.

— Jezabel H.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

This was our first time buying an investment property. Florence and Bhavna was the dream team. They made the experience flawless. We are looking to buy another home and we are looking forward to working with the Dream Team again.

— Kenneth D.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY

Florence is not just a REALTOR. She is trustworthy friend who gets the job done. We were going through tough time on the personal front through the buying process and Florence took all the buying stress away by understanding what we were looking for and helping us get the perfect home. She video taped open homes and shared it with us so we could continue shopping while not in the country. She valued our ...

— Sanjay R

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