The method
How I sell your home, step by step
A licensed contractor walks your home before the price is set. Then three EPIC prices, pro photos and video, and tested ads that find buyers who weren't looking.
The short version
Most agents price your house from a list of comps, put it in the MLS, and wait to see who calls. Sometimes that works. When it doesn't, the house sits, the price drops, and the seller pays for it.
I do it differently, and it starts before there's a price. I'm a REALTOR® and a licensed general contractor, so the first thing I like to do is walk your house the way a contractor does. You'll know what it's worth, what it actually needs, and what you can skip. You won't spend a dollar on a repair that doesn't come back to you.
From there, the plan has four parts:
- Equity. Protect it first. If you're open to it, the walkthrough, a Fix/Skip list, and three prices with honest tradeoffs.
- Presentation. Professional photos, video, drone footage, and a virtual tour, so buyers see your home at its best before they ever visit.
- Impact. Ads and short videos that reach buyers who weren't searching yet, tested and adjusted, not posted and forgotten.
- Campaign. A launch with a plan for every call, every showing, and every offer, all the way to closing.
You don't need a plan to call me. Building it is my job. And you're always in control of the final decision.
Equity: protect what you've built before anyone sets a price
Your equity is the money you walk away with. It's usually the biggest number in the whole move, and it's the easiest one to lose by accident.
Here's how it gets lost. A seller hears the house needs "updating," spends thousands on new counters and flooring, and then finds out buyers weren't going to pay a dollar more for them. I call that the HGTV Equity Trap. Believe it or not, most sellers don't need a remodel. They need a plan.
The contractor's walkthrough
Before I talk price, I like to walk your house as a licensed general contractor: the roof, the foundation, the plumbing, the electrical, the attic. I'm looking at it as a contractor, not as your agent. That's why I'm in your attic. I'm finding what a buyer's inspector will find, so you hear about it first, from me, while you still have choices.
The Fix/Skip list
If you're open to it, out of that walk comes a short list in two columns. Fix is what changes your price or could stall a sale. Skip is everything that sounds important but won't come back to you. If something on the Fix side needs a trade, you get my vetted vendor list. You hire whoever you want, and I don't take a markup or a referral fee.
The EPIC Report: three prices instead of one
Then I build your EPIC Report. It replaces the usual comparative market analysis, which only looks backward at what already sold. The EPIC Report also looks at how fast homes like yours are selling right now in your town and how local buyers are behaving. Santa Maria doesn't behave like Nipomo, and Orcutt doesn't behave like Lompoc, so your report is about your town. It gives you three prices:
- Strategic Event Price. Priced to draw a crowd and create competition early.
- Market Alignment Price. Where the market is today. The steady, realistic option.
- Strategic Stretch Price. Testing the top of the market, with the risk spelled out.
Each one comes with its tradeoff written out plainly. I'll tell you which one I'd pick and why. You choose.
I run the same analysis on a manufactured home as I do on a million-dollar house, using manufactured-home sales alongside the MLS when that's the right comparison. That's why this step comes first. Your price is a position, not a guess, and you set it knowing exactly where you stand.
How I sell your home, step by step
Presentation: buyers decide online before they ever walk in
Most buyers have made up their mind about your home before they schedule a showing. They decided on their phone, at night, scrolling photos. So the way your home looks online isn't decoration. It's the first showing, and it happens over and over before anyone rings the doorbell.
Getting the house ready
Before the camera comes out, we get the house ready with the 3Ds: declutter, depersonalize, deep clean. I score how ready your home is on my Sell for Top Dollar Test, 1 to 10, so you know exactly what's left and what isn't worth the effort. If the stuff is the hard part, and it usually is, you get my Seller Moving and Decluttering Guide, with a 30-day timeline and a room-by-room checklist.
Professional photography, video, and drone
Every listing gets professional photography, professional video, and drone footage, and I pay for it. That's true whether your home is $175,000 or $2 million. A phone camera isn't good enough for the most-viewed pictures your home will ever have, and the drone shows buyers what a ground photo can't: the lot, the neighborhood, and what's around you.
A virtual tour on the MLS
Your MLS listing gets a virtual tour, so a buyer can walk through room by room from anywhere. That matters here. Relocation buyers, and military families on orders to Vandenberg, are often shopping from out of state.
A page built for your home
Your home also gets its own landing page: one web page with the photos, the video, the details, and a way to reach me. Every ad, every post, the yard sign, and every QR code point there, so an interested buyer lands on a page that's all about your house, not a page full of other listings.
Choosing the photos that lead
Then I choose which photos go first. The ones that stop a scroll go into a photo carousel for the ads. That decision gets made on purpose, before anything goes public, because the first three photos do most of the work.
