Selling is the start of your next 

chapter journey quest

Though there’s no magic formula for determining the best time to sell a home, but there are several factors you should consider.

The best season for selling

Conventional wisdom dictates that spring is the best time to sell a home. In spring, the holidays have passed, the new school year is still a while away, and gardens and other outdoor spaces tend to look their best. And while spring is the season that sees the largest amount of buyers, it’s also the season when inventories are highest. This means lots of competition, so if you’re going to sell in spring, you really need to get your property to stand out with effective marketing and staging.

The best day for selling

According to research, Thursday is the best day of the week to list your home for sale. By listing your home on a Thursday, you can make it available immediately for weekend showings. Come Saturday – the busiest day for the real estate industry – your home will have only been on sale for two days, which is great for attracting full-price offers. In general, the shorter amount of time your home remains on the market, the more - and higher - the offers you’ll receive.

The DC area housing market has been competitive for a very long time. To be truly successful, you need a Realtor who can manage a comprehensive marketing program to showcase your home both online and in-person.

We have a tried and true marketing plan that includes online marketing, agent-to-agent marketing, open houses and comprehensive follow-up with showings in order to capture any potential buyers for your home.

As we prepare your home for sale, we bring in a professional photographer and videographer to take beautiful photos - including by drone - and create a video tour and 3D model of your home.

KW Metro Center has an online Coming Soon portal that is only available to Realtors in our five offices. Before your home hits the market (and is entered into the Multple Listing Service, or MLS), we enter the listing into this portal, thus marketing the home to over 300 local KW agents.

Once your home goes on the market, we email flyers and invite Realtors from offices in the surrounding area to a broker's open. We also mail “Just Listed” announcements to your neighborhood, so your neighbors can alert their friends or family who have been eyeing a home there.

Each week, we email current listings and open house information to more than 14,000 real estate agents in the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia area. We also advertise homes for sale on Facebook, Instagram, Google and Waze; our custom advertising parameters will market specifically to people in our local area looking to purchase a home.

Finally, we use an online scheduling system for showing your home. You will get texts to approve any showings directly.

There are a lot of real estate agents out there, most of whom are competent, professional, and trustworthy. There are others who are less reliable, and some who are really nothing more than hobbyists.

Ann has built a successful career as a professional Realtor over the last two decades. She has seen many changes in the real estate market, adapting her business to best fit her client's needs while keeping the fundamentals true to what matters most.

Here's how our team stands out from other Realtors:

Expertise

We will use our experience and knowledge to:

1. Help you establish a fair asking price.

2. Filter out buyers who won’t qualify for a mortgage.

3. Negotiate with the buyer on your behalf.

4. Refer you to our reliable network of professionals we've curated over the years, including contractors, home inspectors, trusted lenders, and title companies.

Ann is both an associate broker and a licensed real estate agent. (Brokers are real estate agents who have completed additional training and licensing requirements.)

Personable service

We will take care of details big and small:

1. Marketing your home

2. Scheduling appointments and showing your home to prospective buyers, even when you are not available.

3. Helping you with the complex and often confusing paperwork involved in the home selling process.

How to evaluate a professional

Below are some of the more common distinguishing characteristics you should consider when evaluating any agent that you intend to do business with. You may also have special requirements that will influence your choice of an agent. We are happy to discuss our team’s areas of expertise with you, or answer any questions you may have about our individual specialties.

Special or niche expertise

Some agents specialize in particular neighborhoods or areas, while others may specialize in property types (like lofts and condos in a city and horse farms in the country). Other agents excel in a particular aspect of the selling process. If you want a great negotiator, for instance, you should ask about your agent’s experience making deals. Or, if you are selling a property in the top range of the market, be sure your agent has experience selling homes of similar value.

Local market knowledge

Engaging an agent who isn’t familiar with the geographical area you are selling in is akin to asking your podiatrist to do triple-bypass surgery. Make sure your agent is active in your market; it’s the only way they will have an accurate sense of what your home is worth.

Communication style

Although selling a home is a business transaction, it can also be a highly emotional and personal experience. An agent with whom you communicate well will be able to anticipate issues that may concern you—even if you haven’t thought about them yet. Your agent will represent you to other people during the selling process. Make sure you are comfortable with the agent’s style and methods.

