Home Selling

Most people selling a house have done it once, or never. So the useful thing is not a list of adjectives about service. It is the sequence, in order, with the decisions marked.

Here is how a Seattle-area sale actually runs, what each stage decides, and roughly how long it takes. Where a step carries a real choice, I have said what the choice is rather than pretending there is one right answer.

The sequence, start to finish

Eight steps. The first three happen before anything is public, and that is where most of the outcome is decided.

1. Find out what it is actually worthA comparative market analysis against real nearby sales, not an automated estimate. One page: the number, three comparable sales, your price per square foot against the neighbourhood band, and how long homes like yours are taking to sell. Everything downstream depends on this being honest rather than flattering.
2. Decide what to fix and what to price inNot everything is worth repairing before a sale. Broken things usually are. Upgrades usually are not, because buyers discount a dated kitchen by less than a new kitchen costs. We go room by room and split the list into fix, disclose, or reflect in the price.
3. Consider a pre-listing inspectionOptional, and often worth it. You get the condition picture on your own timeline instead of reacting to a buyer's inspector inside a five-day window, and you can hand the report to buyers to reduce their uncertainty. It also surfaces anything that would otherwise blow up mid-escrow.
4. Set the price and the strategyTwo decisions, not one. The number, and whether to set an offer review date or take offers as they arrive. A review date concentrates attention and can create competition. Going live without one suits a home priced to move, or a market where waiting costs you. Which is right depends on your home and your timeline.
5. Prepare and photographCleaning, decluttering, light staging where it earns its keep, then professional photography. For most buyers the photographs are the listing. They decide from a phone whether your home makes the shortlist, long before anyone walks through the door.
6. Go live and manage showingsThe listing hits the NWMLS and syndicates out to the portals from there. I handle scheduling, feedback and the flow of information, and I tell you honestly what the traffic is saying, including when it is saying the price is wrong.
7. Review and negotiate offersPrice is the headline, but the terms decide whether a deal closes: financing certainty, contingency structure, timeline, and whether an escalation clause is in play. I lay the offers out side by side with what each actually nets you and where the risk sits.
8. Escrow through to closingInspection response, title, appraisal if there is one, the buyer's financing, and the final walkthrough. Deadlines run quietly through this stretch and nobody chases you for them, so I keep the calendar and tell you what is needed before it becomes urgent.

How long it takes

Preparation is the variable. Everything after it is fairly predictable.

Getting ready, meaning valuation, repairs, inspection and photography, runs anywhere from a week to a couple of months depending entirely on what you decide to do to the house. Once live, time on market depends on price and neighbourhood. From accepted offer to closing is commonly around three to five weeks, driven mostly by the buyer's lender.

If you have a date you need to be out by, say so at the first conversation. It changes the pricing strategy, not just the calendar.

What it costs

Commission is negotiable and agreed in writing before anything is listed. I will put the number and what it covers in front of you at the start, not at closing.

Beyond that, budget for what sellers routinely forget: excise tax, title and escrow fees, any agreed repairs or credits, and whatever prep you decide to do. You get a net proceeds estimate alongside the valuation, so you are working from a real number rather than the sale price.

Start here

The first step is the valuation, and it costs nothing. Tell me the address and roughly when you are thinking of moving, and I will come back with what your home would realistically sell for today, what is driving that number, and what I would change before listing.

There is no obligation attached. Plenty of people get a valuation, decide the timing is wrong, and come back a year later. That is a perfectly reasonable outcome, and I would rather you had the real number either way.

Worth reading first

Written for exactly this question:

• Buying and selling at the same time in Seattle: five ways to do it
• Should you take the cash offer on your Seattle house?
• Form 17: Washington's seller disclosure, explained
• How long it takes to sell a house in Seattle, and how to make it faster
• Selling a house with knob and tube wiring in Washington
• Selling a house with a buried oil tank
• Seller credits in Washington: what they pay for, how much, and when to ask
• Washington's real estate excise tax, worked to the dollar

Where I work

A few areas where this comes up often:

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