Selling a home in DC, Maryland & Virginia

Everything in a sale flows from the list price. Price it right and you create competition; price it high and the home sits, goes stale, and ultimately sells for less than it would have. The starting point is choosing the right listing agent and building an honest valuation together.

When you interview agents, look past the listing-presentation polish and ask for the numbers:

• Their list-to-sale price ratio on recent listings — how close they get to (or above) ask
• Their average days on market compared to the area
• A concrete marketing plan — photography, staging, syndication, launch timing
• Local comparable knowledge that goes beyond an automated "Zestimate"

Be wary of any agent who wins the listing by quoting an unusually high price. Overpricing leads to reductions, longer days on market, and weaker negotiating leverage when an offer finally comes.

The Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)

Your agent's CMA looks at recently sold, currently active, and expired listings similar to yours in size, condition, and location, then adjusts for the differences to arrive at a supported price range. It is the difference between pricing on data and pricing on hope.

A note on commissions (post-2024)

Since the August 2024 NAR settlement, the fee you pay your listing agent and any compensation offered to the buyer's agent are negotiated separately. Buyers now sign written agreements with their own agents, so as the seller you decide whether — and how much — to offer toward the buyer's agent to widen your buyer pool. Your agent will walk you through the trade-offs.

Buyers decide how they feel about a home in the first few seconds — online and at the door. Move-in-ready homes sell faster and for more, and most of the highest-return work is cosmetic, not structural.

Where preparation pays off most:

• Declutter and depersonalize so buyers can picture themselves living there
• Fresh neutral paint and clean, bright fixtures — high ROI, low cost
• Curb appeal — landscaping, a tidy entry, the all-important first photo
• Staging the rooms that move buyers — the living room, primary bedroom, and kitchen carry the most weight

Get ahead of the inspection

A pre-listing inspection (roughly $350–$750 in the DMV) lets you find issues on your own timeline instead of under the pressure of a buyer's inspection contingency. You can then repair selectively, or simply disclose — but you won't be ambushed mid-deal.

Compass Concierge

Available in DC, Maryland and Virginia, Compass Concierge fronts the cost of staging, painting, light repairs and cleaning with no interest and nothing due up front — the cost is simply repaid from your proceeds at closing. It's a way to present the home at its best without out-of-pocket spend.

Maryland sellers: a radon test is required for single-family homes and townhomes. Handle it before listing so it never becomes a last-minute contract delay.

Once your home is ready, it goes on Bright MLS — the regional multiple-listing service covering DC, Maryland and Virginia. From there it syndicates automatically to Zillow, Realtor.com and Redfin, where the vast majority of buyers are looking.

Photography is the marketing

Professional photography is non-negotiable — it's the first and often only impression online. A Matterport 3D tour meaningfully increases clicks and helps out-of-area and relocating buyers shortlist your home before they ever visit.

Coming Soon — building demand before launch

Compass and Bright MLS let you list as Coming Soon to build anticipation while photos, staging and prep are finished, then flip to Active for a coordinated launch. Two things to know:

• There are no showings during Coming Soon — it's a preparation window, not a soft-open.
• Under the MLS "Clear Cooperation" rule, any public marketing (a social post, a public email blast, a yard sign) starts a clock requiring the listing to be entered in the MLS within one business day. Coming Soon is for genuine prep, not for testing the market off the books.

Pricing strategy & days on market

Price competitively from day one. The DMV moves at very different speeds by submarket — inner Northern Virginia suburbs can go in under two weeks, while DC proper and parts of Maryland take longer — and a home that lingers signals "something's wrong" to buyers even when nothing is.

The more buyers who can see your home, the stronger your position. Maximize access — a lockbox, flexible scheduling, and the DMV-standard short showing notice — and let an open house drive early foot traffic, even though most serious buyers tour privately.

Reading an offer — it's never just the price

When offers come in, you and Kelly will weigh every term, not only the number at the top:

1. Price — the headline, but rarely the whole story.
2. Financing type. All-cash is fastest and most certain; conventional financing is next; FHA/VA loans carry their own appraisal requirements and can run longer.
3. Earnest Money Deposit (EMD). Typically 1–3% of the price in the DMV, held in escrow. A larger deposit signals a more committed buyer.
4. Contingencies. Inspection, financing, appraisal, and home-sale contingencies each carry risk for you — fewer and shorter is stronger.
5. Closing timeline. 30–45 days is standard; cash can close in about two weeks; some loans run 45–60 days.
6. Seller concessions requested toward the buyer's closing costs.

In competitive Northern Virginia pockets, buyers often use escalation clauses — an offer that automatically beats competing offers up to a set ceiling. When you have multiple offers, you can instead call for "highest and best" by a deadline.

You can accept, reject, or counter any offer — on price, EMD, timeline, contingency deadlines, or concessions. The art is weighing certainty against the headline number.

