06/29/2026
In conversation after conversation, I see sellers making these mistakes over and over again.
Here’s why they all matter:
🏡 Using county tax appraisal as a pricing guide. What the government values your home for is often totally unrelated to its actual market value. Why? The appraisal districts don’t have access to our sold data. That means they are just guessing and they have a tendency to guess high! (See No. 3).
🏡 Making changes to your home without consulting with a Realtor first. Gosh I see this a lot. 😟 Your contractor doesn’t know what he’s talking about when he says to pick white subway tiles - that’s so 20 years ago. And no, don’t remove all your furniture with no plans to stage it. Homes photograph much better with furniture in them.
🏡 Not protesting taxes. This is probably the most common mistake. Sellers think a home valued HIGH by the county tax appraisal district will help justify a high listing price and/or make the home appear like a “bargain” if it’s priced below that. I am going to hold your hand when I say this: Buyers know the tax appraisal has nothing to do with market value, and if anything, they want it to be as low as possible so they pay fewer taxes. Protesting every year, but especially the year your sell, is the best move you can make.
🏡 Ignoring the yard. Man, I have seen some very mediocre homes sell fast and for more money because of something as simple as a $1,500 fire pit or $3,000 cowboy pool in the backyard. Your biggest return on investment is turning your backyard into a functional space to enjoy the outdoors.
🏡 Using the amount spent on improvements to justify pricing. Listen, a buyer truly doesn’t care that you spent $200K on that renovation or that you spent $20K on a new roof. And more importantly, neither does an appraiser. A new roof actually adds zero value to your home per appraisal guidelines because that’s considered general maintenance. Unfortunately, HGTV has lied to you that doing a renovation automatically gets you 100 percent or more of your money back.
