Pricing a home correctly – means it will sell faster!
The real estate market is changing – we currently less inventory and buyers are still looking for the perfect place to call home.
Many sellers believe that the original listing price has no impact on the sale of the property – they can always lower the price. That is a myth that hurts a lot of sellers.
When a buyer first views your home because of an ad be it in a newspaper, real estate publication on the web or any of the other ways buyers find a home and the price is in their range it may not make a difference they will view the home. However, if you are over priced and there are other properties in the buyer’s price range they will move on to another home that they feel provides more for their hard earned dollars.
Most Buyers come to your home through a real estate broker and not these other forms of advertising that sellers think sell their home. Of course buyers call on ads, even look at the house – but once they talk to an agent or research the market and see the competition, they will discover your home is overpriced. You will loose the potential sale, because it does not have what they want, need or the price is too high compared to other properties on the market. The properties that the buyers will look with their agent they will know are a good value. Your home could become the home that pushes the buyer into buying your neighbors home.
Very seldom does a buyer buy the home they inquired about. Most of the time the call comes from a buyer the agent provides them everything that matches their search criteria and the current market is discussed. This will weed out a lot of properties and the buyer will only see the properties that meet their needs or match their buying capabilities.
The buyer’s agents will not be impressed or swayed by advertising. The broker will look at the client and what the needs are not those of the ad. The client’s needs are the broker’s priority including the price.
If you have overpriced your home one of two things will happen. #1 your home will be over looked completely. #2 The broker will show your home, as a comparison of the other properties that are priced correctly. The later makes a sale very easy when you can show the buyer a home for a considerable amount less that fits their needs and then one that is overpriced it makes the buyer feel like they are getting more for their money.
Want to know what happens if you price your property to high in the beginning and adjust the price later? You have lost all those agents taking your listing seriously at the beginning when it was NEW. A price reduction will often make you look desperate and will bring in even lower offers than if you had priced correctly at first. If your home is priced correctly in the beginning it is not uncommon to have multiple offers. Which can actually bring you a higher than expected price.
As your home sits on the market you will find yourself frustrated because you have not sold and the may have already found the prefect new home and new job – now whose fault is it that your home has not sold yours or your agents?
Lowball offers, will be the result of sitting on the market longer than the homes you were originally competing with.
You are not alone if you started with a high price, many sellers still mistakenly believe they should “price it high” because they can lower the price later, if necessary.
What do you think will happen?
Home sellers should take your article to heart. It’s all true! Just today I had an appraiser call me and ask why a house took so long to sell. Truth is the seller wanted much more than it was worth and I listed it at his price. But I recommended a more sensible price. 3 years later the seller admitted that I was correct and the house would have sold much more quickly if he had just looked at the comps and been reasonable with his expectations. He would have saved so much more in the long run on things like maintance.