Why the First 7 Days on the Market Matter When Selling Your Richmond, VA Home
Updated: Oct 8
Your home doesn't have to sell in a week. But it only gets one chance to be new.
That's the part a lot of sellers don't think about until it's too late. The day a listing goes live, it lands in every saved search that matches it. Buyers who have been watching Hanover, Henrico, Chesterfield or the city for months get the alert on their phone. Their agents see it on the new-listing report. And in a matter of days, those buyers decide whether your home deserves a showing, how it stacks up against everything else they've already seen, and whether the price makes sense.
I'm Curt Reichstetter with Two Dog Realty, and after more than 35 years of selling homes in Richmond, Virginia, I've learned that the first seven days on the market say a lot about how the rest of the sale will go. Not because a home has to be under contract by day seven, but because that first week is your introduction. Get the introduction right and everything that follows is easier. Get it wrong and you spend the next several weeks trying to undo a first impression.
THE SHORT ANSWER The first seven days matter because that's when a Richmond home is new to every active buyer and their agent at once. Buyers use that window to decide whether to schedule a showing, how the home compares, and whether the price is right. A strong launch comes from preparation, honest pricing, clear presentation, and listening to early feedback. |
Does a home have to sell in the first week to be a success?
No. A successful first week is about the right buyers seeing the home, understanding it and wanting to see it in person. It is not about a contract by Friday.
Some Richmond-area homes go under contract quickly. Others take longer for perfectly good reasons: the price range, the location, the season, the condition, or how many similar homes are competing for the same buyers. A home in a price range with fewer buyers, or a rural property with acreage in Hanover or Goochland, often takes more time to find its buyer than a move-in-ready townhouse in Henrico.
So I don't judge a launch by whether it produced an offer in seven days. I judge it by what happened: Did the right buyers see it? Did they schedule showings? And what did they tell us?
Why is the first week different from every week that follows?
Because a new listing has something no later marketing change can fully recreate: it's new.
Buyers who are actively looking already know the existing inventory. They've scrolled past the homes that have been sitting. When something new appears, their attention is at its highest, and their agents are paying attention too. That's the window when your home competes on its best footing.
Once a home has been on the market for a while, buyers start to wonder why. Days on market is visible to every buyer, and a price reduction is visible too. Neither is a disaster, but both change the conversation. I covered how that plays out in The Perils of Overpricing: the early days are when you have the most leverage, and an unrealistic price tends to spend that leverage before you get it back.
That's why the work that matters most happens before the sign goes in the yard, not after.
Most buyers meet your home online first. What does that mean for sellers?
It means your listing has to do the job of a first showing before anyone walks through the door.
Before a buyer ever drives by, they usually meet your home on a phone screen. In a few seconds of scrolling, they decide "I want to see this one" or "let's keep looking." That's why presentation isn't decoration. It's how a buyer understands your home when you're not there to explain it.
Each piece of listing media has a different job:
Listing media | Its job | What it helps a buyer answer |
Professional photography | Earns attention in the search results | "Is this home worth a closer look?" |
Interactive tour / floor plan | Explains the layout | "How do the rooms connect? Will our furniture and routine work here?" |
Listing video | Conveys the feel | "What's the light like? How does the house flow? What's the setting around it?" |
Written description | Fills in what pictures can't | "What's been updated? What's special that I can't see?" |
When those pieces work together, a buyer who schedules a showing already understands the home and arrives expecting to like it. That's a very different showing than one where the buyer is trying to figure out the floor plan in the hallway.
If you want more detail on getting a home camera-ready, Preparing Your Richmond Home for Sale: What Actually Matters walks through what to fix, what to declutter and what to leave alone.
Can great marketing make up for the wrong price or an unprepared home?
No. Marketing can make a home easier to understand, but it can't change what buyers see once they understand it.
If a home needs paint, has crowded rooms, has a repair buyers notice right away, or is priced above the comparable homes buyers are touring, those things show up in the activity no matter how good the photos are. In fact, excellent photos of a home that's priced wrong can just bring more buyers in to confirm the price is wrong.
That doesn't mean every seller needs to spend a lot of money before listing. Most don't. The useful conversation, and the one I want to have with sellers weeks before launch, is:
What will buyers notice first?
