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 team of real estate agents 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 team of Real Estate Professionals once you choose one so they 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 team of real estate agents is the best way to determine the right selling price for your home. A team of real estate agents 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

We 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. Our 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.

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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, 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 team of real estate agents.

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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. We 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.

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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. 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 team of Real Estate Professionals 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

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I. Mayol

Kevin was my realtor and was with me throughout the entire process. He was looking for an apartment for me for like a year. He responded super fast at all times. Super responsible, super diligent. If a problem arose, he would l...
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J. Sasso

The experience with Eduardo Sánchez (runner) was a positive one. Throughout the entire process there was good communication and transparency. Grateful to Eduardo and Balckmont.
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E. Rios

Keven Rodriguez of Blackmont Homes. A very professional and diligent young man. I left a message on the Zillow app late at night, and he called me back early the next morning. He was diligent and professional from the start. Th...
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R. Aleman

Working with Omar was an absolute blessing. From the very beginning, he treated us like family, not just clients. Omar took the time to understand what we were looking for in a home, and he guided us through the entire process ...
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B. Angus

Phenomenal customer service and attention! Our home buying experience was great despite some hurdles(bank) along the way. Blackmont made sure my family was taken care of and provided step by step assistance. Thank you for ever...
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R. Guzman

We listed our home with Jose Ramos. It was an emotional process leaving our first home which we were outgrowing with our expanding family. Selling our home is what we consider to be a huge success story and Jose is responsible ...
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M. Dior

José Ramos was the real estate broker who helped me find my first home. He was very diligent and helpful throughout this whole process. I am so happy and grateful with his service. Highly recommended.
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E. Calderon

My experience with Blackmont is superb. I am a client from Cusa Consulting and Kevin Rodriguez is a professional realtor who cares about his prospective clients. He is very reliable, transparent and a go getter! Edgar E Caldero...
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L. Torres

We had a fantastic experience with Paola from Blackmont Homes. She helped us find the beachfront apartment we were looking for in a remarkably short time. Communication with her was smooth and efficient throughout the entire pr...
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I. Perez

I was searching for a realtor in Puerto Rico to help me purchase my first vacation home and Airbnb property. The process wasn’t easy; many realtors wouldn’t return my calls, and I was on the verge of giving up. Then I made one...
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J. Decene

Eduardo did an outstanding job representing us and keeping our needs his priority. He went above and beyond with any hiccups coming our way. Definitely the best.
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C. Basto

Karla- was excellent. Took her time showing us properties till we found the perfect spot. Highly recommend her. Very Knowledgable about the area and showed us multiple options. Speaks Spanish and English
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H. Maldonado

Karla helped me to rent and eventually sell my house. Karla knows the Market very well. Helped me to do some changes to the property to make it more attractive and did the approrpiate research on potential prospects to save me ...
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J. Marrero

Erick helped make the transaction very easy. Very professional and respectful. Was available to answer questions at all times, helping with his knowledge on the matter very helpful. Since the moment we contacted for information...
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Roger B.

Jamie was very efficient and responsive during the process she assist in every aspect of the buying process and after the purchase. I'm looking forward to work with Jamie again in the future.
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Jesica B.

Mi experiencia con ella de Realtor fue excelente!! Gracias a ella logré adquirir mi primer hogar mucho más rápido de lo que otras personas lo han hecho. Es bien comprometida con su trabajo. Y no descansa hasta verte lograr tu s...
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F. Luis

Luis did a great job assisting us finding an apartment to rent. He was always available. He really went beyond! His advice was really valuable for us!
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S. Ramirez

Paola did an outstanding job with the purchase of my condo. She went above and beyond throughout the entire process. She was informative about the neighborhood and the market. She paid extreme attention to detail on everything ...
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Fortuño

Paola was fantastic! She would respond almost immediately to any of our requests. We were not planning to buy the unit, but she made the whole process so smooth that we ended up buying the property!
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R. Varipapa

I found Paola on a hunch through Zillow, and she turned out to be one of the best real estate agents I’ve ever worked with (and I've done a bunch of real estate deals). She’s exceptionally knowledgeable, highly responsive, and ...
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