The method
How I Sell Your Home: The CLEAR Real Estate Method
Most agents list and wait. See the five-step CLEAR Real Estate Method Omega Mejia uses to price, market and negotiate home sales in Frisco and Collin County.
The short version
Most agents treat a home sale as two jobs. Pick a price, then put the house on the MLS and wait. When offers come in, they argue about the number.
I run the whole deal. Price is one line of the contract. Financing, contingencies, inspections, appraisal risk, concessions, timing and possession decide what you walk away with, and each one gets a plan before your home goes live.
I do it through five steps I call the CLEAR Real Estate Method:
- Clarify the Objective: what this sale has to do for you, and by when.
- Look at the Whole Picture: your equity, your timing, your next home and your risks.
- Evaluate the Options: a Plan A, B and C, with the numbers behind each one.
- Activate the Strategy: marketing on purpose, ready before your home goes live.
- Respond & Negotiate: the whole deal, from the first offer to the closing table.
You'll see the proof behind every recommendation before you decide anything. That habit comes from 30+ years in education and coaching before I sold my first house. My job is to help you understand the numbers well enough to choose with confidence, not to ask you to take my word for it.
I work with sellers across Frisco, Prosper, McKinney, Plano, Celina and the rest of Collin County. If you're buying instead, the same method works on your side of the deal. Here's how I use CLEAR with buyers.
Clarify the Objective: we start with your goal, not your house
Before we talk about price, I want to know what this sale has to do for you.
Some sellers need to net a certain number to buy the next home. Some have a job start date in another state. Some are leaving a house they've loved for twenty years and don't want their kids to feel they have to manage the move. A seller who tells me "I don't want to move twice" needs a different plan from one who says "we're in no rush."
Our first conversation covers five things:
- Why you're selling, and why now
- Your timeline, including any date that can't move
- What you need to walk away with after the sale
- Where you're going next, and whether you plan to buy before or after you sell
- What worries you most about selling
That last one matters more than people expect. Most sellers I meet carry one of two fears: "What if we list too high and the house sits? What if we list too low and leave money on the table?" Naming the fear early lets us build the plan around it instead of around a guess.
Life changes sit behind most sales. A move-up family, a couple downsizing after the kids are gone, a widow settling an estate, a transferee with a start date. Each one needs a different pace and a different kind of help. If yours is one of those, I have pages written for senior moves and downsizing and selling an inherited or estate home.
Everything after this step connects back to your answers. Two months from now, when we're reading an offer, the question won't be "is this a good price?" It will be "does this get you what you told me you needed?"
How I Sell Your Home: The CLEAR Real Estate Method
Look at the Whole Picture: price is one piece of the deal
Your home's value is one number. What you walk away with depends on much more than that.
In this step I look at everything that shapes your result:
- Your equity. What the home is worth right now, what you owe, and what the sale will cost, so you know what's likely to be left.
- Timing. How your dates line up with the market and with your next home.
- Your next move. Buying again in Collin County, relocating out of state or downsizing. Each one changes how we sequence the sale.
- Your competition. In Prosper and Celina, a resale home often competes with new construction a few streets away, and buyers compare builder incentives side by side. In Plano, buyers love the neighborhoods but weigh the updates a house needs. Your plan has to answer the competition you face.
- Risk. Appraisal exposure, inspection surprises, and buyer financing that could fall apart.
This is also where the pre-listing inspection happens. It's part of my standard package. The report gets shared with buyer agents, so a buyer isn't surprised halfway through the deal. Surprises are what kill contracts, and a problem you know about now is a problem we can price, fix or disclose on your terms.
A strong location doesn't sell a home on its own. A Frisco address carries weight, and it still needs the right positioning, presentation, price and negotiation behind it. I won't assume the city name will do the work.
By the end of this step, you'll know where your home stands, roughly what you're likely to walk away with, and where the risks sit. Then we can talk about options. Start with what your home is worth.
Evaluate the Options: you see Plan A, B and C before we list
Most agents hand you one list price. I show you three plans.
Every seller I work with sees a Plan A, a Plan B and a Plan C. Each plan comes with a price strategy, the market data behind it, and what we do if the market answers differently than we expect. You pick the plan. I explain what each one costs you and what it gains you.
This step also covers the decisions sellers tend to second-guess later:
- Prep and updates. Which repairs or updates earn their money back, and which don't. Every dollar you spend on prep should tie to an expected return, not to the idea that every dollar comes back.
- Staging. A two-hour staging consultation with my partner stager is included. You'll know what to move, remove or add before the photographer arrives.
- Sell first or buy first. If you're buying your next home, we decide the order with your numbers in front of us, not with a rule of thumb.
- As-is or prepared. Some homes sell best as they are, and some owners don't want a project. Here's how I handle as-is and investment sales.
I'll tell you what I recommend and why. "Here's what I'm seeing, and here's what I recommend" is a sentence you'll hear from me often.
It's still your home and your decision. What changes is that you make it with the proof in front of you. The clients who feel best about their sale are the ones who understood their options before they chose one, and that's the whole purpose of this step.
