Real estate listing presentation: a 10-slide template, the CMA pricing maths and a seller net sheet

Disclosure: NOXI publishes this guide and is one of the tools it mentions; the method works in any presentation software.

Sellers choose the agent who can show why the price is the price and what they will walk away with. This guide is built on one rule: show the seller three adjusted comparables, the range they make and the date you will review the price, before you show your marketing plan. One fictional listing, 14 Larkspur Lane, runs through every section with the arithmetic shown.

Key numbers

Six official figures belong in every US listing presentation this season: three from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, released 4 November 2025, and three from NAR's September 2026 existing-home sales report, released 13 October 2026.

The 2025 Profile was NAR's latest edition on 20 October 2026 (6,103 buyer responses, ±1.25% at 95% confidence [1]); swap in the 2026 figures when they appear.

What is a real estate listing presentation?

A real estate listing presentation is the appointment at which an agent shows a homeowner how they would price, market and sell the home, and asks to be hired. The deck supports a conversation about three decisions: the list price, the marketing plan and the terms of the listing agreement.

The seller is comparing you with one or two other agents, and NAR's 2025 Profile says what they are comparing on: help marketing the home to buyers, pricing it competitively and selling within a specific timeframe [2]. Those three wants are the middle of the deck below; your biography supports them, it does not replace them.

The 10-slide listing presentation template

A complete listing presentation needs ten slides, in this order: the seller's goals, the market now, three comparable sales, the CMA adjustments, the price range and recommended price, the net sheet, the marketing plan, how compensation works, the timeline to closing, and next steps. Each slide has one thing it must print.

Ten slides fit 30 to 40 minutes, leaving the rest of an hour for questions and the walk-through. Your track record fits on slide 1 as a strip; the full CMA grid, active competitors and brokerage profile go in an appendix or the pre-listing packet. Price comes before marketing because a seller who has not accepted the range hears every marketing slide as a promise of a higher price, and the net sheet follows the price because it is the number the seller cares about most.

What to include in a listing presentation (and what to leave out)

Include what the seller needs to decide on price, plan and terms: goals, market evidence, adjusted comparables, a price with a review date, an estimated net, a dated marketing plan, the compensation choices and next steps. Move credentials and process explanations to the pre-listing packet, and leave out anything about the people who live nearby.

The last column has a legal edge: the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination by real estate companies and other housing providers based on race or colour, religion, sex, national origin, familial status and disability, and the US Department of Justice lists steering homeseekers to areas by race among the conduct it covers [6]. Describe the property; never who lives nearby or who should buy.

Before the listing appointment: the intake call and the pre-listing packet

Win the listing appointment before you arrive: a 15-minute intake call fixes the seller's goals and the home's facts, and a pre-listing packet sent the day before answers "who are you", so the meeting is spent on price and plan.

Listing appointment questions to ask the seller

Ask the questions whose answers change your slides. Ten cover almost every appointment:

1. When do you need to be moved out, and why? Slide 1 and the timeline.
2. Does your next purchase depend on this sale? Decides whether you plan around a contingency.
3. What do you need to walk away with? The minimum net, tested on slide 6.
4. Roughly what do you owe, including any second loan? The payoff line on the net sheet.
5. What have you updated, and when? Drives your adjustments.
6. What will a buyer's inspector find? Feeds the repair list.
7. What price do you have in mind, and why? Tells you which comparables to explain first.
8. Who else is interviewing for the listing?
9. Will every decision-maker be at the appointment? They should all hear the price together.
10. How often do you want updates, and how? The marketing plan's reporting line.

The pre-listing presentation packet: five pages

A pre-listing presentation (or pre-listing packet) is a short document emailed or delivered before the listing appointment so the seller arrives knowing who you are and how you work. Keep it to five pages:

Keep the price out of the packet; it belongs in the room, next to the comparables.

