The Method
Most agents pick a number, put up a sign, and wait.
Pricing a house was never a single number. It’s a range, and where you land in it is decided long before the listing goes live. So we spend our effort on the part we control, then let the market answer the part we don’t.
Rate your house, 1 to 10
Before we meet, we pull the data and establish the range your house sits in.
Then we ask you one question: on a scale of 1 to 10 — 1 is a tear-down, 10 is brand-new construction — where does your house honestly sit?
Your number maps to the range. That’s your starting point, and it’s an honest one.
Why we ask instead of tell: you already know. Every seller does. Starting from your number means we’re on the same side of the table instead of negotiating against each other.
We walk it, and find what moves the number
We don’t accept your number. We look for what raises it.
We walk the property and identify exactly what it would take to move your house to an 8 or a 9 — and what that’s worth at closing.
We don’t recommend work that won’t pay for itself. If a project doesn’t put more in your pocket at closing than it costs, we’ll tell you to skip it.
Sometimes the answer is nothing. Some houses are already where they need to be. When that’s true we say so, skip the work entirely, and go straight to price. We’d rather tell you that in week one than sell you a project you didn’t need.
We do the work — and yes, we own the companies that do it
Here’s something most agents won’t tell you: the crew is ours.
The construction work goes through Grand Developments, which my wife and I own and she runs. The staging goes through Moxie Home Design, which she owns. I’m also the principal broker here — so when I say we handle it, I mean it’s the same people, all the way through.
We tell you that up front because you’d find out anyway, and because it’s the reason any of this works:
- Speed. We’re not waiting in a contractor’s queue. We are the contractor. Your house goes to market finished, in weeks, not half-ready in three months.
- Inspection repairs don’t blow up the deal. The classic deal-killer is a buyer demanding repairs and a three-week standoff. Our crew just does them.
- One point of accountability. If something’s wrong, it’s ours. You’re not refereeing between your agent and a subcontractor who’ve never met.
Now the obvious question: if you own the crew, don’t you want to sell me more work?
It’s the right question to ask, so here’s the straight answer. We’d rather do a small amount of the right work and earn your referrals for the next decade than a pile of the wrong work once. That’s the entire reason step 2 exists — we tell you what to skip. Any agent can hand you a repair list. We’re the ones who sit next to you at closing and look at the number.
If that trade doesn’t sit right with you, get a bid from your own contractor. We’ll work with them. The method doesn’t depend on us swinging the hammers. It depends on the work getting done before we test price.
Then we test price
Your house is repaired, staged, photographed. Now it goes to market.
Here’s what that buys you: when feedback comes back, we know it isn’t about a leaky faucet or dated paint. We handled those. The only variable left is price — so the market gives us a clean answer to the only question that matters.
That’s the point of steps 1 through 3. Not polish for its own sake. We removed every excuse a buyer could hide behind, so we can find out what your house is actually worth at the top of its range.
Start with your number
Tell us about your house and we’ll come back with the range it sits in — and what it would take to move it up.
Roughly 300 buyers and sellers helped since 2012. Grand Real Estate.