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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 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.

Testimonials

"Evan was absolutely amazing to work with throughout the entire home-buying process. He was knowledgeable, diligent, and always there to answer any questions I had. He is also an intrinsically kind individual, and genuinely cared about finding me my perfect home, and my wants and wishes. I cannot recommend him enough to anyone looking to find a home."
"Evan was absolutely amazing to work with throughout the entire home-buying process. He was knowledgeable, diligent, and always there to answer any questions I had. He is also an intrinsically kind individual, and genuinely cared about finding me my perfect home, and my wants and wishes. I cannot recommend him enough to anyone looking to find a home."
Katherine K.
"We recently worked with Evan, he was knowledgable, efficient, and motivated to help meet our specific needs. Highly recommend him for prospective buyers and sellers."
"We recently worked with Evan, he was knowledgable, efficient, and motivated to help meet our specific needs. Highly recommend him for prospective buyers and sellers."
Ofer P.
"Evan is amazing! We discovered him on Zillow, and after a few interactions, we chose to collaborate with him. Working with Evan has been a fantastic experience, and we're incredibly grateful for the opportunity. He's trustworthy, proactive, responsive, and played a pivotal role in helping us emerge victorious in a competitive bidding war. Evan excels in communication, ensuring every detail is addressed promptly. He guided us seamlessly through the closing process, even amidst a tight timeline requested by the seller. Highly recommend!"
"Evan is amazing! We discovered him on Zillow, and after a few interactions, we chose to collaborate with him. Working with Evan has been a fantastic experience, and we're incredibly grateful for the opportunity. He's trustworthy, proactive, responsive, and played a pivotal role in helping us emerge victorious in a competitive bidding war. Evan excels in communication, ensuring every detail is addressed promptly. He guided us seamlessly through the closing process, even amidst a tight timeline requested by the seller. Highly recommend!"
Diana
"Evan did an outstanding job representing us. From arranging for showings to accurately assessing value with comps he was an amazing resource. What set Evan apart is his thoroughness and orientation to detail. They way he “kicked the tires and looked under the hood” of every house gave us confidence in the accuracy of the assessments we made of the value of the houses we looked at."
"Evan did an outstanding job representing us. From arranging for showings to accurately assessing value with comps he was an amazing resource. What set Evan apart is his thoroughness and orientation to detail. They way he “kicked the tires and looked under the hood” of every house gave us confidence in the accuracy of the assessments we made of the value of the houses we looked at."
Eric G.
"Evan was so helpful and professional. Extremely knowledgeable and took the time to view tons of properties while helping keep our 1 year old entertained! Never applied any pressure and fought for us hard at the negotiating table. Couldn’t recommend more!"
"Evan was so helpful and professional. Extremely knowledgeable and took the time to view tons of properties while helping keep our 1 year old entertained! Never applied any pressure and fought for us hard at the negotiating table. Couldn’t recommend more!"
Buyer
"Evan did an outstanding job helping me in my first home buying experience. By the end of our process, we had developed a great relationship and I felt very comfortable with Evan. Regardless of the time of day, Evan always made sure he got back to me. We had many late night phone calls and I appreciated his commitment to helping me find my home. For me, it was an enduring process that ended up taking about six months. He stuck with me the entire time and did not waver. I highly recommend Evan to any and all home buyers in the greater Boston area."
"Evan did an outstanding job helping me in my first home buying experience. By the end of our process, we had developed a great relationship and I felt very comfortable with Evan. Regardless of the time of day, Evan always made sure he got back to me. We had many late night phone calls and I appreciated his commitment to helping me find my home. For me, it was an enduring process that ended up taking about six months. He stuck with me the entire time and did not waver. I highly recommend Evan to any and all home buyers in the greater Boston area."
Droney M.
"During the Spring of 2022, we began to search for a downsized home in the Newton and Needham housing market and were fortunate to have Evan Blaustein navigate us through a very difficult buyer's market. He always helped us respond promptly to leads and he gave us excellent judgments on the quality and price of each house. He always looked after our needs and helped us to shape our buying strategy. Throughout he was knowledgeable, ethical, and patient. He wanted the best for us rather than a quick commission for himself. When we found a house to meet our needs, he negotiated a lower price which we had never expected. Anyone purchasing a house would be lucky to have Evan by their side."
"During the Spring of 2022, we began to search for a downsized home in the Newton and Needham housing market and were fortunate to have Evan Blaustein navigate us through a very difficult buyer's market. He always helped us respond promptly to leads and he gave us excellent judgments on the quality and price of each house. He always looked after our needs and helped us to shape our buying strategy. Throughout he was knowledgeable, ethical, and patient. He wanted the best for us rather than a quick commission for himself. When we found a house to meet our needs, he negotiated a lower price which we had never expected. Anyone purchasing a house would be lucky to have Evan by their side."
Jody & Bobby B.
"Evan helped us find and buy our needle-in-a-haystack perfect home. He rigorously represented our interests during offer, P and S, punch list and closing negotiations. With the seller he was detail oriented, persistent and professional. He was responsive and reliable patient when we were ambivalent and fast when we needed to act."
