A Guide to Selling or Purchasing a New Home — Compliments of Doug Knetzer

About Doug

A trusted guide for St. Joseph and Kansas City.

Experience that helps you recognize the right opportunity—and navigate what comes next.

Doug Knetzer brings 30 years of experience serving buyers and sellers across St. Joseph and the Kansas City metro. He specializes in historic homes, new construction, and investment properties, and is a Luxury Collection Specialist with Compass Kansas City (MDN Group at Compass).

View Doug's Compass profile

Start here

Start with your goals

A good plan begins with what matters to you—not a generic timeline. Bring these three answers to your first conversation with Doug.

Your ideal outcome

Selling: define the move you want this sale to make possible. Buying: describe what “right” feels like beyond price and square footage.

Your timing

Note your preferred move date, any hard deadlines, and how much flexibility you have if the market suggests a different pace.

Your must-haves

Separate nonnegotiables from preferences. Include location, monthly comfort, property condition, accessibility, and future plans.

For buyers

Buy with experienced guidance

A clear process lets you act quickly without rushing the decisions that matter.

Prepare

Clarify goals, financing, budget, and your decision-making team.

Search

Compare homes against your priorities—not against each other alone.

Offer

Balance price, terms, timing, protections, and the seller’s likely priorities.

Inspect

Understand condition, priorities, options, and any follow-up expertise needed.

Close

Track financing, appraisal, title, final walk-through, funds, and possession.

Doug is in your corner from search to closing.

Representation changes the outcome by giving you market context, a strategy for each offer, a steady hand through inspections and appraisal, and someone accountable for keeping dates, details, and conversations moving.

For sellers

Get the house ready

Prioritize the improvements buyers notice. The goal is not perfection; it is a home that feels cared for, easy to understand, and ready for its next owner.

Curb appeal

Trim the walk, beds, and entry
Wash the front door and porch
Move bins, hoses, and tools out of sight
Replace obvious dead plants or bulbs

Light & space

Use matching bulbs in every fixture
Open blinds and simplify window areas
Reduce oversized or extra furniture
Clear pathways and define each room

Clean & repair

Address odors at their source
Patch visible scuffs and small damage
Deep-clean kitchens and baths
Fix loose handles, drips, and stuck doors

The first showing

Getting your home photo-ready

Most buyers meet the home on a screen first. Strong preparation makes the space read clearly and invites the right people to see it in person.

Doug will provide a free twilight photo of your home at no extra cost. In a 450-listing study, listings with twilight photos averaged 66% more views—76% when the twilight image was the main listing photo.

Match every light

Use consistent bulb color, replace burned-out bulbs, and make sure lamps and fixtures work before the photographer arrives.

Win the curb

Move vehicles away, tuck away hoses and bins, sweep the entry, and give the front door the same attention as the living room.

Declutter room by room

Clear counters, simplify shelves, hide cords, and remove small floor items so rooms feel larger and their purpose is obvious.

Depersonalize, not sterilize

Reduce family photos, names, collections, and highly personal items while leaving enough warmth for the home to feel welcoming.

The photographer’s final sweep

Close toilet lids, smooth linens, straighten chairs, hide pet gear, check mirrors, and turn on every interior and exterior light.

Make the first showing happen online

Let the images tell a clean visual story: arrival, flow, key features, outdoor space, and the details that make this home distinct.

The agreement

Paperwork, without the fog

Listing paperwork sets expectations before the home reaches the market. Read it carefully, ask questions, and keep a copy of everything you sign.

What you will discuss

The property and ownership details, agency relationships, list price and term, compensation, marketing permissions, showing access, personal property, and known condition or disclosure obligations.

Doug can explain the purpose and practical effect of the forms used in your transaction.

What deserves a pause

Ask before signing if a term is blank, unclear, different from what you discussed, or creates a deadline or cost you do not understand.

For legal, tax, title, engineering, or financial advice, your agent can help you identify the right licensed professional.

Reference center

Your client document hub

When materials are ready, ask Doug where to find the current approved copy.

Floor plansComing soon — ask Doug

Listing photosComing soon — ask Doug

Seller disclosuresComing soon — ask Doug

Mortgage & other documentsComing soon — ask Doug

Offer review

An offer is more than its price

The strongest number on page one is not always the strongest offer. Terms, certainty, timing, and risk matter too.

What your agent should explain

Financing type, down payment, and lender strength
Earnest money and any additional deposits
Inspection, appraisal, financing, and sale contingencies
Closing date, possession, included items, and concessions
Deadlines, acceptance mechanics, and your counteroffer options

What not to ask

Do not ask your agent to disclose or act on protected personal characteristics, to hide a known material fact, or to give legal, tax, engineering, or lending advice outside their license.

Do ask: “What facts and terms can we lawfully use to compare these offers and protect my goals?”

Showing days

Give buyers space. Give yourself a plan.

Buyers are more comfortable speaking candidly when the seller is away. Build a simple routine so every showing does not disrupt the whole day.

A quick exit plan

Keep keys, shoes, pet supplies, medications, and a small “last-minute” basket together. Before leaving, switch on lights, open shades, check temperature, secure valuables, and take pets with you.

Where to go

Run one or two errands, take a walk, visit a library, settle into a coffee shop, grab lunch, or keep a ready list of friends and family nearby. Add extra time so buyers never feel rushed out.

On the roadmap

Planned client features

These tools are planned for a future version of Doug’s guide.

Coming soon

Approved showing feedback

See buyer feedback after Doug reviews and releases it, with context on patterns that may call for a pricing, presentation, or marketing conversation.

Coming soon

In-app messaging

A simple place for client and agent updates, questions, next steps, and key transaction reminders.

While buyers tour

A little better than waiting in the car

Keep a short list of pleasant, flexible stops near home. Choose places where you can leave quickly if a showing ends early or another request arrives.

Coffee breakPick a familiar café with easy parking and room to wait.

Useful errandSave a grocery, pharmacy, fuel, or return stop for showing time.

Fresh airUse a nearby park or walking path when weather cooperates.

Quiet resetTry the library, lunch, or a short visit with someone nearby.

Early estimate

Sketch your possible net

Net proceeds are the sale price minus the mortgage payoff and all selling or closing costs. Use this rough sketch to prepare questions—not to plan a final transfer.

Possible sale price

Mortgage payoff

Estimated selling costs

Repairs, credits & other costs

Selling costs can include negotiated compensation, title or escrow charges, taxes, concessions, HOA items, warranties, repairs, and other transaction-specific amounts. Ask Doug and your closing professional for figures based on your property and contract.

Rough estimated proceeds$0Before any tax consequences or unentered costs

Photography & media

Give the listing a professional launch.

Ask Doug about scheduling a property shoot with Alan Henrichsmeyer of AHP Services LLC. Professional real estate photography helps buyers understand the home, notice its strongest features, and arrive at the showing already engaged.

Ask about a property shoot

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