The Sellers Guide
A complete guide to the home selling process in Scottsdale: what happens at each stage, what it costs, and what actually moves the price.
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This guide is about what happens to you. What each stage feels like from inside your own house, what you have to do, and where the decisions actually are.
What I do on my side, how your home gets marketed and how I work out a price, is on the selling page. Different question, answered separately.
There are five stages. Getting ready, going live, showings, the offer, and closing. Most of the stress in a sale comes from not knowing which one you are in or what happens next, so here is all of it in order.
First, the question that changes everything else
Before we talk about price or photographs, I want to know why you are selling.
Not to be nosy. It changes the strategy completely. Someone moving for a job start in nine weeks and someone who will only sell at the right number are running two different sales, and pricing them the same way fails one of them.
Upsizing, downsizing, relocating, moving closer to family, or leaving a house you have been in for twenty-five years. Each has a different pressure point, and knowing yours tells me what we protect when something goes sideways, because something usually does.
I also want to know what your timing genuinely allows, what number makes this worth doing, and what would make you say no to an offer. Getting that clear at the start is what stops a decision being made in a hurry later, at the exact moment you are least able to think.
Stage one: getting the house ready
This is the stage with the most work in it for you, and the most return.
Declutter first, before anything else. If you have lived here a while you have accumulated, and a decluttered house does not just look tidier, it reads as larger than its square footage. That is not a trick, it is how people perceive space. If you run out of room, a short-term storage unit for a few months is money well spent.
Then depersonalize. Family photographs, awards, collections, the artwork with a story behind it. A few personal touches are fine. The goal is enough clear space for somebody else to imagine their life here, which is hard to do while surrounded by yours.
Neutral where you are repainting. Light grays and whites through the main rooms, soft blues and greens in bathrooms. Not because your colors are wrong, but because a neutral room is a room a buyer can project onto.
The outside does more than people think. Trimmed hedges, weeded beds, a clutter-free yard, fresh gravel if yours has faded. A new welcome mat, a plant or two, a freshly painted front door. That is the first photograph and the first three seconds in person.
Deep clean everything, including the oven. People look in the oven. Floors, baseboards, doors, banisters, the pantry, and anywhere a pet lives.
I walk the house with you before any of this and tell you what is worth doing and what is not. Plenty of what sellers plan to do makes no difference to the price, and I would rather save you the weekend.
Once it is ready, the photographer comes. Professional photographs, a 3D walkthrough, drone where the property earns it, and a floor plan. Before that shoot: every light on, every ceiling fan off, every blind open, cars off the driveway, toys and patio clutter away, countertops completely clear, and pet bowls and kennels out of sight.
Stage two: going live, and why the day matters
Your home hits the MLS and every site that feeds from it, and it is brand new for exactly one window. That window is when most of your showings will happen.
Which is why I list on a Wednesday or Thursday, deliberately.
The goal is not one offer, it is several close together, because that is what gives you a choice rather than a decision. Most buyers tour at the weekend. Go live on a Monday and by Saturday your listing is already several days old and no longer the new thing. Go live Wednesday or Thursday and the maximum number of people see it fresh on the days they can actually get there.
From day one your listing runs on social, with paid advertising targeted at the buyer profile your specific house suits, and it goes out to my network of agents directly, because some of the best buyers never search a website at all.
Stage three: showings, and what they ask of you
This is the stage people find hardest, because it is the one that intrudes on your life.
Agents will request showings, sometimes several in a day and sometimes with very little notice. Say yes as often as you can stand to. A buyer who could not get in on Saturday is usually a buyer who bought something else.
Leave the house. All of you, including pets where possible. Buyers do not speak freely with the owner in the kitchen, and a buyer who does not speak freely does not fall for a house.
Get everyone in the household onto the same page early, so a surprise showing means tidying one room rather than negotiating with your family.
The one-hour version, for when the call comes and you have no time: beds made, clutter into a laundry basket and the basket into your car, show towels out, every curtain and blind open and every light on, countertops clear in the kitchen and bathrooms, toilet lids down, bins emptied and the bag in the car, carpets vacuumed, hard floors swept, glass and mirrors wiped, front porch swept, pets secured or with you.
If you have time beyond that, a lit fireplace, music low the way a shop plays it, water features running, and a heavy knit blanket over a chair. Small things, and they change how a room feels.
Stage four: the offer, and why the biggest number can be the worst one
An offer arrives from the buyer's agent and we go through it together.
Price is the part everyone looks at first. It is frequently not the part that decides which offer is best.
What I read alongside it: how the buyer is financing and how solid that financing genuinely is, which contingencies they have kept, how long they want until closing and whether that fits your life, what repairs they have asked for up front, and whether their offer depends on selling something else first.
A slightly lower offer with clean financing and a closing date that works is often worth more to you than a higher one that falls apart in week three, because a failed contract costs you the momentum of being new on the market, and you do not get that back.
You have three choices on any offer: accept, decline, or counter. If you counter, the buyer gets the same three, and it can go back and forth more than once. Every one of those decisions is yours. My job is making sure you can see clearly what you are choosing between.
