How I market your home

Here's what happens between the day we sign and the day you have an offer, so you know what to expect at each step.

The baseline process is the same in Austin and in Kingwood. Markets do differ, and so do neighborhoods within them, sometimes quite a bit. What that changes is what gets added on top: a particular property or a particular sub-market may call for something extra, and we'll do that when it applies. The foundation stays the same regardless of price point or which end of the corridor you're on.

Before anything goes public

A premarket checklist for your house. Really two lists: what I need from you, and what you're planning to do to get the house ready to show. Written down so neither of us is guessing about who has what.

Research and verification. I go confirm the details about the house that will end up in the listing, before they're published.

Disclosures gathered. All of them, early, while there's still time to work through anything they surface.

The media package, once make-ready is finished. Photos, a Matterport 3D tour, a floor plan, and video. The video gets cut into a few pieces: short form, long form, a property tour with me narrating, and a straightforward walkthrough.

We wait until the house is actually ready before shooting it, which is usually a week or two after we sign, sometimes longer depending on what's being done.

The premarket campaign

Once everything's assembled, we go live socially before we go live on the MLS. Usually four to seven days.

It's a lighter campaign by design. It lets other agents know the house is coming, and gives anyone following along a chance to pass it to someone who might be looking.

We hold back most of the photos and details during this window. The idea is that people who are interested have a reason to come find the listing when it goes live, rather than having already seen everything.

Going live

The listing goes up on the MLS and the fuller campaign starts, using all the material we built.

We usually pair the launch with an open house that first weekend, sometimes two. The first few days are when the house gets the most attention, so it's worth concentrating effort there.

Monday updates

You'll get an update on traffic and feedback the Monday after launch weekend, and every Monday after that while we're on the market.

Feedback comes to you as it came in. If buyers are saying the price feels high, that's what you'll hear from me.

Reading what the market is telling us

A house sells on three things: price, location, and condition. Two of those are set the day we list, so when a house isn't moving, the market is usually talking about price.

There's a rule of thumb used pretty widely in the business that's a reasonable starting point:

Around ten showings in the first two weeks with no offer often suggests you're about five percent over.

Zero to two showings in the first two weeks with no offer often suggests closer to ten percent over.

That said, it's a guideline rather than a rule. Some property types and some price bands simply take longer, and in those cases patience is the right answer rather than a price change. A unique home, a slower season, a smaller pool of buyers, all of those shift what normal looks like.

What the guideline really does is give us something concrete to look at together when we're deciding whether to adjust, instead of waiting and hoping.

Talk it through

Ask me anything.