Setting the Right Listing Price

When it comes time to sell your home, setting the right listing price is paramount.  If you fail to properly research and conduct a detailed market analysis, it will be next to impossible to come up with a price that will lure in potential buyers, while keeping you satisfied.

No Perfect Price

First things first, there is no perfect price that you can realistically set to sell your home, but there are steps you can take to ensure you price your home to sell, while still walking away happy.  Though pricing a home can be difficult, part of the selling agent’s job is to set a reasonable sales price.

A good place to start in pricing a home is a look at the recent sales comparables.  These are properties in your area that match the characteristics of your home, which have sold in recent days, weeks, or months.  These properties will give you a great idea as to what range you can price your home.  Market trends will also dictate the sales price.

Sales Price is What Buyers See

It’s important to note that sales price is the number one factor potential buyers consider before buying a home, so it’s really the single most important aspect of the listing process as well.  And though the homeowner and the selling agent will come up with an appropriate asking price, the buyer ultimately sets the selling price.

Pricing a home correctly the first time has a number of benefits.  When a listing “goes live,” so to speak, it typically garners a lot of attention from buying agents and prospective buyers.  If you have the right sales price right off the bat, you’re likely going to get a great initial response.

If you set a sales prices that’s too high, you may miss out on this historically beneficial period.  And if a home stays on the market too long, agents and buyers take notice, and often start asking questions. And then the scrutinizing begins. You certainly don’t want to be the house that has been on the market for months…

Typically, homeowners inflate the sales price if they paid too much for the home initially, added a bevy of improvements that they wish to get back in the sale, or simply to create negotiation space.

Listing High Because of a Short Sale

Nowadays, it’s also quite common to see homeowners listing their properties higher than market to avoid a short sale. In other words, because they have so little home equity, the only way to avoid selling short is by listing high. But it becomes pretty clear to buying agents and prospective buyers if the sales comparables aren’t even close.

Unfortunately, these practices can backfire, forcing the homeowner to sell the property for significantly less than their desired sales price.

If you set the right price initially, you’ll sell your home quicker by exposing the property to more potential suitors, while preventing the listing from going stale.  And if you attract multiple buyers, you can actually negotiate the price higher, as opposed to the reverse, which may leave you high and dry.

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