The market slide: three national numbers, then the neighbourhood

The market slide shows three national figures and three local ones, each with its month and source: price, time on market and supply. National figures set the context in one line; the neighbourhood figures from your MLS do the persuading.

For a November 2026 appointment the national line reads: US median existing-home price $417,500 in September 2026, up 1.3% on a year earlier; median 33 days on market, up from 31 in August; 4.8 months' supply [3]. NAR's commentary on the release said higher inventory and longer time on market are giving buyers more negotiating leverage [3], which is exactly why the price slide needs a review date.

Then give the same three measures for the neighbourhood from your MLS: median sold price, median days to contract and months' supply (active listings ÷ monthly sales) for similar homes, with the window labelled ("May–October 2026, 3-bed homes in the Larkspur area") and refreshed the morning of the appointment. For how to set one number per slide and title each slide with its finding, see our guide to presenting data.

CMA presentation: choosing comparables and adjusting them

A CMA presentation shows three to six recently sold homes most like the seller's, adjusts each sold price for the differences, and turns the adjusted prices into a range. Print the arithmetic: a seller who can follow the subtraction accepts the range.

How to choose comparable sales

Choose sold homes a buyer would have toured instead of the subject. Our working filters: sold in the last 6 months (12 in a slow area, stated), within about a mile or the same subdivision, within 15% of the living area, same property type and similar condition. Show active and pending listings separately as competition: they show asking prices, not sale prices.

How to adjust comparables, with numbers

Adjust the comparable toward the subject: if the comparable has something the subject lacks, subtract its value; if it lacks something the subject has, add it. The values are your judgment from local paired sales; print them so the seller can challenge them.

The adjusted range is $459,600 to $473,000. The average is (459,600 + 473,000 + 467,900) ÷ 3 = 1,400,500 ÷ 3 = $466,833. Comparable B sold for the least but, once its missing garage and 50 square feet are added back, supports the highest value; that reversal is when a seller understands the method.

Comparative market analysis vs appraisal

A CMA is an agent's opinion of the price to list at, prepared free to win or guide a listing; an appraisal is a licensed or certified appraiser's opinion of value, usually ordered by the buyer's lender after a contract is signed. Put "Comparative market analysis; not an appraisal" in the slide footer, so a low appraisal later is not a surprise.

Pricing: the range, the list price and the review date

The pricing slide gives the adjusted range, a recommended list price inside it, the price per square foot, and a dated price review with a trigger agreed in advance. A price outside your own range needs a stated reason.

Maya recommends $469,000: inside the range, above the $466,833 average because comparable C, the closest in layout, sold at full asking in 19 days, and $253.5 per square foot (469,000 ÷ 1,850).

List-to-sale price ratio: what it is and what a good one looks like

Above 100%, homes are selling over asking, usually with competing offers; below 100%, buyers are negotiating down. A good ratio is one at or above the local median for similar homes, not a fixed national number.

For the three comparables: A listed at $475,000 and sold at $468,000, so 468,000 ÷ 475,000 = 98.5%; B listed at $459,000 and sold at $452,000, 98.5%; C listed and sold at $479,000, 100.0%. The average is (98.53 + 98.47 + 100.00) ÷ 3 = 99.0%, which is the ratio the net sheet uses. Say whether you used the original or the last list price; after two price cuts, the last one flatters the ratio.

Days on market and the price-review rule

Days on market (DOM) counts the days from the listing going live to an accepted offer or contract; set your price-review date from the comparables' days on market, so the seller agrees in advance when the price will be reconsidered and on what evidence.

The comparables took 28, 39 and 19 days, an average of (28 + 39 + 19) ÷ 3 = 86 ÷ 3 = 28.7 days, a little under the national median of 33 days in September 2026 [3]. Maya's slide sets a first price review on day 21, triggered if there are fewer than 10 showings or no offer, and a second review on day 33. This is our planning rule, not a published standard: review before the comparables' average, while the listing is still new, and again at the national median. Count the listing day as day 1, so day 21 is Wednesday 2 December.

