list your home with avenlie

representation that works for you

Our Systems for Selling Your Home

There are many factors that affect how fast a home sells and for how much. When a homeowner decides it's time to sell their house, they need to prepare the property to make the best possible impression on the market. Because the longer a house is on the market, the less it usually sells for - and some don't sell at all. To avoid this, homeowners need to do what they can to make their house look as good as its comps and function as well as possible.

Most importantly, the home needs to be priced correctly according to market comps (which is how the appraiser will decide its value.)

What most sellers don't realize is that their asking price must be validated by an appraiser and lender in order for the buyer to receive funding, or the buyer must pay cash for the amount not approved. And many buyers will refuse to do this. Outside of the luxury market, most buyers just don't have extra cash to offer over the appraisal when they're already paying a downpayment and moving expenses.

So setting an asking price can make or break your home selling experience. The right asking price will hopefully not only pay off the mortgage and whatever taxes and insurance are owed, but also uphold or increase the property values in the neighborhood, and net the seller a profit. 

Once the house is prepared for the market and a suitable asking price has been chosen, Avenlie will focus on marketing your listing to your most likely buyer.

Preparation. Presentation. Pricing.

preparing your home for the market

Selling a house for top dollar depends on reducing its negatives and making it appealing to buyers. The property will automatically fall into a market range based on certain factors such as location, age, square footage, and number of bedrooms and bathrooms. These are some of the factors that the appraiser will look at when comparing it to similar properties.

And the appraiser may or may not take into consideration features or upgrades that you think add value to your house. So instead of focusing on "upgrading", it can be more beneficial to focus on "fixing" anything that can reduce the value of your home.

For example, the appraiser might not be impressed by a gold plated toilet, but they will certainly reduce value for a failing septic system. The appraiser can value a house based on the features it has without increasing the home's value due to the cost of those features.

Your real estate agent can advise you on which repairs and improvements will best serve your home within its market. Obviously, anything that is damaged or not functioning should be repaired or replaced. A buyer would likely request those repairs after inspection anyway.

Fresh neutral paint and refinishing or replacing damaged flooring are usually good choices that appeal to buyers and make the house look great in listing photos and open houses. The idea is to have the same or slightly better level of finishes and features as your market comps. 

So repair and replace without going overboard on finishes or pricing your home out of its comparable market. Spending too much money on upgrades does not guarantee a higher appraisal, since the appraisal is based on market comps. Unless you have a cash buyer, you probably won't get that money back.

“Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” 

- Walt Disney

Marketing your home

Our goal is to get your listing seen by as many likely buyers as possible. There are many methods for marketing a listing, but we believe that some are more effective and cost efficient than others. The most important consideration when marketing a listing is: are the right people going to see this?

We want every dollar of our marketing spend to be targeted towards the people who are most likely to want to buy your home.

This eliminates the unnecessary waste of time and resources, and it ensures that the inquiries and offers you receive are serious and qualified so that your home sells faster and for more money. 

Selling Services

Professional Photography

Signage & Flyers

Upgrades & Staging Recommendations

Vendor & Partner Resources

Individual Sales Page on Our Website

Listings on Zillow, Trulia, & realtor.com

Mailers are effective at marketing listings because they are local, targeted, and tangible. Our research can help pinpoint the neighborhoods where your most likely buyer lives so that they receive a tastefully designed postcard that highlights the best features of your home, open house details, and the current market value of your home so they can make a competitive offer.

direct mail

Never underestimate the power of a great MLS listing. Speaking from personal experience, our own home was listed on the MLS during a "seller's market", and we received a qualified, full price offer within the hour. No other marketing was ever needed.

Now that won't happen for every listing, but many buyer's agents scour the MLS for new listings so their clients can make the first offer on a home and get under contract without competition. The MLS is a valuable tool for getting your listing seen by serious, qualified buyers.

mls listing

The Open House is a great way to bring in buyers that want to move into your neighborhood. The key to attracting these potential buyers is holding open house hours for your neighbors. There is a good chance that they have a friend or family member who would love to live closer to them and will prioritize location over other concerns. By preparing the house to make a beautiful presentation, you're more likely to generate word-of-mouth referrals to potential buyers during the open house.

Your Open House will be advertised with yard signage, on avenliehome.com, the MLS, realtor.com, zillow.com, featured on our social media, and as postcards sent to targeted neighborhoods including your own.

open house

Want to learn more about our Sellers Package?

These are some of our favorite marketing tools: