SELLER RESOURCES
Sell Your Charlottesville Home
Every house is different. Selling is disruptive and invasive by nature: strangers walking through your home, your life scheduled around showings. My job is to represent and guide you through all of it.
- Median Days on Market
- 11
- up from 8 a year ago — homes are taking a little longer
- Median Sale Price
- $542,500
- up 1.4% from $535,000
- List-to-Sale Ratio
- 98.9%
- down from 99.7% last year (Albemarle 99.1% · City 98.2%)
- New Listings, Year-to-Date
- 1,480
- up 5.3% from 1,406 by this date last year — more choice for buyers
Source: CAAR MLS (Paragon). Resale detached, attached, and condo homes in the City of Charlottesville + Albemarle County. Figures are 2026 year-to-date through July 14, compared with the same period in 2025. Compiled by Jim Duncan, RealCentralVA.com.
1 Pricing Your Home Right
Price is the most important marketing decision. An overpriced home sits. A properly priced home attracts multiple buyers and often sells for more than an overpriced home that eventually has to be reduced.
Active Competition
What are buyers comparing you to right now? We don’t sell in a vacuum.
It’s Not Always About Price
Terms, timing, and contingencies can matter as much as the price.
Proof That Price Matters
Price matters; it always matters. What we thought six weeks ago might not be the best strategy today.
Sold Comps Aren’t Enough Anymore
In a shifting market, what sold six months ago may not reflect today’s reality.
2 From Signing to Showings
Four things, before anything else: we find the right price to the market, and the data leads us, not emotions or what you want or need to make; clean and take pictures, floorplans, and video; sign, flyers, lockbox; market the home effectively and communicate throughout. Between signing and the first showing, this is how the weeks usually run. Typically we aim for Sunday or Monday as a coming soon and go live for showings on Thursday or Friday, but we activate when it suits your timeline, not the “typical” one.
3 Preparing for Market
The work you do before listing determines how quickly you sell and how much you net. Here is what actually moves the needle, and what I will ask of you.
Order the Resale Certificate Early
HOA docs are expensive and slow. We need current ones the moment we go under contract.
Flyers: The MLS Sheet Wins
Buyers want data, not pretty. Every description crosses your desk before it publishes.
No Buyer Letters
I ask you to direct me to decline them. My thinking has evolved since 2006; here is why.
Your List: What’s on You, and When
Sign the listing documents; pick the activation date that suits you; order the resale certificate; clean and declutter every room; be ready for the walk-through video; block time for photos; fill out the seller scoop; watch for Miss Utility markings before the sign goes in; read the MLS sheet before we publish; leave a spare key for the lockbox; set your ShowingTime preferences; confirm final pricing a few days before we activate. Anything you would rather hand to me, hand to me.
JIM’S STRONG RECOMMENDATION
Should You Renovate Before Selling?
Usually no. Major renovations rarely return 100% of their cost at sale. Focus on repairs and cosmetic updates, not kitchen remodels.
4 Assembling Your Team
We’re assembling a team to represent you, whether that’s the cleaning company, painter, contractor, or closing attorney. All of these cogs must fit together for a successful transaction.
5 Negotiation
There are at least two rounds of negotiation in most transactions, and the second one - the home inspection negotiations - can be the most volatile and fraught with emotion.
Offer Negotiation
Price, terms, closing date, contingencies. The initial back-and-forth to reach agreement.
Inspection Negotiation
A completely separate round after the home inspection. Repair requests, credits, and sometimes price.
6 Closing
Choosing the right closing attorney or title company is crucial. They coordinate the final steps: title search, document preparation, and the actual transfer of ownership.
What sellers typically pay at closing
Commissions, grantor’s tax (~$1 per $1,000 of sale price), title fees, prorations for taxes and HOA. You should budget roughly 7-8% of sale price for total closing costs including commissions.
Interested in Learning More?
Jim Duncan is a Realtor and Broker with Nest Realty in Charlottesville. He’s been helping buyers and sellers here since 2001, and writing about the market since 2005, making RealCentralVA one of the longest-running real estate blogs in the country.
His goal is the same: provide clear, honest analysis of the Charlottesville market. No spin. No pressure. Just straight answers to help you make the best decision for your situation.