Search

Leave a Message

Thank you for your message. We will be in touch with you shortly.

Explore Our Properties

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.​​​​​​​

Default Image
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.

Default Image
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.

Default Image
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.

Default Image
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.

Default Image
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.

Default Image
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.

Default Image
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.

Default Image
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.

Success Stories

Our Testimonials

"She worked the whole process end to end with us."
"She worked the whole process end to end with us."
Buyer | Seller
"We had multiple offers at the end of the day the house sold for more than we were asking!"
"We had multiple offers at the end of the day the house sold for more than we were asking!"
Seller
"Kristin is truly a ‘full-service’ agent and we are very fortunate to have chosen her to help us transition into our forever dream house."
"Kristin is truly a ‘full-service’ agent and we are very fortunate to have chosen her to help us transition into our forever dream house."
Buyer
"Her ability to listen is beyond impressive it’s amazing the way that she finds situations that compel each of us to grow and develop as a person. I love Kristin Francoeur, not only for her ability to be a good friend, but for her compassion, her kindness, and her connections to the community."
"Her ability to listen is beyond impressive it’s amazing the way that she finds situations that compel each of us to grow and develop as a person. I love Kristin Francoeur, not only for her ability to be a good friend, but for her compassion, her kindness, and her connections to the community."
Buyer | Seller
"Kristin is very friendly, knowledgeable, flexible, responsive, and helpful. She was a pleasure to work with. Even though we just met her on our last house search, it felt like we'd been friends for years. She helped us look for homes across multiple towns and provided information for all areas. She gave us solid recommendations and helped throughout our whole process."
"Kristin is very friendly, knowledgeable, flexible, responsive, and helpful. She was a pleasure to work with. Even though we just met her on our last house search, it felt like we'd been friends for years. She helped us look for homes across multiple towns and provided information for all areas. She gave us solid recommendations and helped throughout our whole process."
Cara F.
"When I chose to sell my home, I obviously wanted to do a lot of research before choosing the realtor I wanted to work with. I went online and started looking at how homes were being presented in the market and what I found was that Kristin’s really stood out. I thought that the way she presented was fresh. It was innovative. It was different from how other realtors in the market did things. She’s leveraged her corporate background and combined it with an enormous passion for real estate."
"When I chose to sell my home, I obviously wanted to do a lot of research before choosing the realtor I wanted to work with. I went online and started looking at how homes were being presented in the market and what I found was that Kristin’s really stood out. I thought that the way she presented was fresh. It was innovative. It was different from how other realtors in the market did things. She’s leveraged her corporate background and combined it with an enormous passion for real estate."
Seller
"The skills of a great real estate agent are broad and diverse. Sales and marketing skills, detailed knowledge of all the execution steps, a broad network of resources, deep knowledge of the market, masterful negotiation skills, etc. Kristin has a command of all of these and more. Transactions of the scale that Kristin handles are especially challenging requiring more skill, patience, and persistence than most. I am very confident in her capabilities and would highly recommend her for either buyer or seller. We feel very fortunate to have chosen Kristin to help us transition into our forever dream house."
"The skills of a great real estate agent are broad and diverse. Sales and marketing skills, detailed knowledge of all the execution steps, a broad network of resources, deep knowledge of the market, masterful negotiation skills, etc. Kristin has a command of all of these and more. Transactions of the scale that Kristin handles are especially challenging requiring more skill, patience, and persistence than most. I am very confident in her capabilities and would highly recommend her for either buyer or seller. We feel very fortunate to have chosen Kristin to help us transition into our forever dream house."
Buyer
"I am writing to express my utmost appreciation and admiration for Kristin Francoeur as a Real Estate Advisor. As a fellow resident of Manchester By The Sea, I was already well aware of Kristin’s solid reputation as a realtor who delivered superior service and results as a residential agent. My needs were slightly different as the CEO of a business that was experiencing rapid growth that required an expanded commercial footprint. Despite the variation in the requirements between the residential and commercial models, I presented Kristin with my future state vision for my firm including our budget, square footage requirements, and other amenities that were a must-have for my firm."
