Put it on the market.
The one everybody pictures. Also the one where the gap between done properly and done lazily is widest.
This is the one everybody pictures. Sign in the yard, photos online, showings, offers.
For most people it's still the right call. It's also the option where the gap between done properly and done lazily is the widest, and where I earn whatever you pay me — or don't.
When this is your move
- You want the best number the market will really give you
- You've got a few weeks, not a few days
- The house shows okay, or could with a weekend of work
- You can put up with some disruption for a defined stretch
Showings, a prep window, and no guaranteed close date. It's the exact opposite trade from a cash sale — you're swapping certainty for money instead of money for certainty.
The short list that actually moves the number
Most pre-listing advice is a long list, and long lists cost you money without changing what anybody pays. Here's what I actually care about:
- Price. Not one thing among many. The thing. Your first ten days are the most attention your house will ever get, and a price set on hope burns all of it.
- Light and paint. Cheap, fast, and it changes the photos — which is where somebody decides whether to even come see it.
- The one thing you already know about. Every house has the one thing your eye goes to. Fix that. Leave the rest alone.
- Photos. Your house gets picked on a phone screen before anybody stands in it.
Notice what's not on that list. Please don't redo the kitchen.
I'm serious about that last part. Most cosmetic renovation doesn't come back to you, and I'll talk you out of it even though a nicer house is easier for me to sell.
About pricing high to leave yourself room
I know why it feels smart. It doesn't work, and it costs you twice.
Overpriced houses don't get lowball offers. They get nothing — because the people who would have paid your real number never see it. They filtered you out before they ever opened the listing.
Then come the price drops, and every single one tells everybody watching that something must be wrong with your house. Nothing was wrong with your house. The number was wrong, and now you're chasing the market down instead of meeting it.
If the number in your head isn't the number the market will pay, you'll hear it from me before we list. Not six weeks in when we're both frustrated.
If this isn't it
Where I stop. Some of this runs into tax, legal or lending territory. I'll walk you through the options and what each one generally means, and then we bring in your CPA or your attorney before you sign anything. I'm not either of those and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
Want me to run your actual numbers?
Send me the address and roughly what's going on. I'll tell you what I'd do if it were my house — and if that's nothing, I'll tell you that and we're still good.
Real Broker AZ, LLC · ADRE SA710418000