Resources

It isn’t necessary to hire an agent from a national brokerage house, but you should be sure that the agent you choose has access to the resources you require. Don’t get stuck with an agent who doesn’t have the tools to get the job done.

Professionalism

The best agents are busy. They are respected real estate professionals who take their job seriously and serve their clients well. Make sure that your agent isn’t just dabbling in real estate.

Your agent should have enough time to provide you with the level of service you need: They should be always available, able to provide timely listing information to buyers, and actively promote your home.

Don’t hesitate to ask us for information about any of these areas. We are as interested in making sure we will work together successfully as you are!

Maybe you’ve thought about selling your home without an agent in order to avoid paying an agent’s commission. That commission, depending on where you live and what agency you choose, will be around six percent.

Handling your own sale means you will have to actively market your home, answer calls from interested buyers and their agents, and show your home to strangers at all hours—no matter how unexpected or inconvenient - and negotiate with licensed real estate agents over everything from price to closing. Also, buyers who know you are saving on an agent’s commission may offer less for your home, destroying any financial benefit you were hoping to gain.

According to the National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, For Sale By Owner (FSBO) homes sell for significantly less than homes sold by an agent:

Nationally, FSBOs accounted for 7% of home sales in 2020, and the typical FSBO home sold for $260,000 compared to $318,000 for agent-assisted home sales.

(Note that these are national statistics; the average sales prices in the DC metro area is typically much higher.)

Using a professional Realtor will make your home sale a better experience, and a more profitable one.

At any point in time, several other homes for sale are competing with yours. You must know what’s going on in your local housing market in order to price your home competitively and attract a qualified buyer.

We will help you determine the market value of your home by generating a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) report, which will show you a range of prices being paid for homes in your area.

We will also discuss other factors that help us determine the value of your home:

1. Location

2. Square footage of your home and lot

3. Condition of your property

4. Upgrades and renovations you’ve undertaken

5. Buyer demand level for homes in your area

6. Your motivation

7. Availability of financing

8. Interest rates

Four basic marketing factors help govern a home sale; different parties control different factors. Sellers control a home’s market position (based on price) and saleability/appeal to buyers. The listing agent controls the marketing program, while the buyer controls the market value.

We will determine price based on the marketing factors you control:

1. Property condition

2. Marketing time

3. Seller financing and warranty

The combination of an accurate CMA, a precise property evaluation, and a well-executed marketing plan will help you price your home realistically in order to attract a full-price buyer.

Why not just price your home as high as possible?

According to the National Association of Realtors, here’s a snapshot of your likelihood of selling at different market values.

• At 15% above market value, 20% of homes are sold.

• At 10% above, 30% of homes are sold.

• When priced at market value, 60% of homes are sold.

• At 10% below market value, 75% of homes are sold.

• And, at 15% below market value, 90% of homes are sold.

Realistic pricing means you will:

1. Capitalize on the first few days and weeks of high activity and interest.

2. Attract more prospects.

3. Increase the likelihood of receiving higher offers.

4. Minimize the inconvenience of keeping your home ready to show.

5. Accomplish a faster sale.

Remember, your need for money does not increase the value of your home. If a stock trades around $104, it does no good to insist on selling at $112. Pricing too high only means your price will make other homes in your area look like better deals.

Overpricing your home could also make it difficult for a buyer to finance. The majority of homes are financed. If you overprice your home, a buyer may be denied financing because the appraisal will come in too low to justify the loan.

To sell your home at its maximum price, you must make it as appealing as possible to the buyers you want to impress.

The following are just a few of the many ideas we will review with you as your agent. We will look at your home through a buyer’s eyes, you will learn to assess your own home as if you had never seen it before, and together we will increase the perceived value of your home.

The big projects

These large projects may cost you a bit of money, but some may be well worth the expense. We will recommend which of these improvements will add value to your home, and which are not necessary.

• Painting, exterior and/or interior

• Improving lawn and landscaping

• Cleaning and repairing windows and screens

• Cleaning and/or replacing carpets

• Touching up or refinishing kitchen and/or bathroom cabinets

• Storing or disposing of furniture in order to make rooms appear larger

• Cleaning drapes

• Cleaning and repairing appliances

• Replacing countertops and/or grout in the kitchen

The small details that make a big difference

Our professional stagers will assess the small details to help improve the appeal of your home. This may include:

• Declutter! Remove all unnecessary objects from furniture and keep decorative objects to a minimum.