"I am writing to express my utmost appreciation and admiration for Kristin Francoeur as a Real Estate Advisor. As a fellow resident of Manchester By The Sea, I was already well aware of Kristin’s solid reputation as a realtor who delivered superior service and results as a residential agent. My needs were slightly different as the CEO of a business that was experiencing rapid growth that required an expanded commercial footprint. Despite the variation in the requirements between the residential and commercial models, I presented Kristin with my future state vision for my firm including our budget, square footage requirements, and other amenities that were a must-have for my firm."
Buyer
"Kristin immediately launched an exhaustive search for commercial properties that aligned with the above criteria spending countless hours filtering through the many listings available. Kristin was able to synthesize these opportunities and rank them allowing me to focus on running my business. Once Kristin identified the ideal property that met my firm’s requirements, she immediately drew upon her superior valuation skills – analyzing the critical comparative market data to arrive at a compelling offering price that was accepted immediately by the seller. All through the transaction, Kristin contributed incremental service above and beyond the transaction including referrals to contractors to customize the property to our needs, and other ancillary contributions that made this experience superior to anything I’ve ever experienced before. It is therefore without hesitation that I wholeheartedly recommend Kristin Francoeur to assist you with your real estate transaction."
"Kristin immediately launched an exhaustive search for commercial properties that aligned with the above criteria spending countless hours filtering through the many listings available. Kristin was able to synthesize these opportunities and rank them allowing me to focus on running my business. Once Kristin identified the ideal property that met my firm’s requirements, she immediately drew upon her superior valuation skills – analyzing the critical comparative market data to arrive at a compelling offering price that was accepted immediately by the seller. All through the transaction, Kristin contributed incremental service above and beyond the transaction including referrals to contractors to customize the property to our needs, and other ancillary contributions that made this experience superior to anything I’ve ever experienced before. It is therefore without hesitation that I wholeheartedly recommend Kristin Francoeur to assist you with your real estate transaction."
Buyer
"Kristin is an absolute joy to work with. When we were relocating to Massachusetts from Chicago in 2008, right at the start of the recession, we luckily stumbled upon Kristin. I grew up in New England and wanted the following: a Cape Cod feel, with commuter rail to Boston. I thought I had wanted Beverly Farms, which is truly charming and fits the requirements I wanted. When I flew out to check the rental market in Beverly Farms, given that in the recession we couldn’t sell our Chicago home, I met up with Kristin, who was immediately cheerful and extremely knowledgeable about the North Shore market and benefits of different towns. The rental market in this area is difficult, if not impossible, and yet Kristin guided me to the perfect transitional location in Manchester-by-the-Sea, which she figured, correctly, would be a perfect town for me and my family. We very much enjoyed working with Kristin, and although she started out as strictly our real estate agent, I now consider her a close friend. Kristin truly cares about her clients in a tangible way, making the pain of home buying an enjoyable experience."
"Kristin is an absolute joy to work with. When we were relocating to Massachusetts from Chicago in 2008, right at the start of the recession, we luckily stumbled upon Kristin. I grew up in New England and wanted the following: a Cape Cod feel, with commuter rail to Boston. I thought I had wanted Beverly Farms, which is truly charming and fits the requirements I wanted. When I flew out to check the rental market in Beverly Farms, given that in the recession we couldn’t sell our Chicago home, I met up with Kristin, who was immediately cheerful and extremely knowledgeable about the North Shore market and benefits of different towns. The rental market in this area is difficult, if not impossible, and yet Kristin guided me to the perfect transitional location in Manchester-by-the-Sea, which she figured, correctly, would be a perfect town for me and my family. We very much enjoyed working with Kristin, and although she started out as strictly our real estate agent, I now consider her a close friend. Kristin truly cares about her clients in a tangible way, making the pain of home buying an enjoyable experience."
Buyer & Seller
Let's  Be

Social

Follow Us On Instagram