How your house gets sold.
This is the plan I run for every listing: a price built on market evidence instead of flattery, preparation that removes objections before they get expensive, media buyers actually stop for, and a written report every week so you always know where things stand.
It's all on this page, in writing, because claims you can check beat claims you have to take on faith.
Read the market before you price against it.
Everything in this section comes from NorthstarMLS closed records for seven south metro cities, single family resales only, new construction excluded. My database syncs with the MLS every 15 minutes; these figures were pulled July 8, 2026. Check them against anything you like.
Half of last year's sellers found their buyer inside about two weeks. This is a quick, price-sensitive market: it rewards the right opening number and quietly punishes the wrong one. The next section shows by how much.
There are also about 350 new construction listings active out here. Builders run a different playbook, so they're kept out of every number on this page.
The first two weeks decide your price.
I pulled every single family resale that closed in these seven cities over the last 24 months, all 4,971 of them, and grouped them by how long each one took to find a buyer. Then I asked one question: how often did the seller get asking price or better?
Homes that sold in their first two weeks got a median 101.0% of asking. Homes that took more than 90 days got 97.8%. On a $500,000 house, that gap is about $16,000. And it's measured against the final asking price, after any cuts along the way, so the true cost of starting high is larger than this chart can show.
To be fair about what this is: nobody can prove the slow listings would have done better priced right on day one. But I've watched this market for 22 years, and this pattern is the most expensive lesson sellers learn. My job is to make sure you learn it from other people's listings instead of yours.
So here's how I set your number
Comps matched the way an appraiser matches them: size, age, basement finish, street. Time adjustments for a moving market, and a street premium where the data shows one. You get three numbers in writing before you commit to anything:
The call is yours, and I'll list at your number. What I won't do is inflate mine to win your signature. Agents call that buying the listing: quote high, get the contract, then walk you down with cuts once the sign's in the yard. The chart above is what that strategy costs. If my number comes in lower than another agent's, ask us both for our comps in writing. Mine will already be in your hands.
Old pricing wisdom says end in 9: list at $564,900 instead of $565,000. The data doesn't back that up anymore. Round numbers signal confidence and show up in more searches, because buyers filter in $25k and $50k chunks. I'd rather the extra hundred bucks end up in your pocket than in a superstition.
Cheap fixes now beat expensive credits later.
Buyers don't price problems the way you would. A $300 repair left undone reads as a $3,000 doubt in an offer, and three of them read as "what else is wrong?" So before photos, we walk the house together and deal with it:
- A photo-ready punch list from our walkthrough: what to fix, what to leave, what nobody will notice. Ruthlessly practical, not a renovation pitch.
- A professional staging consultation, included. Usually it's editing, not furniture rental: what to remove, what to move, which rooms carry the listing.
- Pre-inspection guidance if the house needs it, so surprises show up while they're still cheap and private.
- No artificial deadlines. The house goes live when it's ready, not when a calendar says so. The launch window matters too much to waste it on an unready house.
What I'll actually do to market your house.
Here's something most agents won't say out loud: nearly every agent you interview has the same basic toolbox. The MLS feeds Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin, and hundreds of other sites automatically, for every listing, no matter who lists it. Syndication isn't a strategy, it's plumbing, and anyone presenting "exposure on 2,000 websites" as their edge is selling you the water main. What actually separates listings is the finish work: what a buyer sees after the click, and how the people in the transaction get treated. That's where I spend my time.
Photography
Professional interior and exterior photography plus aerial shots, scheduled when the house and the light are ready. Photos are the showing before the showing; they get treated that way.
A caption on every photo
Most agents upload 30 photos and zero words. I write a caption for each one, because a caption answers the question a photo raises.
Copy written by me
The listing description is written by a person who's walked your house, not generated by a tool that hasn't. It sells the two or three things that make your house your house.
Paid reach
Targeted online advertising, a social campaign, plus print and radio. Not because every channel wins every time, but because the buyer you need only has to be found once.
A page of its own
Before you've signed anything, your house gets a private page like this one: your comps, your numbers, your street's history, written by me. Not a template with your address pasted in. You're reading the quality bar right now.
Easy to show, easy to offer
Buyers' agents talk to each other. I answer their questions fast, keep showings simple, and respond to every offer promptly. None of that fits on a flyer. All of it shows up in how smoothly your sale runs.
Quiet prep, then one loud week.
The evidence section is why launch discipline matters: your leverage peaks in the first 14 days and never comes back. Every house is different, but the sequence isn't:
- Two weeks out
Walkthrough, punch list, staging consult. Photography scheduled. Pricing proposal finalized in writing.
- One week out
Photos shot and captioned. Copy written. The MLS entry gets built completely before it goes anywhere.
- Day one
Live on the MLS and everywhere it feeds, ads on, showings open. Nothing dribbles out early and stale.
- Weeks one & two
The decisive window. Showings and feedback tracked daily, and you get the first written report before the first weekend is over.
You shouldn't have to ask what's happening.
Every week you get a written report: showings, buyer feedback, online traffic, my read of it, and a specific recommendation. It shows up whether the news is good or not. Here's the shape of one:
If something needs to change, price, staging, photos, you'll hear it from me first and early, with the data that says so. What I won't do is let a listing sit quietly while everybody avoids the conversation.
