When I first met with these sellers at the beginning of June, we knew that we were going to have some competition. There were a lot of homes for sale in their neighborhood that were similar to theirs, including five homes with the exact same floor plan. The builder was also still building their floor plan and offering incentives that a resale homeowner could not necessarily compete with. We could not change any of those things, so we decided to concentrate on the things we could change. Instead of putting the house on the market immediately, we gave ourselves about 30 days to prepare it. The goal was not to completely remodel the house or spend a fortune. We simply wanted buyers who toured several similar homes to remember this one.

The sellers went right to work. They painted an accent wall in the living room and painted the front of the kitchen island. They added some color to the utility room and installed a folding shelf that made the room more useful. In the hall bathroom, they painted a wall and created a place to hang towels with hooks. They had the house cleaned and took care of the little details that can easily be overlooked when you live in a home every day. I chipped in by having my landscaper come over to refresh the mulch and rocks, fill in some holes, cut the grass and make sure the outside looked cared for too. None of these improvements were particularly expensive or dramatic, but together they helped give the house a little more personality.

We were ready to go active in the MLS on June 26 at $415,000. We knew what we had done to prepare the house, but that did not mean we could ignore what the market was telling us. After several weeks, we made a price adjustment, and on July 22 we lowered the price to $399,500. I think this is an important part of the story because making a house beautiful does not automatically make the original asking price correct. Sellers still have to pay attention to buyer activity and be willing to respond when the market gives them information.

On August 7, we received the result we had been working toward. A buyer's agent contacted me and explained that our home was the second-highest-priced pre-owned home they were considering in the neighborhood. Her buyers were concerned about whether it would appraise, although based on the market information I had been following, I felt comfortable with the value. More importantly, the buyers had a decision to make. There were other homes available for less money, so they went to look at them.

After touring those other homes, the buyer's agent contacted me again and told me that our house was the most beautiful of the homes they had seen and that it was worth the additional money. That comment mattered to me because it was exactly what we had talked about at the beginning of June. We knew buyers would have choices, and our goal had been to give them a reason to remember this particular house. These buyers had actually seen the alternatives, including homes that cost less, and they still chose ours. They submitted an offer, we negotiated the details, and the home went under contract on August 7.

While we were under contract, I continued watching the other homes in the neighborhood because that is something I tend to do. By the time we closed, something interesting had happened. The other comparable homes I had been tracking had not gone under contract during that same period. I even sent the sellers a picture of my handwritten chart showing them what had happened. I told them that I really believed their willingness to listen and do all those little things had helped give their house the extra pop it needed. One of the sellers quickly replied, "Orrrr we just have the better realtor!" I certainly appreciated the compliment, but I still think the sellers deserve a great deal of the credit.

It would be easy to take one successful sale and conclude that accent walls, towel hooks or fresh mulch sell houses, but that would be oversimplifying what happened. We cannot know that any one improvement caused these buyers to choose this house. Buyers make decisions based on price, condition, location, financing, timing and their own personal preferences. What we do know is that these particular buyers had less-expensive alternatives, looked at them, and then came back believing this home was worth paying more for. That is a much more useful lesson.

Sometimes sellers ask what they can do when several similar houses are already for sale in their neighborhood. They cannot control how many homes are listed, what another seller decides to charge, what incentives a builder offers or which buyers happen to be shopping that month. They can control how their home looks, how it feels when someone walks through the door, how carefully it is maintained and whether they are willing to adjust when the market tells them something.

This sale was not the result of one big decision. It was a collection of little decisions made over several months. The sellers prepared instead of rushing. We watched the competition. We started at one price and adjusted when necessary. Most importantly, when buyers finally compared this house with the alternatives, they found a reason to choose it. In a neighborhood where several houses can look almost identical on paper, sometimes that is exactly what a seller needs to accomplish.

Bonnie Wicks, licensed as Bonnie Jean Wicks Bertalot, is an Associate Broker with Carolina One Real Estate and team lead of Shoreline Key Team, serving Mount Pleasant, Charleston, Summerville, Hanahan, Goose Creek, Ladson, and surrounding Lowcountry communities. Contact Bonnie at 843-754-0754 or visit bonniewicks.com.