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Why Accurate Pricing Is Crucial In A Buyer's Market

By
Real Estate Agent with Keller Williams Realty DTC

Home Prices in DenverIf your home does not sell in a timely manner, the process of showing your home can begin to feel stressful, time consuming and invasive.  Fortunately, you can avoid this situation by pricing your home correctly from the start.

Pricing your home higher initially to ‘test' the market will most likely end up costing you both time and money.  If you work with your Realtor to price your home accurately when it first goes on the market, and if the condition of the home is excellent, you are very likely to sell quickly, and at your asking price.  Many times, you will see multiple offers, potentially bringing in more than the asking price.

One downside of an overpriced property is when it sits on the market for an extended period of time, potential buyers may start to wonder what is wrong with that property.  It can result in a stigma being attached to your home, even though the only flaw may be the asking price.

In order to determine a realistic asking price, your Realtor will research and analyze recently sold homes in your neighborhood.  He or she will then prepare a thorough comparative market analysis (CMA), which will provide you with a price range within which comparable homes are selling in your specific area.  Keeping within this range will ensure that your property is not overpriced and disregarded by prospective buyers.  A Realtor's pricing will also omit nostalgic or personal opinions about the value of a home, which are really unrelated to the market value.

When a home does sell quickly, and at the Realtor's recommended asking price, very often the seller may wonder whether the price was actually too low.  However, if you look at all the factors involved, this is really not the case. 

The term ‘carrying costs' refers to any homeowner expenses incurred while your home is on the market, including your monthly mortgage, utilities, insurance, taxes, maintenance and upkeep.  The longer it takes to sell your home, the more these costs will add up. 

It is helpful for sellers to look at accurate pricing in terms of how much time, energy, and money they will save in the long run.  For example, if you price your home at $20,000 over the current market value, it may take you several months longer to sell it at that price.  In this case, you must look at the total carrying costs of that time period and see how much of that $20,000 you spent waiting for the higher price to be met.

A homeowner's best bet when making the decision to sell their home is to find a Realtor they feel comfortable with, and then to trust this professional when it comes to making decisions about marketing the home.  This will ultimately lead to the most successful outcome - achieving the highest price in the least amount of time, with a minimum amount of inconvenience to you.

Comments (1)

Len Sangster
William Davis Realty - Dallas, TX

Thanks for the comment Wendy.  Enjoyed your post as well.  Very good information for buyers.

Jun 25, 2007 02:03 PM