Max Mitchell

What I actually do — and why it isn’t a CMA

I work mostly with sellers. Somebody calls because they’re moving, or downsizing, or settling an estate, and the first question is always some version of what is it worth and how long is this going to take.

Most agents answer that with a CMA. They pull three comparable sales, average them, and hand you a number. It takes about twenty minutes and it’s mostly guesswork with a spreadsheet around it. I don’t do that.

What I do on every single house is Deep Dive Market Research — research on your property, not on your zip code. Fifty-one years in this market means I have usually sold in your subdivision before. Sometimes the same house twice.

1. Every comparable read individually, never averaged

   What actually sold, what condition it was in, what it was listed at first, how long it sat, and what came off the price at inspection.

2. The showing and offer history behind the numbers

   How many showings each comparable took, where the offers landed against list, and what fell through and why. That is the part a website estimate cannot see.

3. Who is actually shopping your price band right now

   What they are financing with, what else they are looking at, and what they keep walking away from.

4. The condition spread on your street

   Two houses four blocks apart can sell a hundred dollars a square foot apart. That gap is condition, and it is knowable before we pick a number.

5. A net sheet, not a list price

   What you actually keep after commission, repairs, title and closing costs. A real number with the costs subtracted, not a website estimate.

There’s no charge for it and I’m not going to hound you afterward. If you’ve got a cash offer sitting in front of you, bring it and we’ll put the two side by side. Sometimes the cash offer is the right answer — I’ve told people to take one.

The 10-Day Selling System

It isn’t a gimmick and it isn’t a promise about the calendar. It’s the order I do things in, which is what actually decides whether a house sells at the top of its neighborhood or the bottom of it.

1. Inspection first, then the list

   Three or four hundred dollars tells you what a buyer is going to find, so you fix what matters instead of what was bothering you.

2. Price against what sold, not what’s listed

   Two houses four blocks apart can sell a hundred dollars a square foot apart. That spread is condition, and it’s knowable before we pick a number.

3. Do the work that pays

   Paint, clearing it out, and written-down mechanical ages. Not a new kitchen — that money doesn’t come back.

4. Photograph it right, then go live everywhere at once

   The first photo decides whether anybody clicks. The first ten days decide what you get offered.

What clients say

Three of them put it better than I could. These are my own clients, talking about their own sale, in their own words.