Seller's Guide

A Step-by-Step 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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Testimonials

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Alexis

Shannon made the process of buying my first home simple and painless. She always was accessible and had recommendations for everything that I needed. I could not be more satisfied and have already recommended her to others.

John

Shannon assisted me in selling two properties (my primary residence and a rental unit). They sold very quickly and the process was very easy. I also worked with Shannon to acquire my new primary residence. An overall excellent ...

Chris L.

Shannon is one of the best Realtors® out there, her knowledge of the industry proved to be a valuable asset to have. She worked harder than anyone else for me and never took no for an answer. Her motivation and drive were ultim...

John & Yue

Shannon is a great agent. She is very patient and not pushy at all. She listens and understands our expectations and was able to return with great properties within a very short time. She is also very knowledgeable about pricin...

Kevin & Joanna

We have worked with Shannon since 2009. She has listed and sold several condos for us and has also helped us with rental units. She has a firm grasp of the real estate market and our selling prices have exceeded our expectation...

Alan M.

Shannon was a delight to work with. She was very responsive to the questions I had about the home we were looking to purchase and she worked well with the owner’s representatives and my attorney’s. I have made over a dozen real...

Margaret

Shannon was very professional and pleasant. I would always get an immediate response when I reached out to her, which is very important to me. I purchased a condo in the North End that Shannon listed which already had an accept...

Kayla

I worked with Shannon in 2011 when I moved back to Boston and then again in 2014 in my search for an amazing apartment at Harbor Towers. I most recently worked with Shannon in the search and purchase of my first home. She liste...

Susan & Michael

Shannon Lavin made us feel very comfortable throughout the entire experience of buying a home and never made us feel any pressure. She was extremely helpful with answering all of our questions and concerns that we faced through...

Luke

Shannon has helped me with several real estate transactions - both helping to rent an investment property as well as acting as my listing agent as a seller. I cannot say enough positive things about Shannon. Her professionalism...

Misha

Shannon represented us for the sale of our Harbor Towers luxury condo. Suffice it to say that she is worthy of all the superlative adjectives that others have expressed. She was a true partner in our real estate endeavor, a rea...

Joe & Emily

Shannon was an absolute joy to work with to purchase our Boston condo. She is extremely knowledgeable and professional, and we are thrilled to have had such a fabulous broker. She has excellent negotiation skills and successful...

Nate & Kate

My wife and I purchased a 1 bedroom in the North End. Shannon was an invaluable resource: extremely responsive, highly knowledgeable of the North End market, and very aggressive (in a very good way!) re: offers and counter-offe...

Niki

Have you ever come across a real estate agent who refuses to overbid for a property, even when their client is demanding to overpay? Over the year and a half that I worked with Shannon, she repeatedly amazed me with her commitm...

Cathy

I met Shannon approximately 5 years ago when she began renting my two apartments for me. Since meeting her, I continue to utilize her services for renting me. Her expertise has exceeded all my expectations. For example, when I ...

Siobhan & Alan

Shannon was involved with the sale of our condo and the purchase of a new condo both of which were in the Seaport district. She was the epitome of customer service. We were constantly impressed with the amount of time and effor...

Ashley & Andrew

We've worked with Shannon twice to purchase condos in South Boston, in addition, she sold our south Boston condo last year. Shannon is truly professional and a delight to work with. We were very precise in what we were looking ...

Brian & Stephanie

Shannon Lavin was the best part of buying our new home. As a professional, she was always quick to respond to our questions with accurate and informed answers. She made it her mission to get us in to see every house on our exte...

Alison

Shannon was amazing. When I started looking for a condo, I was with another gentleman who had just shown up and showed us the condo. But then I started working with Shannon and she was so helpful. As this was my first time buyi...

Tim & Maggie

We could not recommend Shannon enough. We were connected through a friend who raved about her market knowledge and personal touch- and she was right. Shannon held our hand through the entire process, was incredibly responsive, ...

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Shannon represents Sellers, Buyers, Investors and Developer clients throughout Greater Boston and Boston’s South Shore. She is notoriously known for her unwavering professionalism, market expertise, and resolute work ethic.