Services For Sellers

We’ve simplified the home selling process into five easy steps to help ensure the process is positive and successful. The five steps to selling your home are:

1. Working with a Real Estate Professional
2. Home Valuation and Preparation (pricing, market assessment, sell-ready home)
3. Listing your Home (marketing and advertising, open houses, private showings)
4. Offer
5. Closing

We hope you find this information helpful, and Citylife looks forward to helping you navigate through the home selling process.

STEP 1: WORKING WITH A REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL

The first step is to begin working with a Real Estate professional. Real Estate professionals know the market and can provide expert advice on market conditions, neighborhoods (click here to learn more about Boston’s neighborhoods), and the home selling process. They can help with the administration and legwork from the beginning steps straight through to closing.

You should expect your Real Estate professional to provide expert advice on pricing and market conditions, to communicate with you often with updates and strategies, to support you through the ups and downs of the selling process and to help guide you from the offer to the closing. 

At Citylife, we guarantee professionalism, integrity and respect from all of our Real Estate professionals. In addition, we have the technologies and the experience to ensure the sales process is a successful one for our clients. 

The second step begins with the market value of your home. This is a complex process, requiring a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of recent sales, current listings, properties under agreement, and withdrawn and/or expired listings. Your Real Estate professional will have access to all of the information for an accurate CMA. But, this isn’t the end of the story. Other factors that influence price include location, age and condition of the property and special features of the home. Once all of these factors have been considered, your Real Estate professional can advise you on a fair market value of your home. Click here to get an initial free valuation of your home. 

Next, you’ll want to get your home ready to sell. First, clean up the exterior of your home or building. Remove clutter (including flyers and newspapers), clean common areas, dust banisters and sweep/shovel front steps. Inside your home, clean, organize and remove all clutter. If you can, have your carpets cleaned, and give the main areas a fresh coat of paint. Remember, perspective buyers will open cabinets, turn on faucets and look in your closets. Your Real Estate professional will help you get your home sell-ready. 

Your Real Estate professional will develop a comprehensive marketing program advertising your home in the newspaper(s), online, throughout the real estate community and network and through direct mail (postcards and letters). You can’t sell your home if potential buyers don’t know it’s on the market! Open houses are often a way to get people into your home in a low-pressure environment that many perspective buyers feel comfortable with. In addition, it’s important to be flexible and accommodating to potential buyers that want to make an appointment. You can work with your Real Estate professional to develop some guidelines (e.g., 24-hour notice) for appointments. 

Congratulations, you’ve received an offer on your home. Your Real Estate professional will help you assess the offer and write a counter-offer if you so chose. At Citylife, we’ll help you write the counter-offer and submit it to the Buyer’s agent. We will assist you throughout the negotiation process, and once a final offer has been accepted, and all the terms and conditions agreed upon, both the buyer and the seller will sign the offer. 

Your closing will occur typically 30-90 days after the final offer was accepted. A closing attorney or settlement agent will administer the closing. All closing expenses will be discussed in advance with the closing attorney/settlement agent as the final details are prepared. Throughout it all, Citylife will be there to support you, and provide whatever help we can to smooth the way to the final sale. On the day of the closing, we will attend a final walk-through of the property, and accompany you to the closing. Once all the papers are signed and the deed has been recorded, you will have officially sold your home.