When you decide to sell your house, you want the highest possible return from its sale. Calculating the right price is the most critical step in preparing your house for sale.
Pricing your home too low won’t provide the top return. You will have more people looking and you might get an offer but you could lose money on your home if the price is not high enough.
Pricing a property too high is also risky. Homes priced too high miss their target market. Buyers who find the right home for their needs won’t view your home, or make an offer on it, because it is out of their price range. If they are shown an overpriced home in the first few days of listing and do not buy because it isn’t a good value, they are unlikely to revisit your home once the price is reduced. Real estate agents will hesitate to show an overpriced home, unless it will make a competing property look like a better value.
Many home sellers make a mistake of ‘let’s start higher’ pricing attitude. But testing the market can be dangerous. A new listing receives its best exposure during the first three to five weeks on the market.
If your home is priced right from the list date, you maximize your opportunity of reaching the most qualified buyers. Buyers who have seen most of the available homes in their price range and are waiting for the right house to come on the market. This is why a correctly priced home often sells quickly once it is put on the market.
Multiple listing statistics show that the longer a home is on the market, the lower the selling price. The home has already been viewed by the qualified buyers in the first few weeks and a price reduction results.
Pricing a home is part knowing the neighborhoods and part science. It’s based on hard evidence by looking at sale prices for comparable properties in the area. But, no two homes are identical. That means the evidence must be evaluated by an experienced agent.
The correct price will help to attract the maximum number of qualified buyers within a time frame that suits the sellers’ needs. Pricing strategy depends on the market conditions at the time your home is put up for sale. It can best be determined by an agent who is active in the market, who constantly views homes and is monitoring the changing market conditions.
If you need help to determine the right price for your home, in order to sell your home in the least amount of time for the highest return, please contact me for a comparative market analysis and consultation.