The Columbia Home Seller's Guide
Your price, your net, and every step to closing, in plain language.
Who this guide is for
This Columbia home seller's guide is for you if you own a home in Columbia or the Midlands and you are thinking about selling in the next year. Maybe you have outgrown it, maybe you are downsizing, maybe a job or orders are moving you. Whatever the reason, you probably have the same three questions every seller has: What will it sell for? What will I walk away with? And what do I need to do first?
This guide answers those in order, the way we walk our own sellers through them. It is written by Terry and Yolanda Taylor of Taylored Realty Team, and every number in it comes from real sales or South Carolina's actual costs, not a national average.
Step 1: Find your real number
Your home's value comes from the handful of homes most like it that sold recently, closest to it. Not the online estimate, and not what a neighbor says they got.
Part of town matters more than people expect. Over the twelve months ending October 8, 2026, the median sold price was $255,228 in Southeast Columbia (29209), $259,900 in Northeast Columbia (29229), and $437,938 in the Forest Acres and Trenholm Road area (29206), according to Consolidated MLS. In Lexington it was $376,082 in 29072 and $270,160 in 29073, and in Blythewood (29016) it was $350,000 over the twelve months ending October 9, 2026. Your street can sit well above or below those.
What to do: get a pricing analysis built from your street's comps. Ours is free, and you can request it here.
Step 2: Know what you will walk away with
The sale price is not the number that lands in your account. In South Carolina, sellers usually pay:
- The loan payoff, including interest through the closing date.
- Deed stamps: $3.70 for every $1,000 of the sale price. On a $300,000 sale, that is $1,110.
- Prorated property taxes for the part of the year you owned the home.
- The real estate commission, as set in your listing agreement.
- The closing attorney's fees and any repairs or credits you agree to with the buyer.
What to do: ask for a net sheet before you pick a price. We put one next to every price we recommend, so you compare what you keep, not just what is on the sign. For more, read what sellers need to know about closing costs.
Step 3: Get ahead of the inspection
Almost every buyer gets a home inspection during their due diligence period, which in our contracts usually runs about 10 business days. Whatever the inspector finds becomes a negotiation, in the middle of your contract, on the buyer's timeline.
A pre-listing inspection flips that. You find out about the roof, the crawlspace, the water heater, or the drainage first, and you decide what to fix, what to disclose, and what to price in. In older parts of Columbia, like Southeast Columbia and Forest Acres, this one step prevents more surprises than anything else we do.
What to do: fix what affects safety, systems, and water. Skip most cosmetic updates. Buyers rarely pay you back for them. See sell as-is or make repairs first.
Step 4: Make it look right online
Buyers meet your home on a phone. In a few seconds they decide whether it is worth a showing, based on the photos, the video, and the first lines of the description.
- Declutter and clean before photos, room by room.
- Professional photos, taken in good light, not phone snapshots.
- A walkthrough video, so buyers understand how the rooms connect.
- A description written for the most likely buyer, not a list of features.
All four come with every home we list, at no extra cost.
Step 5: Launch, do not just list
The first few weeks on the market are when your home gets the most attention it will ever get. Over the last year, half the homes that sold in Columbia's busiest ZIP codes were on the market about four weeks or less. A home that launches before it is ready, or at the wrong price, burns that window.
What to do: go live only when everything is ready at once: price, inspection, photos, video, and the plan to reach buyers. We add a website for your home and paid Facebook and Instagram ads. Our ad for 700 Bell Flower Lane reached 12,602 people in eight days. Then expect a check-in from us every week, and a fresh price check every month until it sells.
Step 6: Compare offers by what you keep
The highest price is not always the best offer. Look at each one for:
- Net: what you walk away with after any closing costs or credits the buyer asks for.
- Financing: how strong the buyer's pre-approval is.
- Earnest money: usually around $1,000 on a typical resale here, held by the closing attorney.
- Due diligence: how long the buyer has to inspect and walk away.
- Closing date: whether it fits your next move.
After you accept, the buyer inspects, the lender orders an appraisal, and the closing attorney handles title and the closing itself. See what happens after you accept an offer.
Mistakes Columbia sellers make
Pricing from an online estimate, or from what you need. Buyers only care what similar homes sold for. A price set high to leave room usually means fewer showings and a cut later.
Listing before the home is ready. Launching with dark photos or a known repair issue wastes the weeks that matter most.
Letting the buyer's inspector find problems first. Then the buyer sets the terms of the repair conversation.
Judging offers by price alone. A higher offer with weak financing or big credits can net you less.
Not knowing what is happening. If you have to call your agent for an update, something is wrong. You should hear what buyers are saying every week.
Forgetting the paperwork. Gather your documents early with the seller's document checklist.
How we help, and your next step
Taylored Realty Team is Terry and Yolanda Taylor, REALTORS® in Columbia with more than 40 years of combined experience. Yolanda is the Broker-in-Charge and leads our negotiating. Terry runs the systems that keep every deadline in view. Our clients rate us 5.0 stars on both Google and SoTellUs. One seller wrote: "We were informed every step of the way and never felt out of the loop on any stage of the process."
Every step in this guide is how we work, laid out in full on how we sell your home.
Your next step: tell us about your home, or call us at (803) 422-2226. We will bring your comps, your three prices, and your net sheet, and walk you through them in plain language, with no pressure. Don't make a move without us.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much are deed stamps when selling a home in South Carolina?
$3.70 for every $1,000 of the sale price, usually paid by the seller. On a $300,000 sale, that is $1,110.
Should I get an inspection before I list?
We recommend it. Finding problems first lets you fix, disclose, or price them in on your terms instead of negotiating them in the middle of a contract.
How long does it take to sell a home in Columbia?
Over the twelve months ending October 2026, half the homes sold in Columbia's 29209 and 29229 ZIP codes were on the market about four weeks or less, according to Consolidated MLS. Price and condition decide where yours lands.
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Ready to make your move with Taylored Realty Team?