• We’ll find the right price to the market; the data will lead us, not emotions or what you want/need to make.
• Clean and take pictures, floorplans, videos.
• Sign, flyers, lockbox
• Market the home effectively and communicate throughout the process.

The Prepping to Sell Process
in detail

• Sign the listing documents, discuss timing, goals, whether to offer seller concessions to the buyer agent
• Photos/cleaning/activation
• I’d like to come by soon after signing listing documents to get a quick video for my purposes – so that I can refer to it to ensure data accuracy in the MLS. I’ll do the video that I can send to other agents before we activate for showings.
• Nail down timing to activate your listing. Typically we aim for Sunday/Monday as a coming soon, and activate as live for showings on Thursday or Friday. But — we activate when it best suits your needs and timelines, regardless of what “typical” timelines are.
  • I once activated three listings over a holiday weekend and traffic was abysmal. Was it that particular timing, or was it coincidence? I’m not sure, but either way, I’m inclined to not do that again.
• Photos/floorplans/videos
  • This usually takes about 2-3 hours for the photos/floorplans/Zillow Showcase, and turnaround is typically under 48 hours (I can often get them to send me a couple that evening for us to use in Coming Soon emails and for the MLS)
• Sign – Once we have a target date for activation, I’ll order the sign installation. Example: if we want to plan for showings on the 10th, I’d aim to have the sign installed on the 6th. Look for markings from Miss Utility as they come and mark underground utilities – no one likes surprises.
• Order HOA docs – as soon as we sign the listing agreement. Warning: these are expensive – often several hundred dollars. I wish we could use the ones you can download from the neighborhood site or from when you purchased, but we need current ones so that we can deliver immediately to the purchasers as soon as we are under contract — I like to remove contingencies as fast as possible. Note: in current vernacular as of 2025, HOA disclosure is now called “resale certificate” just as “HOA” is now “Common Interest Community.” Whatever. We need HOA docs, no matter what the legislature calls them.
• Flyers – I tend to use the ones with the most data – the MLS sheets. I find that most of my buyer clients gravitate towards them as they have the most information and eschew the “pretty” ones that a) have pretty photos that the buyers are actually looking at right now, and b) the pretty ones are usually discarded first.
  • I’ll send the MLS and all descriptions to you before going live to make sure no errors are published.
  • I also ask you to direct me to deny any buyer presentation letters. My thinking on this has evolved over the years. In 2022, I wrote about how my thinking changed to “no letters.” In 2018, I was still sort of advising them. In 2006, I was advocating for writing buyer presentation letters. 
  • If you can fill out the seller scoop, that would be very helpful — it helps me add color to the description.
• Final pricing – we’ll nail down the price a few days prior to activation to ensure we are pricing the most current market. What we thought six months, six weeks, or even six days ago might not be the best pricing strategy. We listen to the data. Price matters; it always matters. If there are six active comps, we may need to price lower than expected. If there are five pendings and one or no actives, we might be able to go a bit higher.
• Lockbox – I’ll drop off a lockbox in the next couple of weeks; I’ll need a key for that.
• Showings: I’ll set you up on the service we use – ShowingTime – so that you will be notified of any showings. If you are living there when we go live, I’ll set it so that you can confirm/deny/reschedule appointments (around naptime, meetings, etc).
  • If you’re not there, I’ll set it so that you are notified when showings happen, and they will be confirmed automatically.