3 Questions to Answer Before You List Your Home

By Dave Robison

Dave Robison is one of Utah’s most accomplished and trusted real estate professionals, having sold over 3,400 homes in just over 26 years.

When you’re getting ready to list, the same three questions come up almost every time. What day should you go live? How fast will you know what buyers actually thought? And when should you make changes to the home? Most sellers guess at all three, and guessing is exactly what costs them money.

After more than 26 years and thousands of sales, this is how I coach every client through them.

1. List on the right day. Years ago, my team and I figured out that Mondays and Fridays are the worst days to list, because email open rates bottom out then. People are either buried in the Monday grind or already checked out for the weekend.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are your best days for online exposure, and Thursday is our favorite, and the data backs that up. List on a Thursday and your home is fresh right as buyers plan their weekend tours, so you can gather offers to review by Monday, which is the sweet spot.

2. Know how buyer feedback really works. The honest answer is that it varies, and you won’t hear from everyone. Roughly 30% of agents never get back to the listing agent at all. I know that firsthand, because I can show ten agents a listing and normally only two ever call me back.

It’s hard work, so most people skip it. My team and I don’t. We hound the agents for you, calling, texting, and emailing, sometimes for weeks. Usually you’ll hear something the next day, about a third get back to us within a couple of days, and once in a while you’ll hear the same day.

3. Make changes on a schedule. You’ve got two ways to handle changes to your home. You can make knee-jerk decisions on a whim, or you can make strategic ones, and knee-jerk decisions are costly. I’ve watched sellers pick their home apart every single day and lose thousands off their price, because it wears you down, thins your wallet, and pushes you toward more bad decisions.

The better way is to evaluate once a week, usually a Wednesday or Thursday, based on real market data and feedback. Every week, my team and I build you a market report and walk through the activity and the feedback together. Let me give you a real example. A seller once called me crying because a buyer said her home needed all new carpet and all new paint. I told her that's one buyer's opinion, not a fact.

What we act on is a real obstacle we can solve, or a common theme where every buyer is saying the same thing. She trusted me; we didn’t touch the carpet or the paint, and the very next showing, that buyer bought the house and said it was perfect. I’ve had listings go three full weeks without a single showing and still sell for full price. Evaluate once a week, and you can make a smart, strategic move instead of an emotional one. We typically make changes at two, three, or four weeks, and it’s driven by those weekly reports.

List on the right day, get real feedback, and make strategic decisions once a week. That’s how you protect your price and your timeline. If you’re thinking about listing and you want a team that runs this process the right way, let’s talk. I’ll show you what your home is really worth and map out the plan to sell it for top dollar, the Utah Dave Way. Call or text me at 801-966-4000, email me at dave@utahdave.com, or visit utahdave.com.

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