Get to the top of the market. All before we meet.

It's us versus the market.

Selling is not you versus your agent. I say it at every kitchen table: it's us versus the market. I don't decide what buyers say about your house. Only you do. I can help you change it. You are the one who can actually do it.

So here is the list. Do these things before we meet, not after. This is how you get your real estate agent on your side, in a good mood, and ready to go to bat for you from the first hour.

Clean it and clear it.

Buyers pay for space they can see. Price opinions work the same way. Start here, weeks before the appointment if you can.

• Clean like company is comingfloors, counters, bathrooms, air. A deep clean runs a few hundred dollars and improves every showing and every photo that follows.
• Clear it for realif it is leaving anyway, let it leave now. One hauling weekend beats a buyer trying to guess what the house looks like empty.
• The garage countsdo not move the pile to the garage. Buyers open the garage. Buyers open everything.
• Let the closets breathehalf empty closets read as storage. Packed ones read as not enough house.

Open every door.

A first walkthrough only works if we can see the whole property. Every room, every space, every gate.

• Keys and codes readysheds, gates, side yards, the attic hatch, the pool equipment. If it locks, be ready to open it.
• No off limits roomsa space we cannot enter becomes a question. The market answers questions with lower numbers.
• People and pets plannedif family or tenants are home, set a time when every room can show. Dogs out or crated for the hour.

Know your house.

The first thing I ask is how is your roof. We never want the answer to be we don't know. You do not need every answer. You need the file.

• Roofage, last service, repairs, any warranty that transfers. In Tucson the roof is question one.
• Cooling and heatAC age and last service. Water heater age. These carry real weight in every offer.
• Work you have donewhat you fixed, what you replaced, what you permitted. Receipts if you have them.
• One folder on the counterwarranties, permits, HOA papers, insurance claims, and a rough loan payoff number. One folder beats a shoebox somewhere in the garage.

The ten thousand dollar rule.

Here is the honest math. Every big item left undone costs a seller about ten thousand dollars. The tired roof. The AC on its last summer. The room nobody can walk through.

And you pay it whether you do the work or not. Skip it and it shows up as a price cut, a repair credit, or the offer that never arrives. Handle it and it usually costs a fraction of that. So handle what you can, and know the rest going in. Then we price on purpose instead of by surprise.

What a great first walkthrough looks like.

The best first appointments run the same way. You walk me through the house and tell me what you know. The house is clean. Every door opens. The folder is on the counter. Then we sit down and spend the hour on price, timing, and plan instead of where do we start.

• You walked it like a buyerfront yard to back fence, with your own list of what you noticed.
• You know your numbersrough payoff, the timing you want, where you are headed next.
• You know your systemsroof, AC, water heater, and the paperwork to back it up.
• You bring the questionsprice, prep, order of operations, timing. Ask all of it.

None of this is homework for my benefit. It is the head start that puts us on the same side of the table on day one. The market does the judging. We do the preparing.