• Put away personal photos to allow potential buyers to imagine living in your home

• Replace burned-out light bulbs

• Put away children’s and pet toys

• Place fresh logs in the fireplace

• Fill paper towel, toilet paper and tissue holders.

In your kitchen:

• Clear all unnecessary objects from countertops.

• Empty cabinets of clutter to make them look more spacious.

• Clear the refrigerator doors of messages, pictures, etc.

• Clean the oven, microwave, refrigerator, and sink

• Hang fresh kitchen towels

In your bathrooms:

• Remove any unnecessary items from countertops, tubs, and shower stalls (keep necessary items in one small group on the counter)

• Check caulking and grout around tubs and in and around showers; replace as needed.

• Replace or clean shower curtain.

• Fix leaking faucets.

• Hang fresh, coordinating towels

In your bedrooms:

• Check your closets: be sure lights work and clothes are neatly hung.

• Store shoes or other loose items in boxes, neatly arranged on shelves.

• Remove clutter from bedside tables, dressers, and desks.

Outside your home:

• Replace door mats.

• Tour the perimeter of the house and move all garbage cans, discarded wood scraps, extra building materials, etc. into the garbage.

• Make sure gutters are free of debris.

• Inspect all plants. Prune bushes and trees (especially if they are blocking windows) and remove any dead plants or shrubs.

• Weed all planting areas.

• Keep your lawn freshly cut.

We will make sure your home looks its best! Attending to all the details that make potential buyers feel welcome will significantly enhance your ability to generate full-price offers in a short amount of time.

Buyers want all the details. We will help you gather and compile the information buyers need:

1. A legal description of your property.

2. The number and size of the rooms.

3. A list of items not attached to the house that you’re offering for sale, such as window treatments, carpet, fixtures, swing sets, etc.

4. Past utility bills, property taxes and insurance.

5. Information about your mortgage, including type, terms, and if assumable.

6. Financing assistance available, possibly through your own lender.

7. Any liens against the property.

8. If you live in a condominium or a townhouse, a copy of the association’s declaration, bylaws, and financial statement, monthly fees and special assessments.

9. Special items or improvements on the house (we’ll identify anything that may not be apparent on a walk-through.)

10. A list of what you like about living in the home.

11. A list of all the desirable aspects of your neighborhood, such as demographic information, proximity to services, shopping, schools, etc.

Once this information is collected, we will make certain it reaches the people who need it, and need it right away: qualified, interested buyers!

Making it easy for potential buyers to access all details about your home and get in touch with your Realtor is the key to making a fast sale. A fast sale means more profit and less expenditure for you.

Our marketing system ensures your listing is available 24/7 and that we respond immediately and directly to every potential buyer. So, where do we find potential buyers?

We use every avenue available to interest people in your home:

1. Use professional photography and videography to showcase your home

2. Write a custom marketing brochure that highlights your home’s features

3. List your home in the KW Metro Center Coming Soon portal to instantly market your home to more than 300 local KW agents

4. Email flyers and invite local Realtors to a broker’s open

5. Mail “Just Listed” announcements to your neighborhood

6. Email current listings and open house information to more than 14,000 real estate agents in the Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia area.

7. Advertise on Facebook, Instagram, Google and Waze

8. Market to a national and local audience via the Keller Williams and Ann Wilson Homes website

9. List on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), a private database used by Realtors to exchange information about homes for sale

10. Hold open houses

11. Advertise to previous buyers and sellers

12. Advertise in local newspapers and magazines

Plus, our website allows for:

• Targeted searches and automatic interest matching: Visitors to our website can zero in on homes that match their criteria. If they do not find a home they are interested in, they may sign up to be automatically notified when new homes that match their criteria are listed. When you list your home with us, our system automatically notifies everyone who is interested in a home like yours. We may already have a buyer who is eager to hear about your property!

• Buyers to organize their search: Our website offers users an online organizer to make notes about any page on our website and to collect information (favorite homes, mortgage rates, etc.) that is vital to their real estate transaction.

Each of these prospect-capturing features enhances your selling power and reduces your selling time. Good technology combined with our experience and knowledge equals a successful sale.

In addition to regular conversations, we will inform you of the results of advertising and the response it has generated. We will contact agents that have shown your property and ask about potential buyers’ comments. We also will review our pricing strategy after analyzing viewer responses during showings.