Which items are worth addressing, and which aren't?
How will this home compare with the real competition buyers will see the same week?
What price does that comparison support?
For the pricing side, see Pricing Your Richmond Home: Strategies, Tactics, and Techniques. For the repair side, What Really Adds Value Before Selling Your Home in Richmond, VA? separates the improvements that pay off from the ones that don't.
What should happen before a Richmond home goes live?
A good launch is planned, not rushed. Here's the order I like to work in with sellers:
Walk the home together early. Weeks ahead, not days. Talk through what buyers will notice and what's worth doing about it.
Handle the repairs and preparation that matter. Paint, repairs buyers will spot right away, decluttering, and curb appeal usually come before anything bigger.
Study the competition. Look at the homes a buyer will compare yours with that same week, active listings as well as recent sales.
Set an honest price. Price against what buyers will actually see, not against what we hope.
Schedule photography, the interactive tour and video after the home is ready. Not before.
Write a description that explains what photos can't. Updates, systems, the lot, the setting.
Agree on a feedback plan. Decide ahead of time who follows up with showing agents, how quickly, and what we'll do if we hear the same concern more than once.
Then go live. When everything is ready, not when the calendar says so.
What should sellers pay attention to during the first week?
The first week isn't just about showings and offers. It's about information.
Here's what I'm watching:
Are buyers scheduling showings? Online interest that doesn't turn into showings tells us something different than showings that don't turn into offers.
Do agents understand the home from the listing? If agents are asking questions the listing should have answered, the presentation needs work.
Are we hearing the same concern more than once? That's the big one.
One comment is just one comment. Every buyer has opinions, and one buyer's dislike of the kitchen color isn't the market speaking. But when two or three agents independently raise the same concern, whether it's the price, a room, a smell, a repair, or the road noise, that's a pattern. And a pattern is the market giving you useful information.
What you're seeing | What it may be telling you | What to consider |
Lots of online views, few showings | Something in the listing or the price is stopping buyers before they visit | Revisit photos, description and price against competing listings |
Steady showings, no offers | Buyers like it enough to visit, but something in person or the price relative to competition is holding them back | Look hard at repeated feedback |
The same concern raised more than once | A real issue buyers are pricing in | Address the issue, adjust the price, or explain it better in the listing |
One-off opinions that don't repeat | Personal taste | Note it and move on |
The goal is to listen early and make a smart decision before buyers start to wonder what's wrong. Waiting and hoping is the most expensive strategy. If a home has been on the market for a while already, Why Homes Sit on the Market in Richmond, VA (And What You Can Do About It) covers how to diagnose it.
What does a strong first week look like in practice?
Here's an illustration of the difference, not a specific client.
Picture two similar homes going live in the same Richmond-area neighborhood on the same weekend.
The first seller has walked the home with their agent a month earlier. They painted two rooms, fixed the loose porch rail and cleared out the extra furniture. The photos went up with a floor plan and a short video. The price was set against the three homes buyers would tour that same week. When a couple of showing agents mentioned the dated hall bath, the seller already knew about it and it was already reflected in the price.
The second seller listed quickly to "test the market," planned to fix things "if anyone asks," and priced above the competition to leave room to negotiate. The photos went up before the clutter came out.
Both homes got the same alert-driven attention on day one. Only one of them made good use of it.
THE PRACTICAL LESSON Don't rush the launch. A home that goes live ready, priced honestly and presented clearly uses its first week well. A home that goes live early and plans to fix things later spends its best week showing buyers the problems. |
How Richmond-area differences affect the first week
Across Richmond, Henrico, Hanover, Chesterfield, Goochland, Powhatan, New Kent and the Tri-Cities, "normal" first-week activity looks different depending on the home. A townhouse in a busy price range may see a lot of showings quickly. A home with acreage, a unique layout or a higher price point may draw fewer but more serious buyers over a longer stretch.
That's why I don't give sellers a magic number of showings to expect. The better benchmark is how your home is doing compared with similar homes in the same area and price range at the time you list, and that's something your agent should be able to show you before you list, so you know what a good first week looks like for your home.
