Casey Rutherford

Seller's Guide

A Step-by-Step First Time Seller's Guide

Selling your home can be a stressful process, but I am to deliver a white-glove experience in preparing your home for the market to achieve top dollar, in the least amount of time. We will follow these steps to prepare, but you can leave all the worry to me!

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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. Understanding your primary goal will inform our strategy as we move ahead together!

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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 less profit in the long run, and underpricing leads to receiving less than what your home is worth. We will study the data to determine what comparable homes are selling for, evaluate the current market, and price in a way that will net you the most!

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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

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. 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.

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Step 6: Accept an Offer

Once we have discussed all offers, I will share advice and data to help you make the most informed decision. I will review the proposed contract to make sure it’s all in order and includes the necessary components such as earnest money deposit amount, down payment, financing, inspection rights and repair allowances, contingencies, closing date, and any closing costs. When both parties have agreed to the term, we will sign and execute the contract!

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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. 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.

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Step 8: Close

Cheers! 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. Unless otherwise noted, you should be completely moved out of the home and be prepared to bring all keys to the closing table. You will also want to make sure final details such as canceling utilities, cable, and lawn or trash services are complete. We will most likely meet the new buyers at the closing table and celebrate a new chapter!

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.

Testimonials

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  • We started working with Casey about 9 months ago to begin the search in Milton for a home with more space. We weren’t in a hurry to find a new home because we loved our current home in Brookhaven so much. We have very specific tastes we know what we like and what we don’t and what we’re willing to invest in. Casey took time to really understand what we were looking for - she never made us feel pressure to move into a house we weren’t sure about- she always had our best interest at heart. We even walked away from a house we had gone under contract for, but Casey didn’t miss a beat - she simply said “It’s not the one and we’ll keep looking”. She event...
    — Jenn & Luke M.
  • We’ve retyped this review multiple times because it’s incredibly difficult to put into words just how much of an impact Casey made on our home-buying process. There were so many factors working against us finding our dream home (our budget, a seller’s market, a sought-after neighborhood, etc.), but Casey somehow made it possible. Her industry knowledge, vast network, and “get it done” approach gave us so much confidence along the way. We always felt seen and prioritized, and we saw her go above and beyond for us time and time again. If you’re looking for a realtor who will truly go to bat for your family, you’ll be in great hands with Casey.
    — Elizabeth C.
  • If you are thinking about selling your home in the Atlanta metro area your first call should be to Casey Rutherford. We had seven offers on our house in just a few hours after putting it on the market and ended up getting $75,000 over the asking price. We even had a water leak two weeks before closing and Casey was able to get all of our floors replaced which made a stressful situation for us very manageable. Even with this huge problem with our house, we were able to close with the original closing date and the new homeowner was happy to get new floors. Casey was professional, easy to work with, and honest. We 100% recommend her.
    — Hillis J.
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Casey Rutherford is relationship driven and results oriented. Connecting with other top real estate agents is a priority for her, as she uses her professional network to win deals, stay informed of off market and coming soon properties, and to proactively market homes for sale. Her keen eye for design allows her to help buyers envision what a home could like and gives sellers the tools they need to prepare their home for market. Your largest investment is Casey’s largest priority.

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Contact Details

Casey Rutherford

Phone

(404) 259-0548

Email

[email protected]

Ansley Real Estate Christie's International

Phone

(770) 284-9900

Address

31 Church St Alpharetta, GA 30009

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