The contingencies to understand

1. Inspection. The buyer typically gets 7–15 days to inspect and respond. Nearly all DMV buyers inspect again in the current market.
2. Financing. Confirm the buyer is pre-approved (verified income, assets and credit), not merely pre-qualified.
3. Appraisal. If the home appraises below the contract price, the buyer can renegotiate, cover the gap, or — with this contingency — walk. An appraisal-gap clause commits the buyer to cover some or all of any shortfall.
4. Home-sale. The buyer must sell their own home first. Always pair it with a kick-out clause so you can keep marketing and give the buyer a short window to remove the contingency if a better offer appears.

The buyer's earnest money is generally deposited within a few days of ratification. If the buyer later walks without a valid contingency, you typically keep the EMD.

When all parties have signed, the contract is "ratified" — the term you'll hear throughout a DMV transaction. The ratification date starts the clock on every deadline that follows.

Once ratified, the deadlines run. The home inspection usually happens within 7–15 days, after which the buyer may accept the home as-is, ask for repairs, request a price reduction or a closing credit, or — within the contingency window — walk away.

Offering a closing credit is often cleaner than doing repairs yourself: it avoids contractor scheduling and disputes over the quality of the work. Safety issues and material defects are the hardest to decline.

Disclosure — and it differs by state

This is where crossing a state line changes your obligations the most:

• Washington DC — the most demanding: a detailed seller's property condition disclosure is required before or at signing, covering defects, systems, hazards and more.
• Maryland — you choose between a full disclosure or a disclaimer ("as-is"), but either way you must still disclose known latent (hidden) defects affecting health or safety.
• Virginia — largely "buyer beware": you provide a Residential Property Disclosure Act disclaimer rather than a condition report, but you cannot conceal known material defects and must make certain specific statutory disclosures.

HOA & condo resale packages

If your home is in an association, the resale documents carry their own deadlines and buyer cancellation rights:

Jurisdiction	Resale package & buyer cancellation window
Maryland	HOA info typically due within 20 days; buyer has 5 days after receiving it to cancel. Condo resale certificate within 20 days; buyer has 7 days to rescind.
Virginia	Under the 2025 Resale Disclosure Act, the association delivers the certificate within 14 business days; the buyer's 3-day cancellation window starts on any partial delivery — so never send an incomplete packet to buy time.
Washington DC	Condo resale package due within 10 business days of ratification; buyer then has a 3-business-day review-and-cancel right. An incomplete package leaves that right open.

Appraisal & title

The buyer's lender orders an independent appraisal; if it comes in low, expect a conversation about the gap. In parallel, the title company runs a search to clear liens and encumbrances before closing.

Lead-based paint: for any home built before 1978, federal law requires written disclosure and the EPA pamphlet. The District of Columbia's rules go further than the federal baseline, so DC sellers of older homes should plan for the stricter standard.

You're at the finish line. A few days before closing, review the figures, do the final walk-through with the buyer, and then sign. Settlement in the DMV is handled by a title/settlement company or attorney; Maryland in particular requires an attorney to prepare the deed, so confirm early which settlement company can handle your transaction.

What it costs to sell — and it varies by jurisdiction

Transfer and recordation taxes are the biggest variable in your net proceeds, and the three jurisdictions are genuinely different:

Jurisdiction	Seller-side transfer / recordation taxes
Washington DC	Deed transfer tax (customarily the seller's) of 1.1% on homes under $400K and 1.45% at $400K and above. The higher rate applies to the entire price, so the $400K mark is a real cliff. DC also charges the buyer a separate recordation tax at the same rate — this figure is only your seller-side share.
Maryland	State transfer tax of 0.5%, customarily split 50/50 (0.25% each). When the buyer is a Maryland first-time homebuyer, the rate is reduced to 0.25% and the seller pays that full reduced amount. County recordation/transfer taxes apply on top and vary widely by county — confirm your county's current rate.
Virginia	Seller's "grantor's tax" of about 0.1% statewide. Northern Virginia (NVTA) jurisdictions add regional surcharges, bringing the seller's combined rate to roughly 0.3%. Generally the lowest seller transfer cost of the three.

Tax rates and rules change, and county-level rates differ. The figures above are a guide as of 2026 — your settlement company and a tax professional will give you exact numbers for your address before you sign.

A few more closing items

• Capital gains. The federal "Section 121" exclusion shields up to $250,000 of gain (single) or $500,000 (married filing jointly) if the home was your primary residence for 2 of the last 5 years. Larger or non-qualifying gains are taxable — talk to a CPA.
• Out-of-state sellers. Maryland withholds at closing from non-resident sellers (an exemption certificate can reduce it). Virginia and DC handle non-resident sellers differently — if you don't live in the state where you're selling, get advice from a tax professional before closing. Foreign sellers are also subject to federal FIRPTA withholding.
• Final walk-through. The buyer confirms the home is in the agreed condition, repairs are done, and it's "broom-clean" with personal property removed.
• Hand-off. Keys, garage remotes, access codes and appliance manuals are turned over at settlement.

When it's done, the proceeds — your sale price minus mortgage payoff, commissions, transfer taxes, settlement fees, prorated property taxes and any concessions — are wired to you. Congratulations: you've sold your home.