Agree the rule in the meeting, and day 21 becomes "the trigger was met; here is the evidence", not "I think we should drop the price". For how to show a range rather than a single forecast, see our guide to presenting forecasts and uncertainty.

The seller net sheet: what the seller walks away with

A seller net sheet turns the list price into the cash the seller receives at closing, line by line. Print every line's arithmetic and label each fee as negotiated or local.

The Kims' goal was a net of at least $220,000, so the estimate clears it by $5,844. The fees are fictional negotiated or local figures; there is no standard commission rate.

The walk-away price: a net sheet for three outcomes

The seller's next question is "what if we get less?". With 5.7% of the price in percentage fees (2.5 + 2.0 + 1.2), the net is price × 0.943 − $212,000.

The lowest price that still meets the goal is (220,000 + 212,000) ÷ 0.943 = $458,112, or 97.7% of list. That is the seller's walk-away price, agreed before the first offer arrives. If the seller chooses not to offer buyer-broker compensation, that line becomes $0 and the expected net rises to $235,130, but buyers may then ask for a concession in their offer; show both versions rather than predicting which happens.

The real estate marketing plan for sellers: a calendar, not adjectives

A real estate marketing plan for sellers lists what will happen to the home, on which date and through which channel: preparation, photography, listing date, open houses, online exposure, and how often the seller hears back.

Channels belong under the calendar in one line each: MLS and the main portals, the brokerage site, two paid social placements, an email to local buyer agents, and a single-property page. If a seller asks what makes your marketing different, answer with the past listings in your packet: their photos, days on market and sale-to-list ratios. Our marketing plan presentation guide covers channels, budgets and measures.

How to present commission after the NAR settlement (17 August 2024)

Since 17 August 2024, under NAR's practice changes, offers of compensation to buyer brokers can no longer be made on the MLS, any payment to a buyer's agent needs the seller's written approval in advance, and buyers must sign a written agreement with their agent before touring a home [4][5]. Present these as the seller's choices, in NAR's wording, and leave legal interpretation to an attorney.

Slide 8 then has three lines: what your fee is and what it covers; the seller's choice about buyer-broker compensation, with the options (none, a flat amount, a percentage, or a concession toward buyer costs) and how each appears on the net sheet; and the sentence "every fee is negotiable and not set by law". State and brokerage rules add their own requirements; this guide summarises NAR's published FAQ and is not legal advice.

Never say "the standard commission is…" or predict how buyer agents will react; show the net sheet with and without the offer and let the seller decide.

Your track record without bragging: three numbers and one testimonial

Prove your record with three numbers from the last 12 months, all computed the same way the seller's price was, plus one testimonial used with permission. A seller trusts a sale-to-list ratio with its arithmetic more than a "top 1%" badge with no definition.

Maya's strip: 18 homes sold in the last 12 months; 99.2% sale-to-list ($8,213,760 sold ÷ $8,280,000 listed); 24 days median on market. Then one two-line quote from a past seller, used with written permission. New agents can use the brokerage's figures, labelled as such; never borrow another agent's results. For how to turn one past sale into a proof story, see our case study presentation guide, and to show satisfaction scores from past clients honestly, our guide to survey results presentations.

Listing presentation script: what to say on each slide

A listing presentation script is a short talk track, two or three lines per slide, ending each slide with a question that moves the seller toward a decision. Write your script around the seller's answers from the intake call, not a memorised monologue.

Rehearse the price and net slides aloud twice; they are where the meeting is won or lost.

When the seller wants a higher price

Do not argue the number; ask which comparable they think is most like their home and adjust it together. If they still want to list higher, agree in writing that the day-21 review applies at their price.

Luxury listing presentations: fewer words, larger photos, a property story

A luxury listing presentation keeps the same price evidence but shows fewer, larger images and a short story of the property, with fewer comparables explained in more detail.

