Selling the house is the easy part. Leaving it is not.

You price it, prepare it, put it in front of the right buyers, negotiate the offer that comes back, and pass the act of sale in front of a notary. From listing to closing that usually runs sixty to ninety days here. The two things that decide how it goes are the price you start at and the condition the house is in when the first person walks through the door.

What it feels like is a different thing from what it is. There are two or three busy weeks at the start, then a quieter stretch that always feels longer than it actually is, then a fast fortnight at the end where everything happens at once. Most of the stress in a sale comes from not knowing which of those you are standing in. Telling you which one you are in is most of what I do.

Eight short guides, in roughly the order people need them.

A film, editorial photography, a 3D tour, aerial frames where they help, copy written by someone who stood in the rooms, and Sotheby’s International Realty putting it in front of buyers around the world. See the whole marketing plan.