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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 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.
James L.

James L.

I listed my home in January of this year with a reputable real estate firm. After 6 months and no offers I called Pete Boesen with Keller Williams. Pete and the huge network that is Keller Williams and house was sold in 2 weeks...
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Kathryn T.

Kathryn T.

Gracious and professional, Team Michael delivered one hundred at ten percent! Everything from the outstanding marketing to their dedication to open houses and constant communication with us was top notch. Their Commitment to th...
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Paul E.

Paul E.

I highly recommend Gene Hayes, realtor extraordinaire! He represented me on the sale and purchase of my homes. I have never had a realtor work so hard. He always had my back, from Open Houses to Closings. You can’t go wrong wit...
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Julie & Mark M.

Julie & Mark M.

Our listing had expired with another Realtor at the end of April and had been on the market for the entire "selling" season but since it didn't sell, we had planned to not re-list until the next "selling" season. That all chang...
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Mary B.

Mary B.

Gene is the guy you are looking for. if honesty, trust and follow through are important to you as you work to buy or sell a home. Gene is one of the most understanding and compassionate people I have ever met. His hard work, co...
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Barry B. & Tim T.

Barry B. & Tim T.

Gene Hays worked with us both buying and selling our properties! He, without a doubt having bought and sold many other properties, gene worked tirelessly to make these transactions work with very little effort on our part ! Gen...
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Brian & Judith H.

Brian & Judith H.

Michael and team had multiple offers and sold our Rancho Mirage home in less than a week. Michael sold us a wonderful mid century home in South Palm Desert and we needed to sell our Rancho Mirage home fast. They performed and w...
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Doug U.

Doug U.

Michael Hilgenberg and Team Michael did an excellent job in selling my estate home in Rancho Mirage and smack-dab in the middle of a pandemic. I had listed my estate with another national franchised firm for 6 months without mu...
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Bill F.

Bill F.

I have been working with Gene Hays for about six months now. He is one of the best agents I've worked with since deciding to relocate to Palm Springs. I have called him on numerous occasions to discuss an issue and he always an...
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Gary & Bob W.

Gary & Bob W.

We met Alison at an open house. The property didn't interest us, but Alison did. She proved to be as good for us as we thought she would be. For example, she was the only realtor who seemed to value all the improvements we made...
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At Team Michael Hilgenberg, we go beyond buying and selling homes—we provide a bespoke real estate experience built on trust, expertise, and results. We deliver unparalleled service to make your journey seamless.

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