How I Sell a Home

The first meeting is not a pitch. It is me asking questions and listening to the answers, because until I understand what you are actually trying to do, any advice I give you is generic.

Where you are going matters as much as what you are leaving. Someone moving to be near grandchildren in another state has a different problem from someone consolidating two houses into one nearby. Someone on a deadline has a different problem from someone who has been thinking about it for three years. The timeline, the equity you need out, who else is involved in the decision, and how you feel about the house all shape what I recommend.

Plenty of these conversations end with me saying now is not the time. That is a legitimate outcome and nobody has wasted anything.

This is where I probably save people the most money, because the default advice is to do far too much.

I am a certified home stager, so I can tell you what a buyer will actually register when they walk in, and it is usually not the thing you have been worrying about. Some repairs return more than they cost. Many do not. A new kitchen before a sale is almost never the right call. Decluttering, light, and dealing with the one thing every visitor will notice usually is.

We go room by room and I give you a short list rather than a long one. Then I tell you what I think is not worth doing, in writing, so nobody talks you into it later.

In towns this size, some of the best sales never reach the open market, and that is worth knowing before you decide how to sell.

I have sold a house privately to a neighbor's daughter. Not as a gimmick and not as a fallback when the listing failed, but because the right buyer was already nearby and both sides preferred it that way. On this coast, relationships are part of the inventory.

Off-market is not right for most sellers, and I will tell you plainly when it is not right for you. But if privacy matters to you, or if you do not want the neighborhood watching, it is a genuine option and not a consolation prize.

The complaint I hear most often about other agents is silence. Someone lists a house, and then hears nothing for three weeks and has to chase.

You will hear from me whether or not there is news, because no news is itself information and you should not have to ask for it. If a showing produced feedback, you get the feedback, including when it is not what either of us wanted to hear. If something goes wrong, you hear it from me first and you hear what I am doing about it in the same message.

I answer my own phone and I reply to my own email. There is no team between you and me.