"We can always come down." I hear it from sellers all the time, and I understand the instinct — nobody wants to leave money on the table. But after 13 years of selling homes in Baton Rouge, I can tell you plainly: overpricing doesn't get you more money. It gets you less. The first two weeks are everything A new listing gets its biggest burst of attention in the first 10–14 days — the...
Seller
Here's the truth about selling a home today: buyers tour your photos before they ever tour your house. If the photos don't grab them, they scroll past — and you never get the showing. After years of listing homes around Baton Rouge, these are the photo mistakes I see costing sellers real traffic. 1. Dark, grainy phone photos The number one killer. A dark living room shot taken at 8 p.m. makes...
Staging has a reputation for being expensive and fussy — rented furniture, designer touches, the works. The truth is simpler: staging just means presenting your home so buyers can picture their life in it. Most of what matters, you can do yourself. Declutter first, decorate second Staging starts with subtraction. Pack up about a third of what you own — knickknacks, family photos, the overflowing...
Sooner or later, a buyer's offer will ask you to contribute to their closing costs. It's called a seller concession, and if the term is new to you, you're not alone. Here's what it means and how to think about it. What a concession is A seller concession is money you agree to contribute toward the buyer's closing costs, prepaid items, or discount points — credited at closing....
Buyers decide how they feel about your house before they step inside — sometimes before they get out of the car. In Louisiana, where we're outside most of the year, curb appeal carries extra weight. The good news: the highest-impact projects are also the cheapest. Start with a ruthless cleanup Before spending a dollar, do the free stuff: mow and edge the lawn, trim overgrown bushes, pull weeds from...
"We're selling for $300,000!" That's exciting — until you do the math on what you actually walk away with. Between commissions, fees, and payoff costs, selling a home takes a real bite out of the sale price. Here's an honest breakdown for Louisiana sellers. Agent commissions The biggest line item. Traditionally, the total commission runs around 5–6% of the sale price, split...
"WE BUY HOUSES FOR CASH!" — you've seen the signs, the postcards, the texts. And sometimes a cash offer is genuinely the right move. But cash buyers aren't charities, and understanding the trade-offs protects you. Why cash offers appeal to sellers Speed. No lender means no underwriting delays. Cash deals can close in a week or two instead of 30–45 days. Certainty. No appraisal...
The pitch for selling your home yourself is seductive: skip the commission, pocket the savings. And sure — some people pull it off. But after 13 years in this business, I've watched enough FSBO attempts to tell you honestly what you're signing up for. The math isn't what you think The big assumption is that you'll save the full commission. In practice, most FSBO sellers still offer a...
"Can we show your home in an hour?" If your house is on the market, this call is coming. The sellers who handle it calmly aren't superhuman — they just have a routine. Here's a 30-minute sprint that gets your home showing-ready without the panic. Minutes 1–5: The speed tour Grab a laundry basket and walk every room. Into the basket goes: mail on the counter, shoes by the door, toys,...
Buyers decide within seconds of walking in, and nothing tanks a first impression faster than cigarette smoke smell. It's one of the top buyer turnoffs I see — people will walk back out before they've seen the kitchen. The good news: it can be fixed. The bad news: air freshener isn't the fix. Why smoke smell is so stubborn Cigarette smoke doesn't just hang in the air — it soaks into...