Pricing.......................

I was asked to do a CMA on a potential listing today, and I got thinking how I was going to price it.  There aren't a lot of really good comparable listings and sold houses in the area where the house is located.  I obviously can't price too high, or it will never sell.  This is getting to be a difficult task to do when there aren't a lot of good, recent sold comparables.  Even things that sold 3 or 4 months ago aren't viable comparables today. 

The other day Darcy was talking to a builder and he was telling her that they were bidding new construction around $75 a finished square foot.  That makes it very difficult to price an existing home where the seller wants to price it at over $100 per square foot.  Sellers are finding it difficult to understand that the market in our area, right now, has come to this.  Some of them still need or want to sell, and they need to realize what is going on with the competition, why would anyone buy an existing home for $25 or more per square foot more than they would pay to have a house built? 

That is the hard sell in our market, convincing sellers that the market has fallen to this price point.  I recognize that there are variables, location, great landscaping etc., will ad some value to the final asking price, but I really believe that we as Realtors are going to earn our money by correctly pricing homes for the next few months until the market turns (at least in our area).  Don't get me wrong, we would love to see the market turn next week!  Good luck and have a great week!