Selling a Home: A Seller's Strategic Check List.
Part One. How to Price your Property for Sale.
We are going to assume that no one really wants to sell their property for less than it is actually worth. Many sellers over compensate for this fact by listing their property at an unrealistic high price. Sellers must know the Fair Market Value of their property prior to listing the property for sale. Remember your property is a Product. Dependent on many factors including region and price range your Product is competing with several to hundreds of similar products. Today, correctly priced property in the Silicon Valley in California, (our market) is selling within 10 days, receives multiple offers and some sell at a premium. The rest sit. On average over priced properties actually end up selling at 5 to 10 percent less than properties priced at Fair Market Value. Translation: price your home right, get more cash.
How then do we derive a Fair Market Value for your property? First we develop a list of Comparative Properties. We find the 6 to 8 properties that most closely resemble your own and we do this in several categories: properties currently listed for sale, properties most recently sold, neighborhood, size of structure, lot size, and amenities, current and historical trends. We attend any current open houses in the neighborhood your property is located. We personally view and analyze each comparable property to make certain it is comparable and that we know why it is comparable. It is also important to look at recent comparable property listings that have failed (expired, canceled & withdrawn). Failed listings tell a cautionary tale about what not to do when listing property.
A close analysis of the compiled data will reveal a fairly narrow price range. This price range contains your properties Fair Market Value. Research of this depth may not be common practice in the Real Estate Industry today. However we consider it best practices. We offer this service to all our customers.
Pricing is at the top of our Seller's Strategic Check List. Get it right before listing your property and you can reasonably expect a quick, clean, profitable sale. Over price it and expect a long expensive wait ending in a discounted sale.
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