Frequently Asked Questions from Home Sellers

Pricing and Preparation

How do you decide what my home is worth?

We run a comparative market analysis — what comparable homes in your area actually closed at recently, adjusted for the ways your home differs from them. Closed prices, not asking prices: what a neighbor listed at tells you nothing about what anyone paid.

Every ROOST listing gets our PinPoint Price Analysis, which puts a defensible number behind the recommendation rather than a range and a shrug. You can also get an instant estimate from our home valuation tool, though treat any automated figure as a starting point — it has never been inside your house.

Selling Your Home? What to Expect from Your First Meeting with a Real Estate Agent, on our All Things Real Estate podcast, covers what happens.

What happens if I price it too high to start with?

You lose the first two weeks, which are the most valuable two weeks the listing will ever have. A new listing gets a burst of attention from buyers who have been watching that market — and if the price puts it outside their search, they never see it at all.

After that, the pattern is familiar: no offers, a price cut, more days on market, and buyers asking what is wrong with it. Homes that start high frequently sell for less than they would have at the right price, because a stale listing invites a lower offer.

We would rather have the difficult pricing conversation in week one than the awkward one in week six.

Do I need to make repairs or renovations before listing?

Usually far less than people assume. Paint, decluttering, cleaning, landscaping and fixing the obviously broken return well. Kitchen and bathroom remodels rarely return what they cost when done purely to sell.

The repairs worth doing before listing are the ones an inspector will find anyway, because it is cheaper to fix a thing on your own schedule than to negotiate it under contract with a deadline looming.

Our Home Enhancement Checklist walks through it room by room, and 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Home covers what to skip.

Can you help me stage my home?

Yes. For most homes that means editing rather than furnishing — removing about a third of what is in a room, taking down the personal photographs, and making sure every light works and every bulb matches.

Vacant homes are the exception and often benefit from real staging, because empty rooms photograph badly and read as smaller than they are.

Marketing and Showings

How will you market my home?

Professional photography first, because the overwhelming majority of buyers see your home on a screen before they see it in person, and bad photographs cost more than any other single thing. Then the MLS, the portals, our own search site, social and email to our own list.

What we would ask you to weigh is the marketing that gets talked about least: pricing it correctly and making it easy to show. A home that is hard to get into does not sell quickly, however good the photographs are.

What to Expect from Your Listing Agent covers it in detail.

Will I have to hold open houses?

No — they are optional and they are not how most homes sell. Their honest value is concentrated attention in the first weekend and a way for neighbors and casual lookers to see the place without booking a showing.

If you would rather not, private showings and good online marketing will do the work.

Can I sell my home while I am still living in it?

Most sellers do. The practical asks are keeping it show-ready, being reachable for short-notice requests, and having somewhere to take pets and children for an hour.

The showings you decline are the ones that never become offers, so within reason, say yes.

How long will it take to sell?

It depends on price, condition, and the market you are in — and anyone who gives you a number before seeing the house is guessing.

What we can tell you is what is happening right now in your specific market, from current data rather than a national headline. The two things most within your control are the asking price and how easy you make it to view.

Timing matters less than most people think, and not in the direction they expect — Why Winter May Be the Best Time to Sell Your Home makes the case, even in Ohio.

Cost and Contracts

What does it cost to sell a home with ROOST?

Commission is negotiated, and since the NAR settlement it is negotiated in two separate parts: what you pay your listing agent, and whether you choose to offer anything toward the buyer’s agent. Those are now distinct decisions, and you make both.

Beyond commission, expect title and escrow fees, transfer taxes, any agreed repair credits, and prorated property taxes. You will see all of it on the settlement statement, and we will give you a net-proceeds estimate before you list so there are no surprises at the table. What a seller net sheet is, and why a good listing agent always provides one.

Empowered Home Sellers: What the NAR Settlement Means for You covers what changed.

Do I still have to pay the buyer’s agent?

No. Since August 2024 you are not required to offer buyer agent compensation, and it can no longer be advertised in the MLS. It is negotiable in every transaction.

Whether you should is a market question rather than a principle. In a slow market, offering something can widen your buyer pool; in a fast one it may be unnecessary. Some buyers will ask you to cover it as part of their offer, which then becomes a normal negotiation like any other term.

What is a limited service listing, and should I consider one?

A limited service listing puts you on the MLS for a reduced fee, with you handling most of the rest — showings, negotiation, and the contract-to-close process.

It can be the right answer if you already have a buyer, or if you have sold homes before and want exposure rather than advice. It tends to disappoint people who expected a full service at a discount. We have written up how it works and who it suits.

Should I just sell it myself?

Sometimes, honestly, yes — if you already have a buyer, you are comfortable with the contract and disclosure requirements, and you have the time to handle showings and negotiation.

Where it most often costs money is pricing and negotiation: a seller who prices from emotion, or who negotiates directly with a buyer’s agent who does this for a living, can give away more than the commission they saved. We have set out both sides of it here.

Under Contract

How do you handle offers and negotiations?

We present every offer, with the terms that matter set out beside the price — financing type, contingencies, closing date, what they are asking you to pay toward their costs. The highest number is not always the best offer, and a cash offer with a short inspection window sometimes beats a higher financed one.

You decide. Our job is to make sure you can see what you are deciding between.

What happens with the inspection and the appraisal?

The buyer will inspect, and they will find things. Expect a request for repairs or a credit, and expect it to be negotiable — agreeing to a credit is often cheaper and faster than arranging the work yourself before closing.

The appraisal is the lender’s valuation. If it comes in below the agreed price, the options are renegotiating, the buyer bringing the difference in cash, or the deal ending. A defensible list price makes a low appraisal much less likely.

What if my home doesn’t sell?

We look at the evidence rather than guessing. Plenty of showings and no offers is usually a condition or price problem. Very few showings is usually a price or photography problem. No online interest at all is a marketing or pricing problem.

That distinction decides what to change. Cutting the price when the real issue is that the photographs are poor just costs you money twice.

After the Sale

Can you help me find my next home while you sell this one?

Yes, and coordinating both is easier than running two agents against each other. We will talk through whether to make your purchase contingent, use bridge financing, or sell first and rent briefly — each trades money against certainty differently. My Next ROOST covers the whole move.

What if I want to keep it and rent it out instead?

Worth asking before you list, because it is much harder to undo afterwards. We manage property in these same markets, so we can tell you what your home would realistically rent for and what managing it would cost — a flat $90 to $105 a month depending on the market, not a percentage of the rent.

A market-rate rent analysis is free, and Invest with ROOST explains what management involves.

How do I get started?

Ask for a valuation and a conversation — no obligation. Springfield 937-390-3715, Columbus 614-505-5808, Melbourne 321-405-1116, or start with Sell with ROOST.