• Photography first. One full-bleed photo per slide, with a single line of text.
• Fewer, explained comparables. Two or three sales, often older or farther away, each with the reason it qualifies.
• The property story. Three facts that make the home itself different (architect, renovation, land), with dates and sources.
• Privacy and showing rules. Who may tour, with what proof of funds; check your MLS rules before any off-market marketing.
• The same net sheet. Luxury sellers read the money slide as carefully as anyone.

The buyer presentation (buyer consultation): 6 slides

A buyer presentation, or buyer consultation, is the meeting in which an agent explains how they will help a buyer find and purchase a home and agrees the terms in writing. Since 17 August 2024 it must end with a written buyer agreement before the first tour [5].

NAR's FAQ lists four compensation terms the agreement must contain: the amount or rate, stated conspicuously; compensation that is objective ($0, a flat fee, a percentage, an hourly rate), not open-ended; a ban on the agent receiving more from any source than agreed; and a conspicuous statement that fees are fully negotiable and not set by law [5]. Talking to an agent at an open house needs no agreement [5]. Slide 4 shows the ways NAR lists for paying a buyer's agent: by the buyer, through a seller concession, or from part of the listing agent's compensation [5].

Listing presentation example: 14 Larkspur Lane, slide by slide

The worked example is a complete 10-slide listing presentation for a fictional 3-bedroom home, with every number traceable to the CMA, the net sheet and the calendar above.

Check it as the seller's accountant would: fees 11,607.75 + 9,286.20 + 5,571.72 = 26,465.67, rounded line by line to 26,466; net 464,310 − 26,466 − 212,000 = 225,844. In a real deck the neighbourhood figures come from your MLS and the closing costs from your title company.

Here are two slides from this article's worked example, as NOXI built them, unedited.

Listing presentation checklist (pass/fail)

Run this listing presentation checklist the evening before the appointment. Each line passes only if the condition is true.

3 AI prompts for a real estate listing presentation

These prompts work in NOXI and most AI presentation tools; each tells the tool to use only your numbers, because an invented comparable is worse than no deck.

How to build a listing presentation in NOXI

Build the deck from your own CMA and net sheet with Create from file. For your brokerage's design, use Prompt 3's Match reference flow instead.

Frequently asked questions

What should be included in a listing presentation?

Include the seller's goals, dated market figures, three to six comparable sales, the adjustments with arithmetic, a price range with a recommended list price and review date, an estimated net sheet, a dated marketing plan, how compensation works, the timeline to closing, and next steps. Move your biography and process explanations to a pre-listing packet sent the day before.

How long should a listing presentation be?

Plan 30 to 40 minutes for about ten slides, inside a 45 to 60-minute appointment that also covers a walk-through of the home and questions. Keep credentials to one strip or one slide. If the seller already received your pre-listing packet, spend the saved time on the comparables, the price review rule and the net sheet.

What is a pre-listing presentation?

A pre-listing presentation, or pre-listing packet, is a short document an agent sends to a seller before the listing appointment. It confirms the meeting, introduces the agent and team, explains how a sale works, shows past listings and includes testimonials. It leaves out the recommended price, which belongs in the meeting with the comparables.

What is a CMA in real estate?

A CMA, or comparative market analysis, is an agent's estimate of a home's likely sale price based on recently sold, pending and active homes nearby that resemble it. The agent adjusts each sold comparable for differences such as size, bathrooms and garage, and uses the adjusted prices to set a range. It is a pricing opinion, not an appraisal.

How do you present a CMA to a seller?

Show three to six sold comparables with size, features, sold price and days on market, then a table that adjusts each price toward the seller's home with the arithmetic printed. Give the range of adjusted prices and place the recommended list price inside it. Keep active listings separate as competition, and label the slide as a CMA, not an appraisal.

What is a good list-to-sale price ratio?

A good list-to-sale price ratio is one at or above the local median for similar homes; there is no single national target. Above 100% means homes sell over asking, usually with competing offers, and below 100% means buyers negotiate down. Compute it as sold price divided by last list price, and average it across your comparables.

