One Number Starts a Fight. A Price Range Starts a Conversation.

The fastest way to start an argument at a listing appointment is to write one number on the table.

Pricing is the number one objection sellers raise. In the 2026 Survey of Best Practices, 63.7% of agents said so, up 11 points since 2020. Sellers arrive with a number in their head, usually a high one. The second you counter with a single number of your own, you have two numbers in a staring contest, and someone has to lose.

There is a better move, and it comes straight from the book. Do not hand the seller one number. Hand them a range.

Why one number invites a fight

A single list price does three things against you.

It anchors. The moment you say a home is worth $500,000, that exact figure becomes the thing the seller pushes against, negotiates, and remembers.

It boxes you in. You are giving a precise answer before you have finished learning the home. You have not seen every update, heard every plan, or read the seller's timeline. Commit too early and you either defend a number you should move, or you backtrack and look unsure.

It makes pricing feel like your opinion against theirs. One number sounds like a verdict, and people argue with verdicts.

The range play

The book borrows a move from listing-presentation coach Sharran Srivatsaa: offer a price range rather than a specific dollar amount, one you can adjust up or down based on what you learn during the presentation.

A range does the opposite of a single number. It signals that price depends on real factors, condition, timing, and strategy, not on a hunch. It keeps you flexible after you have walked the home and heard the seller out. And it invites the seller into the conversation instead of handing them a target to shoot at.

If you would rather keep a precise figure in your back pocket, the book offers a second option: document your price opinion, but keep it on a separate page from the CMA. If the meeting goes well, present it with confidence. If not, tell the sellers you now have what you need to calculate an accurate price and you will follow up.

And if leaving the number out feels risky, know that plenty of pros already do it. In a W+R Studios poll cited in the book, 55% of agents include a list price in their presentation and 45% deliberately leave it out. That 45% is not indecisive. It is strategic.

A range prices for time, not just dollars

Here is what a range unlocks that a single number cannot. It lets you connect price to timeline.

Sellers do not just have a price expectation. They have a time expectation, and the two are linked. The book's advice is to show sellers the typical days on market for their price range. If a seller expects a $500,000 home to sell in 30 days, but the average in that price range is 90, you are not arguing. You are educating, with local data behind you.

A range makes that conversation natural. The higher end means more time on market. The lower end means speed. Now the seller is not choosing between your number and theirs. They are choosing between price and time, which is a decision that is actually theirs to make.

The math that makes it land

Sellers underestimate what overpricing costs, so the book makes it visual. Picture 100 buyers for a home. Price it right and they all consider it. Overprice it by just 10% and you can watch that pool collapse toward a tiny fraction of what it was.

Pair that with time. Ask the sellers a simple question: how many extra mortgage payments are you willing to make while the home sits? When sellers run that math with their own payment, the cost of chasing a high number stops being abstract. The range, and the honest tradeoff behind it, starts to look like the smart play rather than the cautious one.

How to present a range with confidence

A range is a strategy, not a shrug, so present it like one.

Anchor both ends in comps, so the range reads as evidence, not hedging. Say plainly that you will finalize the number once you have seen everything and understood their goals. Give the seller a role in the final call. Done right, a range makes you look more prepared than the agent who blurted out a single figure, not less sure.

The single number feels bold. It is actually brittle. The range feels flexible. It is actually the stronger position, because it keeps you in the conversation until the seller talks themselves into the right price.

Key takeaways

• Pricing is the number one seller objection, cited by 63.7% of agents in 2026.

• A single list price anchors the seller, boxes you in, and turns pricing into your opinion against theirs.

• Offer an adjustable price range instead, or keep your exact number on a separate page until the consult is done.

• 45% of agents already leave the list price out of the presentation on purpose.

• Use days on market by price range to tie price to timeline, and let the seller choose between price and speed.

The chapter "The Kitchen Table Battlefield" in The Art of the CMA breaks down the full listing-presentation sequence, including how to present a price range, handle objections, and ask for the business. Get your copy.

Data: 2026 Survey of Best Practices for CMAs and Listing Presentations, Giant Steps Advisors and Lone Wolf Technologies. 2,165 U.S. agents, 46 states, surveyed November 2025 to February 2026. Additional figures via The Art of the CMA.