Activate the Strategy: I market your home on purpose
This is the step where most agents stop working. They upload the listing to the MLS and wait for a buyer agent to call.
I launch it. Every listing I take gets:
- Professional photography, plus drone photos of the home and the neighborhood on homes over $400,000
- A 60 to 90 second walkthrough video
- Paid ads while your home is for sale
- Social media posts about your home every week
- A promoted listing on Homes.com
- Its own single-property website
- The MLS, plus syndication to the major home search sites
- An open house the first weekend
- Outreach to the 200 homes around yours, by door-knock or postcard, because neighbors often know the next buyer
- A weekly update to you with showing activity, buyer feedback and next steps
Video is the center of how I sell. Buyers now meet a home on their phone long before they walk through the door. I use professional video and everyday social video together, and paid ads put those videos in front of local buyers who weren't searching yet. Regular posts reach the people who already follow me.
Luxury homes, priced at $800,000 and up, get the full plan. That means a series of 21 videos, each one focused on a single feature of the house or the neighborhood around it, and social media posts every day the home is for sale. I build every video the way Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube decide what to show people, so your home keeps reaching buyers instead of disappearing after one post.
I pay for this marketing package. It isn't an add-on you buy from me.
The first two weeks on the market are when your home gets the most attention it will ever get. That's why the photos, the video, the website and the ads are ready before your home goes live, not after. A listing that launches half-finished spends its best two weeks looking like every other house.
Sellers sometimes ask me, "Do we need all that marketing?" My answer is that the buyer who pays the most is rarely the first one who happens to scroll past. Marketing on purpose is how we find that buyer instead of waiting for them. Selling a higher-priced home? See how I market luxury homes in Collin County.
Marketing: every listing gets paid ads, weekly social media posts and a promoted listing on Homes.com. Boosted Zillow ads run on select homes. Luxury homes, $800,000 and up, add the 21-video series and daily social media posts.
Respond & Negotiate: I negotiate the whole deal, not only the number
When offers come in, the highest price isn't always the best offer.
A strong offer can fall apart if the buyer's financing is shaky, the appraisal comes in low or the inspection turns up something unexpected. So I compare every offer on what affects your result:
- Price, and what you're likely to walk away with
- Financing type, and how strong the buyer's approval is
- The option period, contingencies and repair requests
- How the buyer will cover a low appraisal
- Closing date and possession
- Concessions the buyer is asking for
I hold the RENE designation, Real Estate Negotiation Expert, and negotiation is where my clients notice the difference most.
Negotiation doesn't end when you sign. The inspection, the appraisal and the repair requests all come after the contract, and each one can change your net. When something goes wrong, you'll hear it from me fast: the fact, what it means for you, and what I recommend. I often tell clients, "This changes the plan. It doesn't end the plan."
Until your home is under contract, you get a weekly update and a monthly price review. If the market answers differently than we planned, we adjust with the data in hand instead of waiting and hoping.
From there I stay with you through the option period, the appraisal, the final walkthrough and closing. You'll know what's happening each week and what comes next. Tell me about your home and we'll start with step one.
This page describes my general process for selling a home in Texas. It isn't legal, tax or lending advice.
Check these out next
If this page was useful, these cover the same places and interests:
- How I price your home: Plan A, B and C.
- How I prepare your home to sell: before the photos.
- How I market your home: photos, video and ads.
- Negotiating and closing your sale: the whole deal.
Talk with me about your plans
Selling or buying near here? Start with the page that fits, then send me your questions through my contact form.
- Selling: how I sell homes, a free home value and my free seller guide.
- Buying: how I help buyers, how buying works in Texas and my free buyer guide.
- Questions: contact me through the form and tell me what you're planning.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the CLEAR Real Estate Method?
It's the five-step process I use on every sale: Clarify the Objective, Look at the Whole Picture, Evaluate the Options, Activate the Strategy, and Respond & Negotiate. It makes sure your plan starts with your goal and that the whole deal gets negotiated, not only the price.
Do I pay extra for the marketing?
No. The photography, video, single-property website, open house, neighbor outreach, and the paid ads and promotion described on this page are part of my listing package, and I pay for them.
How do you decide on a list price?
I show you a Plan A, B and C, each with its own price strategy and the market data behind it. You see what each plan gains you and what it risks, then you choose.
Do I need a pre-listing inspection?
It's part of my standard package. The report is shared with buyer agents, which cuts down on surprises during the option period and gives us the chance to price, repair or disclose issues on your terms.
What happens if my home doesn't sell in the first few weeks?
You get a weekly update with showing activity and buyer feedback, plus a monthly price review until your home sells. If the market answers differently than we planned, we adjust the plan with that data in hand.
Which areas do you sell homes in?
Frisco, Prosper, McKinney, Plano, Celina, Allen, Little Elm, Anna and Melissa, plus the rest of Collin County.
What should I ask a realtor before I list my home?
Ask how they will price it, how they will market it, who you will work with and how often you will get updates. Ask how they are paid and to see it in writing. Omega answers all of these in her CLEAR Real Estate Method.
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