The Surefire Way To Incorrectly Set You Home’s Asking Price When Selling
Pricing your home too high can hurt you just as much as pricing your home too low. There is a sweet spot you must hit. A spot that makes veteran real estate agents swoon at the miracle of seeing a home priced correctly.
You may think I’m joking but the phrase “priced to sell” in most listings means the home is overpriced ever so slightly. In fact most homes are priced at 107% of their true market value. So I will share with you the four ways home sellers set their asking price and hopefully shed some light on how to price yours correctly to sell it fast and for top dollar.
Strategy #1 Clearly Overpriced
Every seller wants to realize the most amount of money when selling their home. Some take this to an extreme. Either they are completely oblivious to the real estate market or they have their head stuck in a dark greed-filled hole and must get it out before they can sell. The common attitude of this seller is “We’ll see if anyone bites”… in other words we’ll see if there are any dumb home buyers willing to over pay for a home… Use this strategy if you are any of the above…
Strategy #2 Somewhat Overpriced
About 3 out of 4 home sellers fall into this category. They price their home somewhere around 5-10% above what they should price it at. The home sits on the market longer than it should because either you belive wholeheartedly it is worth that much despite what the market tells you or you are leaving room for negotiating. Either way I can not stress enough how much this is hurting you. I have to battle with this myself whenever I sell my own stuff. The problem is further aggravated if you have personally invested time and money into fixing it up and decorating it to sell.
Strategy #3 Priced Correctly At Market Value
This is the sweet spot where you want to be. Yes you will still receive offers from home buyers who much like the clearly overpriced home sellers have their head stuck in the same place and you must know how to deal with them and take advantage of their absentmindedness. There are many reasons why this has been the secret to many home sellers getting the price the want and need for their home while the majority don’t get what they want. Hint: the majority somewhat over price their homes and don’t get the price they want? hmm I think there is a correlation here…
Strategy #4 Priced below the fair market value
There are some brave souls that take this to an extreme and price their home below market value to set up an auction like effect hoping they will spur multiple offers to sell their home at or above market value. These homes typically sell fast, usually within a few days. Using this strategy may backfire if you fail to create demand for the home. I have read the books that tell you to sell your home in 5 days and what not. Most of these have good concepts but they lack a bit on creating the demand which is crucial to getting your price.
Underpricing your home alone wont bring about droves of buyers. You must clearly understand the psychology of the homebuyer to do this. Your asking price usually drives the time the home is on the market, but not how much you’ll actually net.
Tags: get multiple offers for your home, price your home for sale, recent home sales, recently sold homes in, setting the asking price of your home
