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Why Are You Pricing Your HOME Like Clothing at the Mall?-Seacoast Nh Homes-Portsmouth NH Homes-Hampton NH Homes-www.patricia4realestate.com

Why Are You Pricing Your HOME Like Clothing at the Mall?

Why Are You Pricing Your Home Like Clothing at the Mall?

Pricing Property Like Clothing? Sellers who really want to sell their property NOW so that they can move on, are more involved with analyzing their price point than ever before. It seems that most sellers want to price their property with something that ends in '99'--$599,000 or $599,900, etc. Here's what I ask them:

"You're about to move to Raleigh and your Realtor® has set up a search for you through his/her MLS. Can you tell me what your price parameters are for that search? When you're searching online at night for homes in the Raleigh (or destination city of choice), what price points do you use in your own search?"

They'll say, "We're moving up a bit so, we enter $600,000 - $700,000."

"What if you were searching from $600,000 to $700,000 here in Charlotte? You would completely MISS this home in your search! Had you priced it at an even $600,000, you would capture buyers from both the $500,000 - $600,000 AND the $600,000 - $700,000 ranges. Setting the price at $599,000, will cause you to lose an entire group of buyers for your home!"

pricing property as it should be priced!

They look at me for a minute and my analytical-minded clients have an ah-ha moment! Then, they competely agree with me!

Try it, it WORKS! I recently listed a townhome in a complex that had 23 townhomes on the market when we listed. We priced the property at an "even" price and we were under contract in 10 days--last one on the market, first one off! If you searched MLS for the even number, either way (least price or highest price) you would catch this listing! When you look at the others, every one of them were 'off-beat' numbers and were missed by 1/2 of their prospective buyers.

Stop pricing your homes as though they were sale-price clothing at the mall! Use those 'round' numbers and see how it works for you. You'll instantly expand your pool of buyers!

Your sellers will love you!

Search the MLS @ www.patricia4realestate.com

Contact Patricia @ (603)944-1465-Seacoast NH

_______________________________________________________________________________________

PATRICIA AULSON

Specializing in Seacoast NH & ME Homes for Sale

Please check me out on the internet at

www.Patricia4Realestate.com

Sold@Patricia4Realestate.com

"Experience isn't expensive...it's pricless!"

Search for Seacoast NH & ME Homes for Sale NOW

Posted by Patricia Aulson, REALTOR Portsmouth NH Homes-Hampton NH Homes on 10/14/2009 05:51 PM

Comments (32)

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32 Comments on Why Are You Pricing Your HOME Like Clothing at the Mall?-Seacoast Nh Homes-Portsmouth NH Homes-Hampton NH Homes-www.patricia4realestate.com

OCT

A great post to reblog... it is so crazy the way most agents price homes... I never did understand the logic. I guess I am not alone.

OCT

Hey Joan, Thanks so much for commenting on the blog today. I agree with you as well, I never did understand the logic!

take care,

Patricia

OCT

I just wish I could get one that was that close to a even number, I'm getting the ones that comp out at 187,000 and the sellers won't go down to the next even number for a least a month. I do like the ones that take my advice, because those are the homes that sell!

Todd Clark - www.LivingBeaverton.com

Hey Todd, good to hear from you today. Some people listen and others don't!

Patricia

Good point, but much of the research I read coming from NAR, CAR, and SDAR reminds us that when in the lower price ranges, i.e., under $500,000 here in San Diego, homes that are priced with a nine in them sell faster and for more money than those with lots of zeroes.

The last article I read, which was back in January or so, said that the best selling numbers would be $499,900, or $287,900. The reason is because of the way people pronounce numbers. $499,900 is typically pronounced "four ninety-nine nine," rarely, if ever, "four hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred dollars." $500,000 is almost always prounounced "five hundred thousand."

Being able to get them to not prounounce the "thousand" or the "hundred thousand" is part of the psychology of getting people to buy and is the theory behind The Power of Nine retail pricing.

OCT

Jim, I appreciate you information and the comment on the post today. Thanks for your time!

Patricia

OCT

Patricia, I think you make a very sound point. It makes so much more sense to set a price so that it has the largest chance of coming up in a search. As a buyer, a house that lists at 499,900 versus one that lists at 500,000? - in that price range, if a hundred dollars makes a such difference, then that purchaser has bigger problems than we can resolve!

Good point made in your above comment Renee about the $100 difference! I can't imagine anyone would lose a transaction over this amount but then....you never know!

Thanks for stopping by today to comment, It's appreciated.

OCT

Patricia I like the analogy, and I sure hope more agents with see how logical your reasoning is.

OCT

Patricia Pricing always was and always will be a "challenge" for realtors - good points

OCT

Thank you JEnnifer for stopping in to comment today. It's appreciated.

Thank you Karin for your comment.

Nice of you to stop by.

OCT

That's a tough one. When doing a search for buyers I always extend above and below their target price, just to make sure there aren't some good properties that might slip through the cracks. I think it's a psychological thing.... keeping it under say $1M by pricing it at $999,000.

OCT

It seems that there is reasoning on both sides.

You provided an example and examples speak loud and clear.

Good post.

Thanks!

Good point made Georgina.....Thanks for commenting today.

Thanks Judi....good to hear from you.

NOV

Patricia - I find most people look above their target price as well as below ... on one side looking for a bargain and on the other looking for one they can get cheaper than it is listed even numbers may work in some cases but in most cases the buyer looking for that $600,000 home will search a range above and below that ... not from it to it

NOV

Patricia,

I love your title..it really grabbed me...it is a strategy I will keep in mind...thanks!

Thank you for your comment Lori...I'm glad you liked it.

Patricia

NOV

Right on Patricia. On many occasions I will price a home right at the 500k, 600k or whatever price point and not do your typical $599,900. The logic makes perfect sense and I end up telling the client why because they wil always ask;)

Hello Bill, thanks for commenting today. It's always good to hear from you.

Patricia

NOV

Patricia ~ What a wonderful post. I love it. I also the the colors and layout. Great JOB!

Thanks for stopping by to read the blog today. Glad you enjoyed it.

Patricia

NOV

I've heard both sides of this argument, but it does seem to make sense to use an even number when possible!

NOV

Thanks for the comment

NOV

Interesting tactic, Patricia. I'll have to try it. Some time ago, I read an article about pricing properties using odd numbers, like $291,300. Just another philosophy, I guess. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!