Sharon Smith

Selling

Get inspected before you list. Everything else follows from that.

The same defect is a disclosure with a bid attached, or a buyer's leverage under a deadline. Which one it becomes is decided weeks before the sign goes up.

Listing, start to close

  1. 1

    Pre-list inspection — before the sign goes up

    You get inspected before you list, so the findings belong to you instead of to a buyer holding leverage in day nine of an inspection period. This single step changes the negotiating posture of the entire transaction.

  2. 2

    Repairs triaged by return, not by anxiety

    Not everything found needs fixing. Some items are worth repairing, some are worth disclosing and pricing, and some are worth neither. The list gets sorted by what actually moves the number.

  3. 3

    Price from screened comparables

    Same discipline as the buy side. Outliers excluded with stated reasons. You see the working, not just the recommendation.

  4. 4

    Prepare, photograph, launch once

    A listing gets one strong first week of search placement. We do not launch until the house, the photography, and the copy are all ready to use it.

  5. 5

    One variable at a time after launch

    Showing-to-offer conversion measured over a defined interval. One input changed per interval. The cause of any change stays knowable.

The same finding, two very different transactions.

Without a pre-list inspection

  • The buyer commissions the first real inspection, after you are under contract.
  • They hold a document about your house that you have not read.
  • It is day seven of a ten-day period and they can still walk.
  • The repair request arrives with a buyer’s estimate, not a contractor bid.
  • Your listing is off the market and every other buyer is gone.

With one

  • You know what is in the report, because you commissioned it.
  • You have weeks to get real contractor bids on anything material.
  • You decide what to repair, what to disclose and price, and what to leave.
  • Every disclosure arrives documented, which converts worry into a known number.
  • You negotiate from information rather than from surprise.

One caveat I will always state plainly: in Arizona you are obligated to disclose known material facts regardless, and the Residential Seller Disclosure Statement is not optional. A pre-list inspection changes what you know and when — it does not create an obligation that was not already there. Where the exact line sits is a question for your attorney, and I will tell you when you have reached one.

Orientation tool

What you actually walk away with.

Sale price is the number everyone talks about. Net proceeds is the number that matters.

Commissions are negotiable and not set by law or by any board. Arizona has no real estate transfer tax; a flat $2 affidavit fee applies.

Estimated net at closing

Commission− $52,250
Title & escrow (est.)− $1,800
Affidavit fee− $2
Mortgage payoff− $420,000
Estimated net$475,948

An orientation estimate, not a settlement statement. Prorated taxes, HOA transfer fees, and payoff interest all move this number at closing.

Start with what the house is actually worth.

A screened-comparable valuation, with the sales I excluded and the reason for each exclusion shown to you.

Walk your house before you spend anything.

I will tell you which pre-list items are worth doing on your specific property and which are not. No listing presentation attached.

Pre-launch: form delivery is not wired yet. Phone and email are live.