Pricing Your Home to Sell Effectively

When you decide to sell most important decision, your home, one of the most important decisions you’ll make is your initial listing price of your home. It is better to price your home at a price you can handle and get offers that you can turn down, than not get any offers at all. Remember it also will need to appraise at your asking price.

You will, of course, want to get as much for your home as a buyer will be willing to pay. Be careful when determining the price, not to make the mistake of overpricing your home. It’s an understandable mistake, but one that could prove costly if it slows down the sell or makes other homes look like a good value in comparison. It can also make your neighbor’s home sell quickly if yours is overpriced and theirs is price effectively.

A big mistake many sellers make is to make this decision based on emotion. After all your home has been a special place for you and your family. You may have made substantial changes and upgrades over the years. You need to step back and look at what is going on in the market and ask yourself: how important are those changes to a potential buyer? How up to date are the changes? It is easy to think that your home is worth more than your neighbor’s or more than the current market can support. But if you overprice your home you may attract the wrong buyers that look at your home and compare it to other homes within the same price range and walk away disappointed or drive them to purchase another similar home. Some of those homes may have additional amenities or be in better shape. At the same time, you may eliminate a group of buyers who are shopping for homes priced in the true market value of your home.

You may force less initial traffic and less interest by overpricing. Generally, your home receives the most interest during the first couple of weeks on the market. If your home is priced more than similar homes in your market, it may turn away potential buyers who believe they can get a better value somewhere else. In addition, many real estate professionals tend to not guide qualified buyers to an overpriced property. The longer your home stays on the market the more may begin to believe that something is wrong with the property or your listing agent is not marketing your property properly.

If you overprice your home with the thought of “price high then drop” strategy, you may run into the same risk of someone thinking that there is something wrong with your property, or that you are desperate to sell. Eventually the property may sell, but at what cost or loss to you, especially if you have already purchased another home and are paying two mortgages and ongoing expenses?

Overpricing can also lead to fewer showings and offers. For different reasons buyers may be intimidated in submitting a low bid when there’s a considerable difference between market value and asking price. Even if you were to accept an overpriced bid, your buyer may run into financial problem with the buyer’s mortgage, because an overpriced home may not appraise for the selling price.

What can you do to make sure you are not overpricing your home? Stick to the facts. You can hire a professional real estate appraiser to get a true unbiased professional opinion. They can let you know about the local trends in the market for your area. Then get a real estate professional to work with the get a the right price and create a marketing strategy that creates excitement from the day you put your home on the market.

Don’t let the temptation to overprice keep you from your best chance of getting the best price, as quickly as possible.