"I Wanna List My Home For What He's Listed At!"

Homes don't go for list prices. They go for recently sold prices.

Home sellers list their homes at different prices for all different reasons. I've met sellers who intentionally listed their home at a very high price in hopes somebody would come along and pay cash and not realize they were doing so. The seller wasn't "serious" about selling. So they over listed.  If they don't sell, they don't care.

There are sellers who over list their home because they are going through a divorce. Spiteful people do spiteful things, especially when they are at war with their soon to be Ex. A wife may want to under sale her home so she can pay her husband less. And a husband may over list in hopes to financially starve out his wife. Then there's the spouses who would rather just light a match with the other one in it.

Sometimes sellers raise their list price for no reason while their home is on the market. They think this sudden increase will capture a new area of buyers. It's like not like not liking the food at a local restaurant but coming back with sunglasses on assuming this will somehow change your experience for the better.

List prices don't generally set value. They do not add value and they do not set a value benchmark in your neighborhood. You can position your home on the mls around list prices, but you should rely more on what homes have "sold for."

I once had a neighbor list his home for 20% above comparable sales. He didn't care about appraisals as he was sure somebody would come along and "write a check." The home never sold.

You can't look at area new construction either. I've dealt with  many home sellers who look at their same builder/floor-plan and assume their home has to be worth somewhere close to what the THEY have their homes listed for. New homes get more money because first time buyers and barely qualified buyers are more apt to make an impulsive decision. Builders routinely over list their homes by 10-30%. They do this so they can have room to negotiate. These built in incentives are usually a trip down the primrose path.

Resale to Resale. Sold to sold. That's the best way to determine value. Other factors like lot location, floor-plan, improvements, neighborhood trends and quality of schools are all "value boosters."

To find the "sweet spot" you need do nothing more than be realistic and open-minded when it comes to finding a good strategic "list price."