Earlier this week I talked about what to do if your house won’t sell. And, like I mentioned in that post, the price of the home is the aspect that sellers have the most control over. Even though the right pricing strategy can take a home off the market quickly, it’s amazing how many people still make mistakes when pricing their home. Here are five tips for pricing your home right the first time!
1. Find an agent you trust: Don’t just hire the agent that quotes you the highest list price for your home. If they quote you a high price to insure that they get your listing, but then your home sits on the market forever because the price is too high, that’s counterproductive and you end up having to slash your price anyway. The best idea is to interview several agents and choose someone who can back up their suggested list price with recent comps. Which brings me to point number two…
2. Get the comps: Once you have an agent you trust, ask them to prepare a comparative market analysis of similar homes that have sold recently in your area. This is more important than looking at the list price of other homes for sale in your area, because the comps will tell you what the home actually sold for, which is often quite a bit lower than the original list price.
3. Pick the correct price: Pricing your home correctly right out of the gate will gain the attention of serious buyers and sell your home faster. If you have to list your home for less than you’d like to make this happen, think of it this way… it will cost you more in the long run to pay the costs associated with owning your home if it sits on the market for several months while you’re dreaming about an unrealistic asking price. Then you’ll have to lower the price anyway, so wouldn’t you rather just price it right from the get go?
4. Price with the market: If your house is priced to high from the start, you will most likely find yourself making price drops after several months on the market with no interest. Dropping your price is a good strategy, but everyone else (whose homes were priced more reasonably to begin with) is dropping their prices too, meaning that your home is still the highest priced home on the market and will never catch up with the competition. Instead of dropping the price several times causing buyers to wonder what’s wrong with your property, price it competitively from the start, rather than holding out for the high end of the market. Remember, the more competitive the price you start with, the better the chance you will sell quickly for a higher price than if you wait it out and negotiate 6 months down the road.
5. Don’t balk at lowball offers: When selling your home it’s hard not to be emotionally attached, but buyers most likely aren’t feeling the same way, so don’t be offended by lowball offers. Use them as a jumping off point for negotiation and let it drop only if the buyer makes it clear they are not serious about buying.
Looking for a real estate agent you can trust to help you through the whole process of pricing and selling your home? Give us a call at Cooper Realty Associates and let us show you why we’re the best — 302-629-6693.