Every month, a different topic is tackled.
This month, Doug Ottersberg traveled to the DC area to speak with us about mindset and priorities. For anyone, be they real estate investor, realtor, or simply a parent, life is always a balancing act. Doug was here to speak about defining visions & priorities and then the steps to accomplish those.
My 10 minutes of Market Update this month were focused on "How to Set Your Asking Price".
I could share the 12 slide presentation or I could simply cut to the chase and share the two main points.
One: There are 4 people who need to lock in and believe the asking price truly is the value.
a) the Seller
b) the Buyer's Agent
c) the Buyer
d) the Appraiser
Two: Asking Price Isn't Fully 100% Relevant
By that, I mean, if the home is worth $500k, and the asking price is $470k, it will sell for $500k within the first several days. Likewise, the same home, if the asking price is $530k, it will sell for $500k in the 3rd month or so. What we are defining then, if not the asking price as much as we are defining the length of time you will be on the market. Because ultimately, the market, the buyers and the offers will eventually truly have the seller understand the price. Whether that's the 1st weekend of the 14th weekend.
To this point, I show this graph of sales in the past year. Sold price compared to originial asking price.
Consistently....all year...homes sell for more than asking (I agree, Feb 2014 was rough). But these are averages, which would mean some homes sold for more than asking, and some for less, in those first 10 days of Feb 2014. Consistently, however, there were always homes that sold after being on the market for 3 months. Yes, overpricing hurts if you value time.
If you care to know more about what I discussed in the 10 minutes, reach out and I'll provide more info.
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