PRICING YOUR HOME TO SELL NOW
A Homeowner's Guide to Selling a Home for the Most
Money Within the Shortest Time
By Bill Cherry, Realtor-Broker
My 43rd Year Selling Texas
972 380-7347
Selecting a Real Estate Agent
It is always important that you select the agent who will represent you based on his competence. Consider the number of years he has successfully earned his living as a full-time real estate salesperson; the breadth of service he will contractually provide you; his knowledge of your home, the surrounding market and his prior successes representing other sellers near you.
Never, ever base your choice of a real estate sales person solely on the price he suggests you use for the listing. In fact, I always recommend that a prospective client select the agent before there is a discussion of price.
Examining the Value
In the Dallas market, my market, I've noticed that very frequently as many as 50% of the homes put on the market don't sell within the listing period. Studying a representative number of those that failed to sell seems to show that the primary reason for the failure was that they were listed at an "out of reach price." If you overprice your home, the chances are that the listing on it will also expire with it unsold.
Homes that are currently For Sale are usually priced at the upper end of the price range. Those "asking prices" are all but meaningless to any reliable estimate as to what your house will sell for,
Remember, those prices have not been attained. Examine each of the listings to see how long they have been on the market. If it has been more than two months, the chances are they are priced too high.
So the actual sales are the most representative of what you should be able to attain in the market for your home. In a rising market, you may be able to capture a sale at a slightly higher price. However, most prospective buyers in the home marketplace today would not consider this a rising market.
When you choose me or any other professional, knowledgeable Realtor to represent you as the listing agent, we will provide you with a comprehensive Comparative Market Analysis (CAM) that will give you a list of verifiable recent sales of homes similar to yours in size, amenities, condition and location. And from the CAM, you should also be able to determine the trend of the current market, i.e., whether it is rising, falling or stable.
You will also need to examine and determine how much value, if any, the home's amenities add to the total value. Please remember, the contributing value of amenities is determined not by the amount of money you invested in them, but the actual usable value derived from them. For an example, a $500 bathroom lavatory facet set adds no more value to the house than a $100 one, since neither do any more than turn the water off and on.
Beware of Overpricing
Have you ever asked how long a house has been on the market? If you have, you're not alone. Most prospective buyers will ask the showing agent that very question, because the answer to the question is the primary consideration most prospects will use in determining whether or not they will even consider making an offer on the home.
No, We Don't Have Time
Many clients and, in fact, many real estate agents as well believe that it is OK to over-price a property, following the false wisdom that the price can always be lowered if it doesn't sell.
A home's greatest opportunity to sell and bring the highest price is just after it goes on the market. That is not speculation or an old wives tale, its empirical. Proper pricing brings a faster sale, is less inconvenient for the seller, brings in more prospects, yields more interest from other agents, and brings in the excitement energy from the market.
The homeowner's job is to spiff up the house so it shows well, and to keep it that way. The listing agent's job is to help the owner price the home correctly, and then to properly expose it to the market so that it'll sell quickly.
The homeowner and the listing broker have to work together as if they were a well-oiled machine. In reality, the two of them in tandem are the selling team.
*******************************
Questions to Help You Evaluate Your Listing Price
Am I picking my agent based on his experience and ability or because she's a social acquaintance.
Is the market in my neighborhood rising, falling, or unchanged?
How many homes near me are on the market now, and how does mine compare with that competition?
Is what I paid for my house influencing my asking price?
Will the listing price I'm picking allow me to stand firm?
Copyright 2007 - William S. Cherry, All rights reserved
Comments(4)