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A Step-by-Step Naples Home 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.

Determine 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.

Start Preparing

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.

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, and 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 we go on the market. Our advertising doesn't wait for a buyer to "search" for your home. Our best-in-class digital ad platform will identify the buyers with financial capacity to acquire your home and we put your home in front of them. Once they engage, we continue retargeting them for 30 days, ensuring your listing stays front and center, proactively putting your listing in front of them.

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 financial qualified and that all five important contract terms are 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 providing a credit toward renovations.

Negotiate

Once you 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, financing, inspection rights and repair allowances, contingencies, closing date, and a list of fees and who will pay them. When both parties have agreed to the terms and have signed the contract I will manage your transaction to ensure a smooth and stress free closing. *Florida does not have a built in attorney review period.

Inspections & Repairs

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. In Florida our contractual closing date is the day that buyers take possession of the home. Sellers should plan on moving the days / week before closing.

Close & Celebrate!

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 to cancel utilities, cable, and lawn or pool 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.
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How much is your Naples home worth?

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Melinda Gunther is an absolute gem! As a trusted referral Sotheby's partner, I've had the pleasure of knowing her both personally and professionally. She’s incredibly responsive, always up-to-date on the latest technology, and has exceptional communication skills. Her advertising strategies are top-notch, and she truly listens to her clients' needs. I've personally witnessed Melinda’s dedication to her w...

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Melinda helped us find our ideal home. The process took over a year through a very low inventory market. Melinda gave us insights on what to look for in a home and neighborhood which helped us tremendously. She also helped us sell our house in a very expedient fashion. With her help, we staged our home and sold it even before the "For Sale" sign could be completed. She kept us informed throughout the buy...

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I chose Melinda to help incredibly important and trusted clients buy and sell in Naples. They don’t give high marks easily, and they were thrilled with Melinda‘s assistance on both sides of their transaction. Her knowledge, professionalism, and work ethic have earned high marks from them and also from me. I won’t hesitate to work with Melinda again!

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