I read the other side before we answer them.
Every offer gets a written breakdown before we respond: price, financing strength, contingencies, timing, appraisal risk, and where I'd push back. Terms lose sellers more money than price does, so we look at all of it, on paper, before anyone reacts.
Last winter I represented a buyer on a builder's inventory home in Apple Valley. The identical model three doors down had already run the builder's whole playbook, five price cuts over 355 days:
I put that history on one page, and my client bought the twin for $39,990 under the opening ask. As a seller, you get the same preparation pointed the other way: when a buyer pushes, I show you exactly what their agent is looking at, and what the data says we can hold.
2.7%. Published, so you don't have to ask.
Agents almost never put their fee in writing before the appointment. Here's mine: 2.7%, under the 3% that's still standard here, and everything in this plan is included for every client. No premium tiers, no marketing fund add-on. It's lower because my costs are lower: I build software that does in minutes what used to take hours, pulling live market data, comparing comps, tracking every listing in the south metro. You've been reading its output this whole page, and PriorLake.RealEstate is the free public version.
- Written pricing proposal before you sign
- Staging consultation
- Photo-ready punch list
- Pre-inspection guidance
- Professional photography
- Aerial photography
- Caption on every MLS photo
- Listing copy written by me
- NorthstarMLS + full syndication
- Targeted online advertising
- Social campaign
- Print & radio advertising
- Weekly written report
- Written offer breakdowns
- Negotiation & contract-to-close
- Title company net sheet up front
Against the 3% listing fee that's still standard here, you keep $1,500 more at this price.
| Sale price | Listing 2.7% | Buyer 2.7% | Deed tax + closing | Total cost | You'd clear |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $400,000 | $10,800 | $10,800 | $2,570 | $24,170 | $375,830 |
| $550,000 | $14,850 | $14,850 | $3,065 | $32,765 | $517,235 |
| $750,000 | $20,250 | $20,250 | $3,725 | $44,225 | $705,775 |
Deed tax is Minnesota's 0.33% transfer tax on the sale price. Title and closing fees are estimated at $1,250 (settlement, transaction, and conservation fees) from recent Trademark Title net sheets; yours will vary a little. "What you'd clear" excludes your mortgage payoff and prorated property taxes. Before you list, you get a full net sheet prepared by a title company for your specific home, so the number you plan around is exact, not estimated.
Asked and answered, in writing.
Your fee is lower than most agents quote. What's the catch?
There isn't one, and I understand the suspicion. The fee is lower because my costs are lower, not because the service is thinner. Software I built handles work agents usually do by hand or pay staff to do. And it's published, which is rarer than the discount: you knew my number before we ever spoke. Put me side by side with a 3% agent and compare the included list above, line by line. I want you to.
What if I think my house is worth more than your number?
Then we talk about it with the comps on the table. Sometimes a seller knows something the data doesn't: an update I underweighted, a lot premium, a view. Sometimes it's just hope, and I'll say so kindly. You get Safe, Recommended, and Stretch in writing either way, and it's your call. If you want to try the higher number, we agree up front on what the market needs to show us, and by when, so any adjustment is a plan we made calmly instead of an argument we have later.
Do I have to pay the buyer's agent?
Not automatically, not since the 2024 NAR settlement changed the rules. It's a separate decision we make together before listing. Around here most sellers still offer about 2.7%, because it keeps the widest pool of buyers moving toward your door, and sometimes there's room to negotiate it lower. I'll lay out the trade-offs plainly, and you decide.
What happens if showings stall?
You'll know as soon as I do, because the weekly report doesn't skip the bad weeks. Stalled showings mean the market is telling us something, usually about price, sometimes about presentation. I'll bring the data and a specific recommendation, not a shrug.
Do we have to sit through a listing appointment to get real numbers?
No. Send me your address and I'll run this plan against your house first: comps, a recommended range, and an estimated net, in writing, on a private page like this one. Then we talk at your table, on the phone, or over email, whichever you prefer. By then the conversation is short and useful instead of a two hour pitch.
One agent, on purpose.
I'm Mark Gores. Realtor for 22 years, Prior Lake resident since 1986, and I sell across the south metro. I build my own tools: the database behind every number on this page also runs PriorLake.RealEstate, a free public market dashboard. I hold a 5.0 rating on Zillow. You work with me directly, my cell, not a team inbox. My license hangs at RE/MAX Advantage Plus with a full team behind it, so if I'm ever sick or unreachable, your sale doesn't wait. You hire me, you get me.
Fast response, did an excellent job advertising the home, had a showing and sold the property before ever getting a "for sale" sign out front. Mark answered all our questions quickly, provided sound advice on preparing to sell, and handled the entire process with professionalism.
Next steps
- 01
Send me your address
Text, email, or the form on my homepage. Mention anything you think matters: updates, timing, the neighbor's sale that confused you.
- 02
I run this plan against your house
You get a private, written pricing proposal: comps, my recommended range, an estimated net, and every recent sale on your street and in your neighborhood, from my own database. No obligation, and I won't chase you with follow-up calls. That's not politeness, it's policy.
- 03
We talk, or we don't
Kitchen table, phone, or email, your choice. If it's not a fit, no hard feelings. If it is, photography and prep can start right away.