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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 real estate agent 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, I 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 real estate agent 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
Margaret V.

Margaret V.

Joanie is a fantastic realtor; she helped us find the perfect subdivision, and was always there when we needed help dealing with the builder. I’m disabled and she came to my apartment to photograph and measure accommodations I ...
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Loretta V.

Loretta V.

Joanie Rish is one of the most outstanding persons I know and the best realtor I have ever worked with. She not only helped me sell my house in San Antonio quickly at a great price. Before we put my house on the market in SA, s...
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Stephanie

Stephanie

Joanie helped us find our first home. We knew little about the home buying experience and she guided us throughout the whole process. She was honest and stated her opinions on each house we saw; we knew what would be good for r...
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Patricia V.

Patricia V.

Joanie, goes the extra mile in locating properties for her clients. She is thorough when complex situtations come up in the selling process. You can rely on her!
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Brett H.

Brett H.

Joanie put in the time and effort required to find us our new to us home in Kerrville (relocated from Houston). This happened in November 2023 it was a very difficult market inventory was really low. She was knowledgeable and p...
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Kyle S.

Kyle S.

Joanie Rish is very detailed oriented. Stays on top of everything. Good communication. Honest, friendly, and determined to help with your sale.
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Bradley B.

Bradley B.

Joanie is an awesomely organized real estate agent with a sound knowledge of San Antonio (and surrounding areas) real estate market! Our entire home purchase flew through without a hitch from the day we decided on it until we r...
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Debra M.

Debra M.

It is a pleasure doing business with Joanie. She was a great help to us before and after closing-by giving us choices for an inspection and to get appliances removed and installed. And they were good people to work with, too. W...
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Kristi D.

Kristi D.

Joanie has gone above and beyond for us to make sure that our home buying experience has been a positive and smooth process. She always makes herself available when we need her and keeps in constant communication with the build...
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John K.

John K.

Joanie was wonderful to work with. She went beyond the call of duty to assist in the process of selling my house of twenty six years and to purchase a new town house. Friends had recommended Joanie because of their good experie...
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James C.

James C.

Awesome! Great experience from start to finish. Using a professional realtor with experience equals a smooth transition from selling to buying. Joanie brings well-rounded expertise to help with your real estate journey! Thanks ...
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Ida W.

Ida W.

Joanie Rish of Team Rish sold our home for the price asked. She provided us with marketing information, how to present our home, confidence, and full support for a successful sale. In our opinion, she is a top-choice profession...
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Buyer

Buyer

Joanie has always been very helpful and incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to residential real estate analysis and assessments. She is energetic and always takes the time to find the property that is right for you and your ...
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Olga J.

Olga J.

It was important to choose a real estate professional with experience. Joanie is highly motivated with an extensive background in property selling/buying and a long list of prospective clients. Highly recommended!
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Evelyn S.

Evelyn S.

Joanie was my realtor in both buying my new home and selling my existing one. The whole experience was painless. She was very knowledgeable about downsizing and finding a home to meet my needs. I highly recommend her.
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Faye M.

Faye M.

Joanie is so wonderful! She was with us every step of the way! Joanie helped us with some very important decisions and informed us about things that we had no knowledge of! Took a whole day to drive us to Round Rock to see the ...
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John H.

John H.

Joanie is an amazing person to work with. She is a no-bull kinda of person. She truly has your interest in mind the whole time. She has made the buying experience every easy and pleasant. We are in our second home, Joanie has f...
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Hope R.

Hope R.

Joanie Rish was very attentive to our buying and selling needs and very professional. She helped us when buying our second home, she advised, listened, and provided good insight regarding the best areas suited to our needs. Als...
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James W.

James W.

Joanie represented my father-in-law. He was moving to Katy, TX., but was unsure when his new home would be completed. She found a buyer and negotiated a lease-back from the buyer until my father-in-law could move. It was a win-...
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Chad L.

Chad L.

Working with Joanie Rish has just been amazing! The hard work and attention to detail she puts into helping us find the perfect home are simply outstanding. We will never deviate from Joanie until we find our spot. I highly rec...
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Let’s Make Your Next Move the Right One

If you're considering buying or selling a property in San Antonio, or if you’d like to learn more about the innovative opportunities at eXp Realty, Joanie would be delighted to connect and help you achieve your real estate goals.

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