When you have a lot of inventory and people have a lot of choices, yours has to really shine bright for it to be chosen. That’s the mindset I want every Holly Springs homeowner to have before putting a house on the market.
As of October 2026, Realtor.com reported 310 homes for sale in Holly Springs, up 15.61% from a year earlier. The median home spent 50 days on the market, and the median sold price was $590,000, down 0.84% from September.
The market at the moment isn’t “bad” per se; there’s just a decent amount of inventory, and buyers can afford to be selective. When I’m preparing a home for sale right now, my goal is to make sure my listing gives buyers a reason to stop scrolling, book the showing, and, ultimately, choose it over the house down the street.
So, what actually makes a house more marketable today? Here’s what I’m telling my sellers.
Price your home for today’s buyer
I know sellers don’t necessarily want to hear it, but you need to price your home competitively. I get it; everyone wants to get the highest possible price for their home, especially if they’ve owned it for several years and have put money into it. But buyers don’t care what you paid for the house. They’re looking at what else they can buy today for the same amount of money, which is why pricing has to reflect the current competition, not what the market looked like a couple of years ago.
I’m seeing more inventory and more options for buyers, which means an overpriced home can sit while a competitively priced home gets attention. In a market with more choices, you don’t want your listing becoming the one buyers use as a comparison while they go buy something else.
Take a hard look at the home’s condition
When I walk through a home before it goes on the market, I’m going to notice things they’ve stopped seeing. That worn carpet? I see it. The paint that looked perfectly fine five years ago? Noticed. The little repairs that have been sitting on the to-do list? Sorry, I see them, and buyers are going to see them, too.
That doesn’t necessarily mean you need to completely remodel your house. It means the things you can control should look cared for, clean, and finished. I want buyers walking through the door thinking, “I could live here,” rather than making a mental list of everything they’ll have to fix.
Know what you’re competing against
If you’re selling a relatively new home, your competition may include a brand-new house from a builder. And builders can have advantages that individual homeowners simply don’t have.
For example, in some areas, builders may offer special financing rates or closing-cost incentives, which can make a new-construction home very attractive to a buyer comparing it with a resale townhome or similar property. That doesn’t mean you can’t compete, but it does mean we need to understand exactly which other homes your buyer is considering and position your home accordingly.
Don’t underestimate staging
I am a BIG believer in staging. I’ve had sellers tell me they don’t think it makes a difference, then I’ve watched what happens when we actually do it.
I had one listing that had been on the market for about three months while the owners were still living there. Once they moved into their new home, I was able to do some basic paint touch-ups and bring in my stager. The house went under contract that weekend.
That experience reinforced something I already knew: presentation matters. And there’s data behind it, too. The National Association of REALTORS® found that 83% of buyers’ agents said staging helped buyers visualize the property as their future home, while 49% of sellers’ agents said staging reduced the amount of time a home spent on the market.
Today, all of my listings include complimentary staging. It’s worth it, and it doesn’t come out of the seller’s pocket.
How to Stage Your Home for a Quick Sale
Make the house easy to say yes to
When I’m preparing a listing, I’m thinking about the entire experience. What does the buyer see when they pull up? What do they notice when they walk through the front door? Does the house look clean and maintained? Do the rooms feel spacious? Are the photographs going to make someone want to schedule a showing? (Buyers are shopping online first, and professional-looking photography can make the difference between someone clicking on your listing or scrolling past it.)
Presentation matters, and sometimes relatively simple changes can completely alter how buyers respond to a house: clean it, declutter it, fix the obvious things, and give buyers enough visual breathing room to imagine their own furniture and lives in the space.
Talk to your agent before you renovate
I regularly have clients call me before they start a kitchen renovation or another big project and ask what I think. I love those conversations because we can talk through what makes sense for the house, the neighborhood, and the likely buyer. I would much rather have that conversation before someone spends $50,000 on a renovation than see the finished project afterward and have them ask how they’re going to get that money back.
Not every improvement delivers the same return. NAR’s 2025 Remodeling Impact Report, for example, estimated 100% cost recovery for a new steel front door. The smartest move isn’t always a renovation. Often, it’s paint, flooring, landscaping, or simply getting the house exceptionally clean. And sometimes the smartest decision is not to spend the money at all.
What increases a house’s value the most?
There isn’t one magic upgrade that suddenly makes every house worth more. In my experience, price, condition, location, and how the home compares with its competition all matter enormously.
NAR’s 2025 remodeling research found that REALTORS® most frequently recommended painting and new roofing among remodeling projects, while kitchen upgrades, roofing, and bathroom renovations were among the projects seeing increased demand.
What can I do to make my house sell faster?
Start with the things buyers notice immediately: pricing, condition, and presentation.
- Get the house clean
- Declutter it
- Take care of obvious repairs
- Make the exterior inviting
- Stage it appropriately
- Price it based on what buyers can choose from right now
What devalues a house the most?
For a seller, one of the biggest problems is a home that looks like it comes with a long to-do list. Visible deferred maintenance, worn carpet, dated or damaged finishes, excessive clutter, and poor presentation can all make buyers start mentally subtracting money from the asking price. Bigger structural or systems issues can have an even greater impact.
I also caution homeowners against making highly personal or expensive improvements simply because they assume they’ll be in the house forever. Life can change, and divorce, job changes, family circumstances, or other unexpected events can mean you need to sell much sooner than planned.
Make your house the one buyers remember
My job is to help you understand the competition, make smart decisions about where to spend your money, price the home appropriately, and present it in a way that makes buyers think, “This is the one”. I’m a call away if you need me!