Once you agree, the buyer puts earnest money with the title company, and the house goes under contract. That means you cannot sell to anyone else while it stands, and it holds until the contingencies are resolved.
The inspection, and the Arizona form that decides how this ends
If you take one thing from this guide, take this section. It is the part sellers understand least and it carries the most risk.
First, the easy news. The buyer chooses the inspector and the buyer pays. It costs you nothing. The inspection itself usually runs one to four hours and covers the foundation, roof, heating and cooling, electrical, plumbing, attic and insulation, windows, doors including the garage, stairs, grading and drainage, structure, exterior and siding, attached garage, selected appliances, termites, the pool, and any casita or outbuilding.
Under the standard Arizona contract the buyer has a ten day inspection period, and that length can be negotiated. The appointment is normally within a few days of signing.
Then comes the form, and this is the part to understand before you are looking at it. If the buyer wants anything repaired, they ask on the BINSR, the Buyer Inspection Seller Response. You can accept the requests, decline them, or negotiate.
Here is the mechanic almost nobody explains. If you accept all of the requested repairs, the contract moves forward. If you accept some of them but not all, the buyer then has the right to cancel and take their earnest money with them.
Read that again, because it is counterintuitive. Agreeing to most of what was asked does not protect the deal. It hands the buyer a decision. That is not a reason to accept everything, and sometimes declining is exactly right. It is a reason to know precisely what you are doing before you respond, rather than discovering it afterwards.
Running alongside that, the buyer's lender will usually order an appraisal to confirm the price matches the value. That is for the lender's benefit rather than yours, and I will walk you through it if the number comes in somewhere awkward.
Closing, and what actually comes out of your proceeds
By now the buyer's financing is approved and the closing appointment is set. Arizona closings happen at a title company. There is no attorney at the table here, which surprises people who have sold in other states.
Twenty-four to forty-eight hours before, the buyer does a final walk-through to confirm the house is in the condition they bought it in, minor wear aside, and that any agreed repairs were done.
Your checklist before the day: gather your seller documents, clean the house thoroughly, turn off valves and switches once you are out, cancel your insurance, transfer utilities, update your address everywhere it matters, and collect every key, remote, gate fob, pool key and mailbox key for the buyer. Bring valid government-issued photo identification to the signing.
What comes out of the proceeds. People are often surprised at closing, so here it is in advance: title company escrow fees, title insurance, a home warranty if one was agreed, real estate compensation as agreed in writing, any unpaid survey or assessment fees, outstanding property taxes, fines or claims, mortgage discharge fees, lender fees, prepaid insurance and HOA amounts, and recording fees.
On compensation specifically: commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable. Nothing about mine is standard, customary or fixed. It is agreed in writing between us before your home goes on the market, so the number is never a surprise at closing.
You will get a figure from the title company in advance. If anything on it does not match what you expected, tell me before you sign rather than after.
What to do next
If you are just wondering what your home would sell for, that costs you nothing and commits you to nothing. Here is how I work out a real number, and it is not the figure a website gives you.
If you are closer than that, the first conversation is about timing and what the sale needs to achieve, not about the house. This is what runs on a listing once we start.
If this is a home you have been in for fifteen or twenty-five years, it is a different kind of sale and I built a different process for it. That is here. If you are selling as a trustee or through probate, start here instead.
Call me on (480) 203-6605. I would rather answer a question now than have you wonder about it for six months.
This guide describes my general process and how selling works in Arizona. It is not legal, tax or financial advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a BINSR and why does it matter so much?
The Buyer Inspection Seller Response is the Arizona form a buyer uses to request repairs after their inspection. The mechanic that catches sellers out: if you accept every requested repair, the contract moves forward. If you accept some but not all, the buyer gains the right to cancel and keep their earnest money. Agreeing to most of the list does not protect the deal, so decide how you respond with your eyes open.
How long does the buyer have to inspect my home?
Ten days under the standard Arizona contract, and that length is negotiable. The inspection itself is usually booked within a few days of signing and takes one to four hours.
Does the inspection cost me anything?
No. The buyer chooses the inspector and the buyer pays. There is no cost to you as the seller.
Why do you list on a Wednesday or Thursday?
Because the aim is several offers close together rather than one, and most buyers tour at the weekend. A listing that goes live on Monday is already several days old by Saturday and no longer the new thing. Going live Wednesday or Thursday puts your home in front of the most people while it is still fresh.
Should I just take the highest offer?
Not automatically. How solid the financing is, which contingencies the buyer kept, the closing date, repairs requested up front, and whether their purchase depends on selling something else all matter. A slightly lower offer that closes cleanly is often worth more than a higher one that collapses, because a failed contract costs you the momentum of being new on the market and you do not get that back.
Do I have to leave during showings?
You should, and take pets if you can. Buyers do not speak freely with the owner in the next room, and a buyer who will not say what they think in your kitchen is a buyer who does not fall for your house.
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