How Heather and I approach a listing launch
At Two Dog Realty, Heather and I handle every client ourselves, with no handoffs. For sellers, that means the same person who walked your home before listing is the one watching the first week and calling the showing agents back. The preparation conversation, the pricing conversation and the feedback conversation all happen with someone who already knows your house.
That's the whole idea behind a good launch: do the thinking before the sign goes up, so the first week becomes information you can act on instead of a surprise.
Key Takeaways
The first seven days matter because that's when your home is new to every active buyer and their agent at the same time.
A home doesn't need a contract in a week to have a successful launch. It needs the right buyers to see it, understand it and want to visit.
Photos earn attention, an interactive tour explains the layout, and video conveys the feel. Each has a different job.
Marketing can't overcome the wrong price or an unprepared home.
One comment is an opinion; a repeated concern is market information. Listen early.
The best time to plan the launch is weeks before the sign goes in the yard.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do the first seven days on the market matter when selling a home in Richmond?
The first week is when a home is new to every active buyer at once. Saved-search alerts go out, agents see the new listing, and buyers who have been waiting decide quickly whether to schedule a showing. Curt Reichstetter of Two Dog Realty recommends launching prepared, priced honestly and clearly presented so the home makes the most of that attention.
Does my home need to be under contract in the first week?
No. Many Richmond-area homes take longer because of price range, location, season, condition or competition. A successful first week means the right buyers saw the home, understood it and scheduled showings, and that you learned something useful from their response.
What should be done before my home goes on the market?
Walk the home with your agent weeks ahead, handle the repairs and preparation buyers will notice, study the competing homes, set an honest price, and schedule photography and video only after the home is ready. Also agree in advance on how showing feedback will be gathered and acted on.
Do I really need professional photos, an interactive tour and a video?
Each does a different job. Photos get a buyer's attention, an interactive tour or floor plan helps them understand the layout, and video conveys light, flow and setting. Together they help buyers arrive at a showing already understanding the home, which usually makes for better showings.
How many showings should I expect in the first week?
There isn't a single right number. It depends on the price range, location, type of home and how much competition is on the market at the same time. A better benchmark is how your home compares with similar homes nearby at the time you list, which your agent should review with you before listing.
What does it mean if my listing gets lots of online views but few showings?
It usually means something in the listing or the price is stopping buyers before they visit. Compare the photos, description and price with the competing homes buyers are seeing, and look for anything that raises a question the listing doesn't answer.
How should I handle feedback from showings?
Treat one comment as an opinion and a repeated comment as information. When two or three agents independently raise the same concern, it's worth addressing through a repair, a price adjustment or a better explanation in the listing. Decide ahead of time who will follow up with showing agents and how quickly.
Should I wait to list until my home is completely ready?
In most cases, yes. A home only gets one first week as a new listing, so launching before the preparation, photos and pricing are right can spend that attention on a weaker version of the home. Your agent can help you decide which items truly need to be finished first and which don't.
In Virginia, can I pause or withdraw my listing if the first week doesn't go well?
It depends on your listing agreement. Virginia listing agreements set out the terms for changes, withdrawals and the length of the listing, so read yours and ask your agent before you sign. Often a better first step than pulling the listing is to look closely at what the first week's feedback is telling you.
When should a seller consider changing the price?
There's no fixed day on the calendar. The right time is when the activity and repeated feedback show the price isn't lining up with the competition. Talk through that plan with your agent before the listing goes live, so a price conversation is a planned decision rather than a reaction.
Keep Learning
Related seller guides
The Perils of Overpricing: why an unrealistic list price wastes the early days on market
Preparing Your Richmond Home for Sale: What Actually Matters: repairs, decluttering, staging and photography choices
Why Homes Sit on the Market in Richmond, VA (And What You Can Do About It): how to diagnose a listing that isn't moving
Pricing Your Richmond Home: Strategies, Tactics, and Techniques: how comparable sales and competition shape the list price
How to Evaluate Offers on Your Richmond Home: what to compare once the offers arrive
More answers for Richmond sellers
Thinking about selling in Richmond?
If you're planning to sell your home in Richmond and want to make sure you're not just putting it on the market, but launching it the right way from the first day, book a strategy call. I'd be glad to help you build a smart plan from the start.
Curt Reichstetter
Two Dog Realty
804-370-1210
curt@curtsellsrva.com
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