So we interviewed three realtors. One DH just didn't like and rubbed him the wrong way. We became stuck on the other two. One of them E sold us our house and we felt she was very professional and smart. The second realtor S, came highly referred by two different people and seemed again very professional.

After interviewing, seeing their Comparative market analysis, and marketing plans we were stuck. All three came in with the same number $699k to list our property to generate a bidding war. All three had slightly different methodologies with coming up with the number.

I was very torn. I felt loyal since E sold us the house and had kept in contact updating us on the market. She also I felt was the least pushy and nicest realtor. E analysis was more basic but from her 20+ years of experience and gut she told us what she'd list for. She also didn't give us any ideas for staging our house to sell. She did ask about the HOA and capital improvements.

But S I felt had a much more comprehensive analysis of our competitors and our comparisons for our list price. She went back and teased out true comps of townhouses without garages and their sales prices over 12 months. She also specifically suggested renting a dinner table because our is too small for the space and turning the bed, and making office back into bedroom. She took pictures and noticed all of the small details of labeling the power box.

But the real difference was their marketing plans. E was going to list on Wednesday, broker open house on Thursdays, then no showing to build excitement for the open houses on Saturday and Sunday. Then all offers Monday. Her explanation was no showings would generate buzz and excitement and pressure people into seeing how many others were interested. Also her experience showed that people who came to see in Thursday, Friday had a hard time waiting to present an offer on Monday. They would be annoyed and off put to know that their offers wouldn't responded too until later so what is the point of early showings. Also people could come Monday on for private showings.

S said she would list on Tuesday since the market was getting flooded (36 new listings this week!), showings Tuesday-Friday, Broker open house Thursdays, and open house on Sunday. And then wait to respond to offers till Tuesday. She felt that the savvy, most serious buyers would come during the week by themselves or with a broker. They'd seen everything else in their budget and wanted to see new stuff early. Then they'd come back with their moms, sisters, boyfriends, contrators, etc to the open house. That people want a chance to see property alone and by allowing them time to come see it multiple times with different people, we'd have a buyer who didn't have buyer's remorse or one who'd waive all contingencies.

My DH of course said both ladies were fine. He didn't think we could go wrong. As hard as it was, I decided I preferred S because of her marketing strategy. I felt terrible last night writing the email saying we chose someone else, but truth is this is business and thousands of dollars are at stake. I didn't want to be in "Bed" with a realtor whose philosophy on home sales didn't align with mine.

I believed in S marketing strategy. I think that open houses might generate more offers but people also make offers they don't mean impulsively. I believe serious buyers have been going out every weekend and know what's on the market and they are only looking at "fresh/new" stuff and have a firm grasp of the comparison. I think that giving people more opportunities to come back with friends and family means they are less likely to back out than after the offer and coming back with mom/dad who say they don't like it.

Yes I could have told E "show it", she said I could. But I felt that then if it didn't work out she could say it's because I didn't follow her marketing plan. Whereas with S, I agreed to her marketing plan, but it's still her plan and if our place doesn't sell then it's firmly on her shoulders.

Do you think I was wrong it picking money over a previous relationship? I do feel guilty but at the same time it's a lot of money at stake.