"Evan helped us find and buy our needle-in-a-haystack perfect home. He rigorously represented our interests during offer, P and S, punch list and closing negotiations. With the seller he was detail oriented, persistent and professional. He was responsive and reliable patient when we were ambivalent and fast when we needed to act."
Alex W.
"Evan was an incredible resource, guide and leader throughout our process. This was an incredibly difficult market to navigate as a buyer and We could not have done it without Evan. He brought strategic problem solving skills to each issue and situation that we faced. He also kept us calm and grounded. We are so grateful for his support and expertise."
"Evan was an incredible resource, guide and leader throughout our process. This was an incredibly difficult market to navigate as a buyer and We could not have done it without Evan. He brought strategic problem solving skills to each issue and situation that we faced. He also kept us calm and grounded. We are so grateful for his support and expertise."
Conway H.
"We don’t know how we got so lucky with Evan, but we truly cannot imagine going through the grueling process of finding our dream house in the pandemic market without him. Having worked with him to find our rental in Brookline and knowing his work ethic, we trusted Evan completely. He is responsive, timely, organized, and knowledgeable. He has an extensive knowledge of the Boston market and his finger is on the pulse of the rapidly-shifting, redhot pandemic market. After getting some idea of what we were looking for, we hit the road without wasting any time. He was there with us, week after week, always trying his best to be available to view houses with us. He did not let any opportunity go to waste. If the house next to an open house was on the market, he would immediately make some phone calls to get us in for viewing. COVID restrictions did not stop him, busy schedules, distances, even the snow did not stop him. In this extremely competitive market, Evan knew the persistence it took, and persistence he had. In fact, he knew when we were getting antsy and wanting to making panic offers, and he would convincingly talk us off the ledge and prevent us from making hasty decisions. What was most impressive to me was that not making an offer meant more work and effort on Evan’s part - more days spent on the road looking at other houses, more research and communications on our behalf, more time spent on us instead of a new client. But Evan’s goal was not to make the most money in the shortest time possible, he cared more about helping us make the right decisions; his clients’ satisfaction mattered most to him. Evan’s also a master negotiator. We knew people were waiving inspections, paying in cash, making offers way above ask. We were worried that we wouldn’t even get close to negotiating a deal. But with Evan’s smart-negotiating, people skills, persistence and his wealth of experience, we were able to get our inspection and draw up a very competitive offer, and buy a house that we not only loved but also knew was a valuable, worthwhile investment. Throughout the months of searching and waiting, Evan was always reachable by call or by email. No question was too insignificant and no concern was below him. He was our guy. At his recommendation, we also had awesome experiences with services such as top-notch lender, attorney, home inspector and movers. We cannot recommend Evan highly enough. He was our indispensable team member, coach and guide. We are deeply grateful to him and would recommend him as the best realtor we’ve ever worked with!"
"We don’t know how we got so lucky with Evan, but we truly cannot imagine going through the grueling process of finding our dream house in the pandemic market without him. Having worked with him to find our rental in Brookline and knowing his work ethic, we trusted Evan completely. He is responsive, timely, organized, and knowledgeable. He has an extensive knowledge of the Boston market and his finger is on the pulse of the rapidly-shifting, redhot pandemic market. After getting some idea of what we were looking for, we hit the road without wasting any time. He was there with us, week after week, always trying his best to be available to view houses with us. He did not let any opportunity go to waste. If the house next to an open house was on the market, he would immediately make some phone calls to get us in for viewing. COVID restrictions did not stop him, busy schedules, distances, even the snow did not stop him. In this extremely competitive market, Evan knew the persistence it took, and persistence he had. In fact, he knew when we were getting antsy and wanting to making panic offers, and he would convincingly talk us off the ledge and prevent us from making hasty decisions. What was most impressive to me was that not making an offer meant more work and effort on Evan’s part - more days spent on the road looking at other houses, more research and communications on our behalf, more time spent on us instead of a new client. But Evan’s goal was not to make the most money in the shortest time possible, he cared more about helping us make the right decisions; his clients’ satisfaction mattered most to him. Evan’s also a master negotiator. We knew people were waiving inspections, paying in cash, making offers way above ask. We were worried that we wouldn’t even get close to negotiating a deal. But with Evan’s smart-negotiating, people skills, persistence and his wealth of experience, we were able to get our inspection and draw up a very competitive offer, and buy a house that we not only loved but also knew was a valuable, worthwhile investment. Throughout the months of searching and waiting, Evan was always reachable by call or by email. No question was too insignificant and no concern was below him. He was our guy. At his recommendation, we also had awesome experiences with services such as top-notch lender, attorney, home inspector and movers. We cannot recommend Evan highly enough. He was our indispensable team member, coach and guide. We are deeply grateful to him and would recommend him as the best realtor we’ve ever worked with!"
Maggie Q.

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