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.
Karl M.

Karl M.

Very professional with a personal touch. Very knowledgeable and thorough. You will not be disappointed.
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Buyer

Buyer

Laura was always available to us. She was patient with us and provided sound advice as we found our way through the heated market.
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Michael C.

Michael C.

Joe was brilliant in the purchase of my house, I can honestly say without him it wouldn’t have happened. Great guy, who couldn’t do enough for me.
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Rachel M.

Rachel M.

Joe made my home-buying experience a breeze. Always available with answers and requests, easygoing, easy to work with, and super knowledgeable! Thank you, Joe!
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Gail G.

Gail G.

Joe was wonderful! He helped me with the purchase of my new home! Going over and above to find me the right home! I would highly recommend him to anyone who is looking to buy or sale a home! Great person!
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Megan W.

Megan W.

From start to finish, Laura was extremely helpful, knowledgeable, supportive, and felt like family! She truly helped us find our perfect first home. Her team’s communication is unmatched and we are so appreciative!
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Tom W.

Tom W.

Laura was always on time and responded whenever I had a question. She really is just a phone call away whenever I needed her. She’s amazing. When things got tough she was always there to help me. She takes her job very seriously!
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Seller

Seller

Joe and his team went above and beyond to help us sell our house. There was no guesswork as all steps were laid out without any questions. They were super helpful when it came to the small questions as well as the big ones. Hig...
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Nicole A.

Nicole A.

This was the first home we bought. Definitely helped every step of the way and answered any questions we had. Very helpful. Made the process of buying a house so much better having someone that is very knowledgeable and guided ...
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Mru & Avi P.

Mru & Avi P.

We hired Joe and Laura Millslagle after our last agent failed to get our house sold. They got the job done in 3 months and they were always there for our phone calls and texts. They are friendly and helpful. We still call them ...
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Kevin & Joanne D.

Kevin & Joanne D.

Laura is the personification of value-added service excellence. In Laura, we found a truly client-centered approach marked by effective communication, creative problem-solving, professional integrity, boundless energy, a positi...
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Wed G.

Wed G.

The best Real Estate Agent ever. We have bought and sold 15 times in our lives and Joe was the most confident and patient agent we have ever seen. He is very knowledgeable about all aspects of his job. Starting with the search ...
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Susan C.

Susan C.

Laura and her husband Joe were absolutely awesome, helping me find my new condo! They worked tirelessly over a period of months, finding listings for me and showing me each one. They were my advocates in the closing and even re...
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Jordan W.

Jordan W.

As a first-time home buyer, I wasn't really sure how to go forward with anything. I knew Joe was known as a very reliable and established Realtor® I've only heard good things. I reached out to him and he got me exactly what I w...
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Seller

Seller

We have sold a few homes with Joe and Laura Millslagle and they always make the process a great experience. From the moment we decided to sell they were helpful and there to guide us through each step to get us through a succes...
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Daward

Daward

I am a tech support specialist and I am in no way a mortgage broker or real estate agent. Joe made the entire process very easy by breaking things down in terms that I could understand. He was friendly and courteous, well-dress...
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Wendy Q.

Wendy Q.

Joe and his team went above and beyond for myself and my family, I was in the process of moving from SD to Florida and couldn’t make it down to see the house so he did all tours with me, he also went to our new home after purch...
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Seller

Seller

Trying to buy a home and living in another state is not an easy task, you need a guy like Joe. He was our eyes, looking at pictures on the computer just doesn't cut it. We tased with Joe at length on what we were looking for an...
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Clyde G.

Clyde G.

Trying to buy a home and living in another state is not an easy task, you need a guy like Joe. He was our eyes, looking at pictures on the computer just doesn't cut it we tased with Joe at length about what we were looking for ...
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Randi E.

Randi E.

We are a transitioning military family who have never purchased a home, until now. We left Hawaii and moved to Florida not knowing anything about the area. We are from CA originally and my husband’s job brought us to Sarasota. ...
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We hold ourselves accountable for the highest standard of luxury service, and we specialize in buying, selling and investing in real estate in Southwest Florida with an emphasis on Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough, Pinellas & Charlotte County. Given our love for real estate, this area, and our community, you can rely on us to be your one-stop shop for any and all of your real estate needs.

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