How I sell a home, step by step

Most homes get listed the same way. The agent takes photos, puts the house on the MLS, and waits for a buyer's agent to call. That can work when there are more buyers than homes. With as many homes for sale as there are across Clarksville and Middle Tennessee right now, waiting is how a good house turns into a stale one.

I'm Keri Gilles, a REALTOR® with Haus Realty & Management, and I don't wait. Every home I list goes through the same four steps: Equity, Presentation, Impact and Campaign. You choose your pricing strategy with the evidence in front of you. Your home is photographed and filmed to win the first showing, which now happens on a phone. It gets paid reach every week, aimed at people who weren't searching yet. And it launches with a plan for the first two weeks, when buyer attention is at its highest.

Whether you're selling to move, downsizing, or selling during a divorce, the steps are the same. Along the way you hear from me every Tuesday, news or not. I'll tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear, because a seller who knows where they stand makes better decisions than one who's been told everything is fine.

Below is each step, explained. If you'd rather talk it through, tell me about your home and I'll show you what the plan would look like for yours.

Most buyers see your home on a phone first. By the time they book a showing, they've already decided whether they like it. The photos, video and description aren't a formality. They are the first showing.

Every home I list gets:

• More than 50 professionally edited HDR photos, inside and out, with blue-sky editing
• Aerial photos with the property marked, so buyers see the lot, the street and what's around it
• An interactive floor plan, with measurements buyers can download
• A 30-second highlight reel made for social media
• Virtual twilight photos, the evening shot that stops a scroll

Before the photographer arrives, we talk about your home. I'll ask what you've loved about living there and who you picture buying it. Your answers decide what the camera focuses on and what the description says first. A home with a new roof, newer windows and a newer heating and cooling system should say so in the first sentence, because that's what a buyer worried about repair bills needs to read. A home on an acre should lead with the land.

We'll also walk through the house together, and I'll tell you what to fix, what to leave alone and what to put away before photos. Some of it will be small. Some of it you may not want to hear. All of it points at one goal: a buyer who falls for your home online and shows up already wanting it.

Your home does not appear out of nowhere. About four to five days before it goes active, it goes up as Coming Soon, so buyers and their agents know it's on the way and launch day starts with people already watching for it.

The first two weeks your home is on the market are the most important two weeks it will have. Attention is at its highest, and buyers decide whether your home is an opportunity or something to keep an eye on. So I treat those two weeks as a launch, not a listing.

It starts with Coming Soon, about four to five days before your home goes active, to build interest before the first showing. Then we hold an agent preview, so buyers' agents see it in person and know who to bring, and a public open house, so buyers who aren't working with an agent yet can walk through.

Then comes the part sellers tell me they value most: knowing what's going on. After showings, I follow up with the buyer's agent for feedback. While your home is on the market, I call you every Tuesday with what happened that week: the showings, the feedback, the Zillow numbers and what I'd do next. Once we're under contract, I call every Tuesday and Friday until closing.

I know what the alternative feels like. When my husband and I moved to Tennessee, our agent barely left Clarksville to show us homes, and once we were under contract we could hardly get her on the phone. We felt lost. That's the reason I became an agent, and it's why the Tuesday call isn't optional.

When offers come in, I lay them out side by side: price, financing, contingencies and timing, not only the top number. And I'm careful with every word of the contract. Early in my career, "up to $10,000" instead of "$10,000" cost my buyers about $800 at closing. I've written every contract since as if that mistake is waiting in it.

Once you accept an offer, the work changes but it doesn't slow down. Inspection requests, the appraisal and the buyer's loan approval each come with a deadline, and each one is a place where a deal can wobble. I track every date, tell you what's coming before it arrives, and bring you a recommendation, not only a problem, when something comes up. If an inspection turns up a repair, you'll hear what it is, what the buyer is asking for, your options, and what I'd do.

I also put my promises in writing, and you get them on paper at our first meeting. One of them matters more than the rest: you can cancel your listing with me at any time, for any reason, with no obligation and no cost to you. Tell me about your home, and we'll start with your three prices.