The Savvy Seller
What to expect when selling your home, and how to get the highest price and the best terms with less stress. Co-authored with Krista Mashore.
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Check your inbox for the download. While you wait, here is the part of the book I would want you to read first, because it is the part that changes what happens to your money.
Ask an agent these before you hire one
Most listing appointments are the agent talking. The ones worth hiring are happy to be asked hard questions, so ask them.
What do you spend on marketing a listing, and who pays for it? Not what you do, what you spend. If the answer is vague, that is the answer.
Show me the reach on your last three campaigns. Anyone can say maximum exposure. A number with a report behind it is different. Mine have reached over 70,000 people and I bring the reporting to the appointment.
What happens in week three if it has not sold? The honest answer involves a plan. The common answer involves a price reduction.
Who handles the inspection response? It is the most expensive conversation in the transaction and the one sellers are least ready for.
Why traditional marketing stopped working
Putting a house on the MLS reaches people who are actively searching, right now, in your price range, in your area. That is a real audience and a small one, and every agent gets it automatically. It is distribution, not marketing.
The larger audience is people who would move if they saw the right house and are not looking today. They will never find your listing by browsing. They have to be put in front of it, which costs money and takes a plan.
That is the whole argument for paid advertising from the first week, and for keeping it running periodically if the house has not sold rather than letting it stop after the opening weekend.
Where a poor negotiator costs you money
Sellers expect the negotiation to be about price. It usually is not.
The price you list at is the first negotiation, because it decides how many people ever see the house and whether your first real conversation starts with competition or after a reduction.
Offer sequencing when more than one arrives. Answering them in the order they turned up leaves money on the table.
The inspection response. A tired seller at week five who agrees to the whole repair list can hand back more than a price reduction would have cost. I am a Master Certified Negotiation Expert, and this is where it earns its keep rather than on a business card.
What to do before you list
The question is never whether work could be done. It is whether the work returns more than it costs, and often it does not.
Buyers discount dated finishes by more than the update would have cost, which is why a short targeted list usually pays and a full renovation usually does not. I will walk your house and give you the itemised version, including when the right answer is that your house is ready and we should not spend your money.
What happens next
Read the book. Then, if you want to know what your house would actually sell for and what would reach you at the end, that conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
If you would rather understand the process without talking to an agent at all yet, the seller seminars are free and there is no pitch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the book really free?
Yes, and there is no obligation attached to it. Plenty of people read it, decide not to sell this year, and come back later. That is a completely normal way to use it.
Who co-authored it?
Krista Mashore, whose method most of this marketing approach comes from. She is among the top one percent of agents nationally.
Is it specific to Utah?
Yes. It is written around what actually happens when you sell here, including the terms Utah uses and how the process runs in this state.
What if I am not selling for a year?
Then it is a better time to read it than the week before listing. Most of the decisions that raise your net are made months ahead.
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