Tiyanica “Ty” Gray, MBADFW Real Estate & Relocation

For Sellers

Selling your Dallas–Fort Worth home with a clear plan

A well-prepared, well-priced home does most of the work. Here’s exactly how the process runs, what the title company handles, and how to get your home camera-ready and showing-ready.

What might your home be worth?

Start with an instant online estimate based on public data and recent nearby sales. It’s a useful starting point for planning — and a good conversation starter before we sit down together.

Find out what my home is worth

Please note: this result is only an estimate. It does not reflect a full in-person analysis or valuation of the property. An automated estimate can’t see your updates, your condition, your lot position, your view, or the finish level inside your home — all of which move real value meaningfully. For an accurate figure, we’ll walk the property together and complete a full comparative market analysis.

The home selling process, step by step

  1. 1

    Strategy conversation

    We start with your timeline, your next move, and your net proceeds goal. Whether you need to sell before you buy changes the entire plan.

  2. 2

    Pricing analysis

    A comparative market analysis using recent sales, active competition, and what's expiring unsold in your specific neighborhood — not a metro-wide average.

  3. 3

    Prepare the home

    Repairs, decluttering, deep cleaning, and light staging. This is where the highest return per dollar happens, and it's covered in detail below.

  4. 4

    Photography & marketing assets

    Professional photos, and where it fits, video, twilight shots, floor plans, and aerials. Most buyers decide whether to tour based on the first three images.

  5. 5

    Go live on the market

    Listing hits the MLS and syndicates broadly. Timing the launch — usually midweek, ahead of weekend traffic — matters more than people expect.

  6. 6

    Showings & feedback

    We track showing activity and feedback closely in the first ten days. That early data tells us quickly whether price, condition, or photos need adjusting.

  7. 7

    Review offers

    We evaluate more than price: financing type, option period length, closing date, appraisal terms, and how much of the closing costs the buyer asks you to cover.

  8. 8

    Option period & inspection

    The buyer inspects. Expect a repair request. We decide together what to fix, what to credit, and what to hold firm on.

  9. 9

    Appraisal & buyer financing

    The buyer's lender orders an appraisal. If it comes in low, we negotiate — a price adjustment, the buyer covering the gap, or a middle path.

  10. 10

    Title, survey & disclosures

    You provide the Seller's Disclosure Notice and existing survey if you have one. Title works to clear payoffs and liens.

  11. 11

    Closing

    You sign at the title company, your mortgage is paid off from proceeds, the deed transfers, and your funds are disbursed. Then we coordinate keys, codes, and remotes.

The title company’s role in your sale

Texas closings run through a title company, which acts as a neutral third party. It represents neither you nor the buyer — its job is to make sure ownership transfers cleanly and that everyone’s money moves correctly.

For a seller, the title company is largely about clearing whatever stands between your deed and the buyer’s: your mortgage payoff, any liens, unpaid taxes, and old recording errors.

In most Texas transactions the seller customarily pays for the owner’s title policy, though it’s negotiable and appears as a line item on your settlement statement.

  • Opens escrow. Receives and holds the buyer’s earnest money and option fee.
  • Runs the title search. Finds liens, judgments, easements, unpaid HOA dues, and heirship issues attached to your property.
  • Requests payoffs. Obtains exact payoff figures from your mortgage lender, HOA, and any tax authority.
  • Clears title problems. Coordinates releases and corrections so closing isn’t delayed at the last minute.
  • Prorates taxes. Splits the year’s property taxes between you and the buyer as of the closing date.
  • Prepares the settlement statement. Shows your gross price, every deduction, and your net proceeds.
  • Closes and disburses. Hosts the signing, records the deed with the county, pays off your loan, and sends your proceeds by wire or check.

Preparing for listing photos and showings

Photos are the first showing. Buyers scroll fast, and homes that photograph as bright, spacious, and cared-for get toured more. Aim to have the home in photo condition the day before the shoot, then keep it close to that standard while it’s active.

Two weeks out

  • · Handle small repairs: sticking doors, running toilets, torn screens, dead outlets
  • · Touch up paint scuffs and patch nail holes
  • · Replace burned-out bulbs and match color temperature in every fixture
  • · Deep clean carpets, grout, windows, and window tracks
  • · Declutter aggressively — pack away roughly a third of what’s out
  • · Clear closets and the garage; storage space is a selling feature

Photo day

  • · Clear every countertop — kitchen and bathrooms both
  • · Remove magnets, notes, and family photos from the fridge and walls
  • · Hide trash cans, pet bowls, litter boxes, toys, and cords
  • · Open all blinds and turn on every light
  • · Make beds with clean, neutral bedding; fresh white towels in baths
  • · Toilet lids down, shower curtains straight, mirrors spotless
  • · Move cars out of the driveway and off the front curb
  • · Mow, edge, sweep the porch, and pull weeds — the first photo is usually the front

Showing-ready habits

  • · Keep a laundry basket handy for a five-minute sweep before a showing
  • · Set the thermostat to a comfortable temperature — a hot DFW house feels like a problem
  • · Skip strong air fresheners; buyers read heavy scent as covering something up
  • · Lock up medications, valuables, mail, and firearms
  • · Leave for every showing, including open houses — buyers won’t linger with an owner home
  • · Say yes to short-notice showings whenever you can; the buyer who can’t get in often doesn’t come back

Pets and animals during showings

Most of us are pet people. Buyers aren’t necessarily — some are allergic, some are nervous around animals, and nearly all of them notice pet odor immediately even when you can’t. Handling this well protects both your sale and your animals’ safety. Doors get left open at showings more often than you’d think.

