Sellers

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 Julie 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 Julie so 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. Julie Thomas has the expertise to 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

You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Julie will develop a marketing strategy that is perfect for advertising your home to maximize your home’s exposure which will attract the most buyers to 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. Julie creates a marketing campaign that aims to get the most possible traffic to your listing in the first couple of weeks after going on the market.

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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 or request for proof of funds if they are a cash buyer 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, contingencies, settlement date, etc. When both parties have agreed to the terms, a final contract will be prepared and signed by both parties.

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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. Julie 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 Closing Attorney 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. You will meet with the closing attorney 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 Julie 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. Per the Offer to Purchase Contract, all utilities must remain on in the seller's name until after we are closed and the deed has been recorded with the Register of Deeds.

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.

My Testimonials

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Ryan B.

Ryan B.

Julie Thomas is a pleasure to work with. From the onset, Julie made it a point to understand our motivation and desire to list our property. At our first meeting Julie provided a wealth of information to back up her suggested l...
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Eric & Anita T.

Eric & Anita T.

Julie Thomas was the first Realtor® to contact us after we took our house off the market after previously trying to sell it She was very nice, not pushy, but diligent and kept in touch with us. She was very knowledgeable and pr...
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Cathy M.

Cathy M.

Julie Thomas provided an excellent experience that exceeded my expectations. I was interested in purchasing a second home and had limited time to be in Wilmington, NC to explore properties. Julie made the entire process painles...
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Ronald P.

Ronald P.

Julie considered what we were looking for and the price range and found the location she thought we were interested in. We would also call her with properties that we were interested to see and she was always available. Julie s...
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Wendy Y.

Wendy Y.

Right from the beginning, I felt that Julie understood what we wanted and that we could rely on her completely. It was a challenge and required quite a bit of patience as my husband and I had very different ideas of what we wan...
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Alex H.

Alex H.

It was a pleasure working with Julie, she always responded in a timely manner and ensured that all of our questions and needs were handled appropriately. Julie was flexible and available when needed to go visit the property whi...
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Allie W.

Allie W.

I truly appreciated Julie's patience and her persistence in helping me find my first home. She was always available when I needed her and was extremely helpful in securing last-minute showings. I will recommend her to friends a...
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Sherry P.

Sherry P.

Julie did a great job taking on the sale of our home and advertising and getting us the price we needed in a timely manner. She understands the market and was able to explain it to us in Lay terms. She did a fantastic job for u...
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Josh R.

Josh R.

Julie was great every step of the way. She was in constant contact with us, worked with our schedule, and made this process less stressful.
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Christopher Z.

Christopher Z.

Julie was perfect I would highly recommend her to anyone who needs an agent.
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William & Linda B.

William & Linda B.

Highly recommend Julie. Made the real estate process easy and quick.
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Sylvie P.

Sylvie P.

Julie Thomas has shown excellent skills of communication from Day One to the end. She was very keen on having due diligence fee right away. Julie did not hesitate to help and took the time to go to the place to receive contra...
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Tracy W.

Tracy W.

Julie Thomas was awesome! She listened to what I wanted and where I wanted and only sent me listings in those areas. That was truly appreciated! Julie Thomas and I communicated at times during this process and it didn't matter...
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The Guy Family

The Guy Family

We've worked with multiple realtors on multiple properties over the last 10 years. Julie was ,by far, the most attentive and competent realtor we have ever had the pleasure of working with.
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Juan E.

Juan E.

Julie was very knowledgeable of the area and made our home buying experience as easy as possible. She was very involved in making sure we got the best deal we could get for our new home. Highly recommend Julie!
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Patrick & Emily H.

Patrick & Emily H.

Julie Is super kind and is there for you anytime day or night!! She would help us on weekends or anytime we needed her she was always there. She made this process a lot easier on us. Her knowledge and skills were pivotal in us ...
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Kim C.

Kim C.

We have purchased a house with Julie Thomas' help, we have sold a house with Julie's help, and are in the process of buying another house with Julie's help! We are always confident that she had our best interest in mind. She a ...
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Cathy M.

Cathy M.

Julie Thomas is top notch. Julie helped me find and purchase a condo in 2017 and a home in 2020. She always had my best interest in mind and advocated on my behalf. She was always responsive to my questions and met my schedulin...
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Eric & Vicky J.

Eric & Vicky J.

Julie Thomas produced a quick sale for friends, and based on that we chose her to sell our home of 30 years. Her marketing plan and accurate pricing strategy produced 50plus showings in 5 days and multiple offers. Would highly ...
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Robert & Lisa A.

Robert & Lisa A.

Julie is very strategic and well organized . Blend personality with professionalism which will help ease anxiety clients may be experiencing through the process
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