Seller guide
Your price decides who sees your home and how fast it sells. Here's how a sale price really gets set, why online estimates can't tell you, and how we help you choose a number with real data, never pressure.
Where the number comes from
A sale price isn't the list price, an online estimate or a tax value. It's the price that a buyer, the seller and, most of the time, the buyer's lender all agree on.
Has to want your home more than the others for sale in the same price range, and be willing to pay for it.
You decide the list price and which offer to accept. Nothing sells until you say yes.
Most buyers use a loan, and the lender only lends on what its appraiser says the home is worth. That's the third signature on the price.
Price where the most buyers will see your home as the best value, at a number an appraiser can support with recent sales.
Online estimates
Zillow's Zestimate, and the estimates on Redfin, Realtor.com and Homes.com, are computer guesses built from public records and nearby sales. They're a fun starting point, but they aren't a real measure of what your home will sell for.
An algorithm doesn't know about your new roof, the remodeled kitchen, the creek out back, or the room that still needs work. Condition is often the biggest difference between two homes on the same street.
Look up the same home on four sites and you'll often get four different numbers, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars apart.
Once a home is listed, these estimates usually move toward the asking price. A Zestimate that matches your list price isn't proof the price is right; it's partly the list price talking back.
We screenshot every estimate before your home is listed, then show you on your private page how each one moved after it went live. You'll see for yourself how they track the list price.
Two ways to value a home
A licensed agent's analysis of your home's value, built from the closest sold, pending and for-sale homes, adjusted for size, condition, updates and lot. It's made for pricing and marketing your home, and it looks at where the market is heading, not only where it's been.
A licensed appraiser's opinion of value, usually ordered by the buyer's lender after you're under contract. It follows strict lending rules and relies on homes that have already sold.
Before you list, we see your home in person, then send you a BPA with the comparable homes we used, line by line, along with our pricing guidance. There's no cost and no obligation. Curious how we pick comparables? What makes a good comparable.
Looking back, not ahead
Appraisals are based on sales that have already closed, often from the last three to six months. That means they lag behind the market.
When prices are softening, the past sales an appraiser uses were often higher than today's market, so appraisals tend to come in high compared with what buyers will pay now.
When prices are climbing, those past sales trail today's prices, so appraisals tend to come in low. That's when appraisal gaps happen.
If you order an appraisal before listing, the appraiser estimates market value with no contract in hand. It can be a useful reference, but it isn't the appraisal that decides your sale.
Once you're under contract, the buyer's lender orders an appraisal, and the appraiser gets a copy of the contract. It typically comes in right at the contract price. The appraiser has no reason to go higher, so a high pre-listing appraisal won't raise it.
More on what happens after you accept an offer: getting ready for the appraisal and how the appraisal works.
Know your competition
Sold homes tell you what buyers paid. Homes for sale tell you what buyers can buy instead of yours, today.
Few homes, lots of buyers. Recent sales are a good guide, and the right home can sell above them.
More homes than buyers. Sales data alone can mislead, because buyers are comparing your home with the active listings around it. If similar homes are sitting at lower prices, buyers will see those first.
What a listing agent does
A listing agent can't make a buyer write an offer. Our job is to get your home in front of as many of the right buyers as possible, make it look its best, and then negotiate hard for you when offers come in.
Professional photos, video and tours, four MLSs, the big home search sites and thousands of partner websites, plus ads that follow buyers who've looked at your home. See how we market your home.
Buyers search by price range. Priced right, your home shows up in the searches of buyers who will love it. Priced too high, it gets skipped, and it can sit while the right buyers buy something else.
How we work
We'll never push you to a number. We show you the data (sold homes, active competition, buyer demand and how online estimates compare) and give you our honest guidance. The final list price is always your decision, and we'll market your home just as hard at the price you choose.
We send our pricing guidance after we've seen your home, usually within a day or two. Start with a conversation →