What is a seller net sheet?

A seller net sheet estimates the cash a seller receives at closing: the expected sale price minus the listing fee, any buyer-broker compensation the seller agrees to offer, title, escrow and transfer costs, other closing costs and the mortgage payoff. Print each line's arithmetic, mark fees as negotiated or local, and call the total an estimate.

How do you explain commission to a seller after the NAR settlement?

Use NAR's wording: your fee is fully negotiable and not set by law. Since 17 August 2024, offers to buyer brokers are no longer made on the MLS, are the seller's choice, and need the seller's written approval of the amount or rate in advance. Show the net sheet with and without an offer; legal questions go to an attorney.

What is a realtor presentation?

A realtor presentation is any presentation a real estate agent gives to win or serve a client, most often the listing presentation to a homeowner or the buyer consultation. Both work best as short decks built around the client's goals, dated market figures, a clear price or budget, the costs, and written next steps.

What is a buyer presentation in real estate?

A buyer presentation, or buyer consultation, is a meeting in which an agent explains how they will help a buyer find, negotiate and close on a home. It covers goals, the local market, the search process, costs and the agent's compensation, and ends with a written buyer agreement, which NAR's rules have required before touring since 17 August 2024.

Can AI make a real estate listing presentation?

Yes. AI presentation tools can turn a CMA export, a net sheet and your notes into a structured listing deck with tables and full-sentence titles. Tell the tool to use only the numbers in your files, then check every sold price, adjustment and fee yourself. The pricing judgment, the adjustment values and the compensation wording remain your responsibility.

Sources & methodology

How this guide was made: market, seller and compensation facts come from NAR's and the US Department of Justice's own pages. The template, comparable filters, price-review rule, packet, script and checklist are editorial recommendations, not standards, and nothing here is legal advice. The example (Harbor & Pine Realty, the Kims, 14 Larkspur Lane, all fees) is fictional; every calculation was checked twice. All sources were checked on 20 October 2026.

• [1] 91% of sellers used an agent, equal to the record; median 11 years in the home before selling, an all-time high; transactions July 2024 to June 2025; 6,103 responses, ±1.25% at 95% confidence — National Association of REALTORS®, First-Time Home Buyer Share Falls to Historic Low of 21%, Median Age Rises to 40 (4 November 2025).
• [2] 5% of homes sold FSBO, an all-time low; median seller age 64; FSBO median $360,000 vs $425,000 agent-assisted; sellers' priorities when choosing an agent (marketing, competitive pricing, selling within a timeframe) — NAR Magazine, NAR 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers Reveals Market Extremes (4 November 2025).
• [3] September 2026 existing-home sales: 3.99 million SAAR; median price $417,500, up 1.3% from $412,300; median 33 days on market, up from 31 in August; 1.60 million units, 4.8 months' supply; commentary on buyers' negotiating leverage — NAR, Existing-Home Sales Increased 1.5% in September, According to NAR Report (13 October 2026).
• [4] Practice changes effective 17 August 2024: no offers of compensation on the MLS; compensation disclosures to sellers and buyers; written buyer agreements before touring — NAR Magazine, NAR Practice Changes to Take Effect Aug. 17 (3 May 2024).
• [5] Seller choices on offers of compensation (off-MLS, written advance approval stating amount or rate), concessions on the MLS, fees fully negotiable and not set by law, the four compensation terms of a written buyer agreement, open-house exception, ways buyer agents are paid — NAR, NAR Settlement FAQs (last updated 5 September 2024).
• [6] The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination by housing providers including real estate companies on the basis of race or colour, religion, sex, national origin, familial status and disability; steering by race is among the conduct covered — US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, The Fair Housing Act (updated 22 June 2023).

Build your listing presentation in NOXI, free: attach your CMA export and net sheet, review the outline in Plan mode, check every number, and export an editable PowerPoint or a PDF.