Impact: reach the buyers who weren't looking yet
Here's the honest truth about listing and waiting. The MLS shows your home to buyers who are already searching, on the day they happen to search. That's important, and your home is on it, along with every site the MLS sends listings to. But the buyer who would pay the most might not be searching this week. They're scrolling Facebook. They're watching YouTube. That's where I go to find them.
Two ads, tested for two weeks
I run two different ads on Facebook for two weeks and watch which one performs better. When an ad isn't pulling its weight, I change it: different photos, a different headline, a different audience. The ads don't get set and forgotten. They get adjusted until they work.
The right audiences, tested
Over the years I've built a lot of Facebook audiences. I test every one that fits your home, so the ad money goes toward the people most likely to buy it, not everyone with a pulse and a phone.
Short videos on five platforms
Your home gets short videos on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Each one reaches a different crowd. A move-up family scrolls Instagram. A relocating professional sees it on LinkedIn. Someone researching the area finds it on YouTube, where I already post videos about the towns I work in.
Local Facebook groups
I post the video, with all the details, in local Facebook groups for everyone to see. Neighbors share homes with friends and family who want to move close by. Some of the best buyers come from someone who already lives down the street.
Your home also gets a post on my Google Business Profile, so people looking for homes or for a local agent see it right on Google.
None of this replaces the MLS. It's on top of it. The difference is that your home isn't waiting for the right buyer to stumble onto it. I'm going out to find them.
Campaign: a launch with a plan for every call and every offer
A listing isn't a post. It's a launch. The first week your home is live is when it gets the most attention it will ever get, so everything before that week exists to make it count.
Launch day
When your home goes live, it all goes out together: the MLS listing and its virtual tour, every site the MLS feeds, the landing page, the ads, the short videos, the group posts, and the Google post. Buyers who see it in one place see it again in another.
A yard sign people can scan
Your yard sign gets a rider with a QR code. Someone driving or walking by scans it with their phone and lands on your home's page, with the photos, the video, and the details, right there on the sidewalk.
A flyer with a QR code
I also make a flyer for your home with a QR code that plays the video. The flyer doesn't stop at a photo and a price. It opens the whole tour.
Open houses
Open houses are part of the plan too. Visitors pick up the flyer, scan the QR code, and leave with the video and the details of your home on their phone, so the showing keeps working after they drive away.
Interested buyers don't get forgotten
When someone on your home's page asks for more information, they don't disappear after one look. Every week they see your home again with a reminder, so a buyer who wasn't ready on day one still has your house in front of them when they are.
Weekly updates with real numbers
Every week you hear from me with showing data, not vibes. If something isn't working, you'll know, and you'll know what I'm changing.
Buyers who can actually close
Before you review an offer, I call the buyer's agent and the buyer's lender and check that the money is real. An offer that looks great and falls apart three weeks later costs you time you can't get back. The offers you see are the ones that can close.
Inspection and negotiation
When the buyer's inspection report comes in, I read it as a contractor. I price what they're asking for and tell you what's fair and what to push back on. A long list of repair requests sounds scary. Most of the time it isn't, once you know what each item actually costs.
All the way to closing
From accepted offer to keys, I keep the deadlines, the paperwork, and the people moving. If you're buying your next home at the same time, we'll talk through selling first or buying first, and options like a rent-back. Anything with tax consequences, like Prop 19, talk to your CPA or tax attorney before deciding.
You'll always know what's next. And you're always in control of the final decision.
This page describes my general process. Every home and every sale is different, and nothing here is legal, tax, or lending advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to fix everything before I sell?
No. Most sellers don't need a remodel, they need a plan. If you're open to it, my contractor's walkthrough gives you a Fix/Skip list: fix what changes your price or could stall the sale, and skip what won't come back to you.
What is the EPIC Report?
It replaces the usual comparative market analysis. Instead of one number based on past sales, it looks at how fast homes like yours are selling now in your town and gives you three prices, each with its tradeoff spelled out. You pick the one that fits your goals.
Does the contractor walkthrough replace a home inspection?
No. The walkthrough tells you early what a buyer's inspector is likely to find, so you can plan for it. I always recommend a professional inspection and pest report as well.
How do you market a home beyond the MLS?
Professional photos, video, and drone footage on every listing, two Facebook ads tested for two weeks and adjusted until they work, tested audiences, short videos on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn, posts in local Facebook groups, a Google Business Profile post, a page for your home that buyers reach from the ads and a QR code on the yard sign, weekly reminders to buyers who ask for information, open houses, and a flyer with a QR code that plays the video.
Do you sell manufactured and mobile homes?
Yes. They get the same contractor's walkthrough and the same EPIC Report as any other home, using manufactured-home sales alongside the MLS when that's the right comparison.
Keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Lisa Bognuda?