Show Don't Tell: A Before & After Photo Bonanza

Well HELLO again, friends!

For the past month I’ve had my head down, focused on listing prep and escrow needs and buyer tours in anticipation of the spring market (it’s here, it started early, it’s pretty robust tbh).

I’m grateful to be gainfully employed—and I’m perpetually challenged to figure out how to make time (energy) to round out the edges of The Business Grind (see: getting clients into contract) with the more meandering but equally meaningful bits.

Enter my sales manager slash life advisor (hi, Adele!), who in the middle of a very busy day in the middle of a very busy week last week asked me to identify the one thing on my to-do list whose completion would essentially rebalance the forces that be.

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z here I am with an overdue post, back on track to ramble at you weekly in far too high a word count, because that one thing on my list is both the thing I tend to give up first since it doesn’t translate directly to “success,” and the thing that reminds me why I pursue that success in the first place: regular written reflections on what being in real estate actually looks like, meditations on the nuances of a peculiar and relentless and unsolvable industry.

Of course, the decision to (re)prioritize this blog did not, alas, magically cut down the rest of my to-do list, so we’re keeping it short(er) and (just as) sweet this issue with a photo diary. Giving the people including Analise what they want: before and after photos!

Prepping a Home For Market: Yes, You Should

I’ve been knee deep in listing prep—a beastly part of real estate unto itself that will need its own future post—so I thought I’d lend myself the strength to continue my interminable search for an outdated brass floor outlet screw cap by reminding myself what the big picture looks like, literally.

The following photos are all listings of mine from the past few years whose prep spans a range of efforts, some just having enjoyed paint and staging, others being barely the same room by the end. The final products have the benefit of being rendered professionally, but you can see the difference all the same.

The quick answers to the most frequent prep questions are:

Yes you should move out and prep if you can
Yes I’m going to tell you to paint and stage
Yes it’s surprisingly expensive
Yes we can discuss how to make it viable
Yes I will project manage it all for you
Yes you’ll see the ROI in the purchase price and days on market

But the whole point of this post is that it’s probably easier to just show you, so go on and take a gander. Reach out if you have questions about any particular photos and want to get into costs, challenges, specific choices, etc.

Look On My Works, Ye Mighty

An Aside on House Prep Management

I project manage every single part of this process for my sellers, from start to finish. I use Google Sheets, noting everything from payment schedules to projected vs actual costs, to timing, status, provider, notes, etc. I liaise with all vendors, I source materials, and I keep everyone to calendar. I troubleshoot, I run everything by you for approval, and when things need fixing I make sure they’re fixed. I also package up all costs, receipts, and closing docs for you in time for your taxes. Listing projects range from weeks to months, with budgets from <$20K to >$100K; I’ve seen it all.

This heavy lifting is partly why I charge what I do (TEASER FOR NEXT WEEK’S COMMISSIONS PART 3 BLOG ABOUT WHAT REALTORS EVEN DO), and it allows sellers to more or less get to experience the sale of their home like this before and after series.

…Unless you’re the type of seller who wants to swing by the house every single day so you can text me regularly about why it’s not all done yet, in which case hey—at least you have a hobby.

An Aside on House Prep Costs

It’s so beautiful, right?! Yes, it comes at a price—suffer for beauty as they say (maybe not in 2025).

The upfront price tag to facilitate these transformations tends to invite sticker shock, but the work I suggest sellers undertake is only ever work whose ROI is all but guaranteed. If you’re selling with me, I assess your home with you, I have tradespeople through to bid on the maximum scope of work we might undertake so we can make choices grounded in real numbers, and then you and I can sit down and go through what we should do, understanding your aims and your budget.

I also have financing options available for you, including a concierge program that defers costs until close of escrow, so if you have budget challenges but believe in the work, we can discuss how to make a full-court press viable.