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 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. 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 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. 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 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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Greg G.

Judy is a great combination of business acumen, experience, and personal skills. It's always a pleasure to work with her.
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Victor S.

Judy was amazing to work with she helped us every step of the way truly glad we found her. kept us in the loop of any and all options, my wife was really happy with the communication and all the information she gave us.
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Eleanor W.

Judy Jernigan is a very knowledgeable, caring, and a patient person who seems to love her job working with people to help them find a home they will love! Thanks so much, Judy, I know my family will be very happy in the new hom...
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Very helpful and professional! An absolute joy to work with! Will definitely recommend Judy to anyone looking for an agent who responds quickly and is always seeking to make your process a pleasant experience! I now consider he...
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Geoff S.

Judy is one of the most detail-oriented and focused REALTORs I know. She works tirelessly, puts together winning contracts, and fights hard for her clients. I cannot recommend Judy strongly enough. Put your faith in her when bu...
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Margaret S.

I have bought and sold many homes, but found Judy to be the most pleasant and professional agent I have ever dealt with! She showed us many houses but never complained, and was always available when we needed her. I would highl...
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Eric K.

Eric K.

Judy helped my family find a home in Atlanta and she was amazing. We were new to the city and she helped guide us to find a home in a challenging housing market. She really went the extra mile to help us through our first home ...
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Mary Beth Metzger-S.

Mary Beth Metzger-S.

If I could give Judy a hundred stars I would. One of the hardest-working people I’ve ever worked with. She gets to know your dreams, and what’s important to you and makes them her goal. Just thinking about questions prompts her...
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Suzy E.

Suzy E.

My husband and I reached out to Judy for help finding the right REALTOR in our area. We had difficulty finding the right person to help us get a house on the lake. We knew Judy could help us. She used her expertise and network ...
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Chris L.

Chris L.

Judy is very helpful and professional! She went above and beyond to walk us through the homebuying process and and was always available to answer questions and show us properties. She is very detail oriented and always knew wha...
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Susan Y.

Susan Y.

Judy helped me through the emotional process of finding a home in Forsyth County as I was in the process of selling my home in Pawleys Island, SC. I couldn't have been in better hands. She is kind, patient, knowledgeable and ge...
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Mitchell M.

Mitchell M.

I recently closed a house in Winston-Salem. Judy Jernigan, my REALTOR, provided immeasurable assistance in the process, negotiating the price down by $10K, and getting the sellers to agree to $6K in closing costs and a one-year...
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Kristy K.

Kristy K.

Judy was skilled in relocating her clients from Chicago on a tight timeline. Not only did she explain the home buying process in detail, she was there every step of the way to assist with interactions with other professionals (...
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Mike M.

Mike M.

Had an excellent experience purchasing my first home with Judy's help recently. She is the perfect blend of personable and professional, and a personal touch of hers that I really appreciated was the different videos that she w...
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Susan S.

Susan S.

I contacted Judy last year before I was prepared to sell my home in Pawleys Island. She sent me real estate information weekly and showed me properties when I came up to visit family. Through changing criteria and panic that my...
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Clifford C.

Clifford C.

My wife and I think Judy was nothing short of amazing. From day one, she was quite informative, skillful, helpful, and client-oriented. Our experience with her was quite a breath of fresh air compared to a previous failed purch...
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Clint D.

Clint D.

"I have stared at my laptop screen, deleting and retyping, to write the perfect first line in a recommendation for Judy Stone, and the word “best” keeps appearing behind the cursor in every iteration of this sentence. Not only ...
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Rhonda C.

Rhonda C.

Selling my house was a very emotional experience. We lost our home of 31 years and everything we owned (including our beloved pets) to a fire last July. We decided to not move back into our beautifully rebuilt house, but rather...
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Marvin D.

Marvin D.

I had the pleasure of working with Kristy while searching for a condo in downtown Atlanta, and I must say, her expertise, professionalism, and genuine care made my experience nothing short of exceptional. She went the extra mil...
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