Sellers – What’s the best way to price your home.
Bobby Buyer is searching for a home. He went ahead and got pre-approved for a $260,000 purchase. He knows he’s not interested in looking at any homes above what he feels he can afford, so we are going to search up to $275,000 to allow a little room for negotiating.
It’s unfortunate that you priced your house at $310.000, which is quite a bit above his $275,000 search limit, and which is probably also about $50,000 above market value. Only you and your agent know why you priced it so high, but I do know your home would be a perfect fit for Bobby, and I also know it’s definitely overpriced, so Bobby won’t even see it, and surely won’t buy it.
Overpricing your home, presentation and marketing are the 3 things that will keep your home from selling.
The standard way to determining the asking price for your home is to have your real estate agent do a CMA or comparable market analysis. This is a review of comparable homes that have recently sold in your area, usually within the lat 3 to 8 months.It will also look at those that are under contract and those that have expired. The CMA will help determine the market value of your home, you can then determine the exact listing price. Pricing slightly below market value is the best way to get lots of interested buyers looking at your home, and to get your home sold fast.
Sometimes sellers want to list their homes on the market for much more than the market.. Maybe they spent a large amount of money into remodeling and they’d like to recover that money, or they need a larger amount in order to purchase their new home. These reasons should not effect the price of your home.Setting the price above the market value will not help you get that price, it may have the opposite effect, keeping your house from selling.
Since overpricing will keep your home from selling, you will continue to spend money on mortgage, taxes and maintenance that you would not pay if you could sell faster. Chances are you may wind up selling it for less than market value if the home remains on the market for a long period of time. The longer a home sits on the market, the fewer interested buyers will be walking through your door.. So if they don’t come to see your home, they won’t be buying it!
You overpriced home may just be helping other homes on the market sell faster. Buyers are using your home as a comparison to better priced homes which may be in the same in many ways to a home prices $30,000 less, making them look like a bargain.compared to your overpriced home.
Most buyers will make appointments to see homes that are at or below market value so if your price is too high buyers won’t be walking through your door, and they still won’t be buying your home.
Pricing your home is not an exact science, but can be done in a logical manner with an excellent real estate agent’s comparable market analysis.
If you are ready to sell your home in the Bellingham area I’m ready to help you set the price correctly! Let’s get it sold!
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