Frederick Sellers: Pricing Your Home Effectively

Sunday, October 24, 2010

In a competitive buyer’s market, one of the most important items to consider when selling your home is to price it accurately from the start.  We see it so often, when a seller price their home high, thinking they need room for negotiations, they end up worse off in the long run.  They end up selling their neighbor’s homes.  Then, after too long on the market, they miss the prime time.

Let me explain some principles that will help sellers understand the why’s and how’s of pricing their home effectively:

1.  First of all, a seller must detach themselves emotionally from their home.  They need to think of it as a commodity to be sold, not their home of memories and comforts.

2.  Sellers need to get a clear picture of what similar homes are selling for.  Find a Realtor® who understands the market and can give you statistics of the homes sold in the previous 3 to 6 months.  Many sellers mistakenly focus on the list prices of homes that are currently on the market.  This statistic only tells us what price homes are NOT selling for.

3.  Sellers need to understand there is a strategy for every price range.  A strategy for selling to first-time buyers will be different than the strategy for move-up buyers.  Their ability and motivations are different.

4.  Sellers need to have current statistics about the average days on market in their price range and the average percent of sales price compared to list price. 

5.  The first 30 days on the market will bring in the most buyer interest and showings.  If a seller is priced right and in good condition, statistically, they should get 1 offer for every 10 showings.  If they don’t get an offer, the price is too high.

6.  After too much time on the market, a home will get a negative stigma in the minds of buyers.  When the home is on the market longer than the average Days on Market (DOM), savvy buyers realize that the home is either priced too high, or has some kind of fatal flaw. Then sellers should count on getting low-ball offers.

7.  Price reductions are likely as a seller tries to find the real market value.  It's important that sellers stay open minded about finding that value and remember:  The home is truly worth what a buyer is willing to pay.

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Homes for Sale in Frederick Md
Chris & Karen Highland *    301-831-9947
Real Estate Teams, LLC
email us: karen@allthingsfrederick.com
Text Us: 301-401-5119

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