Sell
The first ten daysdecide the price
A listing gets one launch. Every buyer watching that price range sees it in the same week, forms an opinion, and moves on.
Everything before that week is the actual work.
Sequence
Sixty days,done properly
Most sellers call six days before they want a sign in the yard. The ones who net the most call two months out.
Weeks one and two
Walkthrough and pricing. What the house is worth as-is, prepped, and renovated. Then we decide which version we are selling and build the budget around that decision.
Weeks three and four
The work. Paint, floors, lighting, hardware, landscaping. Systems handled and documented. Pre-inspection and a sewer scope so nothing surprises us later.
Weeks five and six
Declutter and stage. Then photography, video, drone and floor plan on the right day with the right light. This is not a scheduling detail. It is the product.
Weeks seven and eight
Copy, sign-off, and a coordinated launch. Broker preview, agent outreach, social, email, and the listing going live when the most eyes are on it.
Photos taken before the work is done cannot be un-taken. A price set before the pre-inspection gets renegotiated after it. Sellers lose real money by compressing this into a week, and they rarely realize it because they never see the version that went well.
Before the sign
Handle theseor pay for them later
| Item | Why now, not under contract |
|---|---|
| Sewer scope | Clay lines under old Denver houses. A buyer will scope it. If you scope it first, you either fix it on your schedule at your price, or you disclose it and price it in. Discovered under contract, it becomes a credit request that costs multiples of the repair. |
| Pre-inspection | You find the list before the buyer's inspector does. Every item you fix in advance is an item that does not appear on an inspection objection with a dollar figure attached. |
| Roof | Front Range hail. If there is a claim to make, make it before you list. An unresolved roof affects the buyer's insurance quote, which affects their financing. |
| Electrical panel | Old panels and knob-and-tube create insurability problems. That is a financing problem, not a preference problem, and it kills contracts late. |
| Paint and light | The highest return per dollar in the entire process. Neutral walls, clean trim, warm bulbs at the same temperature throughout. Cheap, fast, and it changes how the photographs read. |
| Landscaping | The first photograph and the first impression. Edges, mulch, a trimmed canopy, something alive at the door. In Denver, an inviting outdoor space is a feature buyers came here for. |
| Depersonalize | Buyers need to imagine themselves living there. That is harder in a room full of someone else's photographs, and it is the least expensive thing on this list. |
Pricing
Aspirational pricingcosts money
The most expensive decision a seller makes is testing a high number for two weeks.
Days on market is public. Every price reduction is public. A listing that launches above the market spends its best two weeks being ignored, then reduces, and the reduction signals weakness to exactly the buyers who were on the fence.
The house that launches correctly draws its buyers in the first week, sometimes more than one, and negotiates from strength. The house that launches high sells later for less. That is not a theory, it is what the reduction history on any given street shows.
Comparable sales, current competition, absorption in your specific price band, and what is coming to market on your street that you do not know about yet. Then a recommendation with a reason attached. If you want to go higher, I will tell you what it will cost and what the exit plan is. I am not going to take a listing at a number I cannot defend.
Marketing
What goes outthe door
Design-forward houses need to be sold to people who care about design. That is a specific audience and it is reached deliberately.
Photography and film
Architectural photography shot at the right hour, video that moves through the house the way a person does, drone for context and the mountain view, and a floor plan so buyers understand the flow before they walk it.
Copy that sounds like a person
The remarks are read by every agent and most buyers. Written well, they tell the story of the house and the block. Written badly, they list appliances.
The milehimodern audience
The brokerage has spent years building a following that specifically follows architecture and design in Denver. A listing goes to that audience, not only to the MLS syndication everyone else gets.
Agent-to-agent
The buyer for a distinctive house is usually already working with an agent. Getting the listing in front of the right hundred agents before it goes live is worth more than a thousand random impressions.
Start here
Call me beforeyou spend anything.
Even if you are six months out. The prep decisions that matter most are the ones made early, and the walkthrough is free.
Heidi Kuker · milehimodern · Denver, Colorado