The ideal: take them with you

The cleanest option is for pets to leave with you for showings and open houses. A trusted neighbor, family member, doggy daycare, or a boarding stay during the busiest first weekend all work. Buyers relax and stay longer in an empty house.

If pets must stay home

  • · Crate them, and note it clearly in the showing instructions
  • · Never leave a pet loose in a fenced yard — buyers open gates to see the lot
  • · Add a friendly sign: “Cat inside — please keep doors closed”
  • · Post emergency contact details for the showing agent
  • · Never ask a buyer’s agent to handle, feed, or re-crate an animal

Neutralize the evidence

  • · Store bowls, beds, crates, toys, and leashes out of sight before photos and showings
  • · Move litter boxes and scoop them daily — twice on showing days
  • · Have carpets and upholstery professionally cleaned; treat any past accidents at the pad, not the surface
  • · Replace HVAC filters and run an air purifier
  • · Pick up the yard every single day; buyers walk the fence line
  • · Repair scratched doors, chewed trim, and worn thresholds
  • · Ask an honest friend to smell-test the house — you have gone nose-blind, and everyone does

Livestock, horses, and acreage

On rural DFW properties, secure gates and pens, disclose fencing conditions and any agricultural exemption on the land, and schedule showings around feeding times. Buyers touring acreage should be told in advance which pastures and animals to avoid.

Understanding market value

Market value is the price a willing buyer and a willing seller would likely agree on today, given reasonable exposure to the market. It is not the tax assessed value, what you owe, what you invested in improvements, or what an online algorithm estimates.

Comparable sales carry the most weight. Appraisers and buyers both look first at what similar homes in your neighborhood have sold for recently, adjusted for size, condition, lot, and features.

Active competition sets the ceiling. Buyers compare your home to what else they can buy right now. If five similar homes are listed nearby, buyers will use them as leverage.

Expired and withdrawn listings teach, too. Homes that did not sell show where the market resisted a price. They are often as instructive as the ones that closed.

  • Condition matters. Updated kitchens, baths, roofing, and HVAC systems typically return more than cosmetic-only projects.
  • Location within the neighborhood. Lot position, backing to green space vs. a busy street, and school attendance boundaries all move value.
  • Timing and seasonality. DFW has seasonal rhythms. More buyers are active in spring and early summer, though serious buyers shop year-round.
  • Marketing presentation. Professional photos, staging, and broad syndication can push final sale price higher by exposing the home to more competition.
  • Appraisal vs. market value. An appraisal is one professional opinion on a given day, often for a lender. The market can still pay more or less depending on how motivated the parties are.

What I provide before we list

A full comparative market analysis looks at sold, active, pending, and expired listings near your home, plus the condition and features that online estimates cannot see. We then price for your goals: speed, maximum net proceeds, or a balance of both.

The property survey in your sale

A survey is a drawing of your property's boundaries, improvements, easements, and encroachments. In Texas, the buyer's lender and title company almost always want one, which means sellers usually need to provide one or arrange for a new one.

If you already have a survey

An existing survey can often be used if it is accurate and reflects the property as it sits today. The title company and buyer will review it to confirm no changes have been made since the survey date.

  • · Fences, sheds, pools, driveways, and patios should match the drawing
  • · Additions, detached structures, or lot line changes since the survey date may require a new survey
  • · Most buyers and lenders prefer a survey dated within the last few years
  • · The seller typically provides an existing survey to the title company at no cost beyond copying

When a new survey is needed

If the old survey is outdated, missing, or no longer matches the property, the title company will order a new one. The party who pays for it is negotiable, though in many DFW transactions the seller pays as part of getting the title clear.

  • · No existing survey is available from the seller or prior owner
  • · Structures have been added, removed, or moved
  • · Fence lines, retaining walls, or driveways were altered
  • · The prior survey is too old for the lender or buyer's comfort
  • · A boundary dispute, easement, or encroachment needs to be documented

Bottom line: Gather any survey you have early. If you are not sure whether it is usable, we can send it to the title company for a quick opinion before we go under contract. A few minutes of preparation now can prevent a costly last-minute order later.

The T-47 affidavit

The T-47 is a Texas Residential Real Property Affidavit. When you have an existing survey, the seller completes this form to swear that no changes have been made to the property since the survey date — or to disclose exactly what has changed.

Why it matters. The title company and the buyer's lender rely on the T-47 to decide whether the existing survey is still accurate. If you sign it and changes have actually occurred, the title policy may not cover the discrepancy, and you could face liability.

What it asks. The form asks whether any structures, fences, driveways, pools, patios, or other improvements have been added, removed, or relocated. It also asks whether any easements, boundary line agreements, or encroachments have been created or discovered.

It must be notarized. The T-47 is an affidavit, which means it must be signed in front of a notary. Plan ahead so this does not delay closing.

  • Read carefully before signing. Do not sign "no changes" if anything on the property has changed since the survey date.
  • Disclose everything. It is almost always cheaper and safer to disclose a change and order a new survey than to hide it.
  • Keep a copy. Save the signed, notarized T-47 with your closing papers for your records.
  • Coordinate with the title company. They will attach the T-47 to the existing survey file and forward it to the buyer and lender.
  • When in doubt, get a new survey. If you are not certain what changed, a new survey protects both you and the buyer.

A common DFW scenario

A seller bought a home five years ago with a survey on file. Since then they added a fence and a pergola. The fence is inside the lot line, but the pergola sits close to the utility easement. In this case, the seller should disclose both additions on the T-47. The title company may accept the existing survey, or may require an updated survey showing the new improvements. We find out before we are under contract, not at the last minute.

Thinking about selling this year?

Start with the estimate, then let’s talk through timing, prep, and a realistic net number for your move.

Find out what my home is worth

This result is only an estimate and does not reflect a full in-person analysis or valuation of the property.