Day 1, Pricing & comps
Pull 6–10 sold comps from the last 90 days within 1 mile of your home, similar square footage and bed/bath count. Sites like Zillow, Redfin, and Realtor.com are fine for this, what matters is sold price, not listed price.
Set a list price within 1–3% of the median sold-price-per-square-foot for your comps. Resist the urge to start high and 'see what happens', overpriced FSBOs sit, then drift, then sell below where they should have started.
Day 2, Repairs and staging
Walk every room with a notebook. Fix anything a buyer would flag in 30 seconds: burnt-out bulbs, leaky faucets, scuffed baseboards, cracked outlet covers, missing door stops. Average cost: $200–$400. Average impact on offer price: 1–3%.
Declutter aggressively. Rent a $200/month storage unit if needed. Empty surfaces, sparse closets, and clean kitchens photograph and show much better than 'lived-in' rooms.
Day 3, Photography
Hire a real-estate photographer. $200–$400 nationally. They know lighting, wide-angle lenses, and which angles matter. Bad phone photos cost you 5–15% of buyer demand.
Get 25–35 photos including: front exterior, every room, bathrooms, key features (fireplace, deck, yard), and one twilight exterior if your home has curb appeal.
Day 4, Listing description
Write a 250–400 word description. Lead with what makes the home distinct, location, lot, layout, upgrades. Skip the adjectives ('charming,' 'cozy'). Buyers read for facts: square footage, year built, recent upgrades with dates and costs, lot size, school district.
End with the financing terms you accept (conventional, FHA, cash, owner-financing), this filters out unqualified buyers.
Day 5, Paperwork pack
Collect into one folder: property tax records (last 2 years), HOA documents (if any), utility bills (12 months), seller disclosure form (state-specific), lead-based paint disclosure (if built before 1978), survey if available, and any warranties on recent work (roof, HVAC).
Day 6, Showing system
Set showing hours and a single contact method. A scheduling link (Calendly, Showami) prevents the 8pm random call. Decide on showing rules: lockbox or by-appointment-only, deposits required for serious buyers, etc.
Day 7, Publish everywhere, same day
Post to: your own MLS-syndication FSBO platform, Zillow FSBO, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, your neighborhood Facebook group, and a yard sign with a QR code to the listing page. Many FSBO platforms also push to Realtor.com and Trulia.
Boost the listing on Facebook and Nextdoor for 7–14 days. $40–$100 of paid reach often produces more leads than the rest of the channels combined.