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Mr. and Mrs. Seller: Are you considering home buyer incentives?

The following article is written with my local Macomb County Michigan real estate market area in mind. Your local real estate market may vary in its practice and pricing.

Mr. and Mrs. Home Seller: You've decided to put your home on the market for sale, and have interviewed several real estate agents to represent you. You have spent time going over the local real estate market conditions and by now are fully informed as to how your home compares to others that are not only on the market, but have recently sold. (By recently I refer to the last 90 days)

You now have an important decision to make. In fact, it's the most important decision in the home selling process that you'll make. Putting a price tag on your home. Before you come to that decision though you may be tempted to ask yourself and your agent one of the following questions:

Free boat with home!

Will it help if we offer the boat as an incentive to a buyer? (Free boat with purchase of this lakefront home!)

New car with home purchase!

How about offering a car to the new home buyer? (Buy this home and receive this sporty car for free!)

Mr. and Mrs. Seller: I can tell you from experience that the home buyers out there right now are concerned with one thing and one thing only when they are making a decision on which homes to view:

Price your home to sell in Macomb County Michigan

Home buyers look at the price first.

Always.

Before they drive by your home, before they read further on your listing informational sheet, before they call their agent and their mortgage lender they are looking at the price first.

Each and every home buyer that I have worked with this year has had pricing at the top of their needs & wants list. If you overprice your home by as little as 10% there is a good chance that your home won't even be considered as one of the homes that are viewed by a potential buyer.

Please think about what I just said: As little as 10% in overpricing your home could cause a buyer to not view your home at all.

Will buyer incentives be enough to make your home stand out from all of the rest of the homes on the real estate market? They might, but only if your home is priced correctly from the start. Offering boats and cars, or buyer closing cost assistance, or that wonderful big screen television may help your home stand out from all of the others on the market after you price it correctly.

Last year I wrote an article about pricing your home to sell in this challenging real estate market in Macomb County MI. The same facts still hold true one year later. If you are considering selling your home in Michigan please read the article and contact me if you have any questions or concerns. No pressure. Just a nice friendly chat.

© 2008 Kris Wales a Macomb County MI real estate agent - A partner for your real estate needs.

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Posted by Kris Wales - Macomb County MI real estate blog & homes for sale search site on 09/29/2008 04:47 AM

Comments (16)

Pricing Your Home for Sale in the Home Selling Channel

macomb county mi real estate, sell a home, pricing your home for sale

This post has been included in Michigan Information Macomb County, MI Information

16 Comments on Mr. and Mrs. Seller: Are you considering home buyer incentives?

SEP

2008

Kris, so-o-o-o-o true. People do look at price first then the rest of the property...

Bubba: Sounds like it is much the same in your neck of the woods (Tennessee)!

Price is the bottom line. Especially in light of all the troubled mortgages we have to deal with.

Scott: Price is the bottom line AND the first line. As you say, especially in light of all the foreclosures and available mortgage products. Thank you for commenting.

Kris these "extras" don't really add value to the property & won't be considered in an appraisal. However, remember we are selling life style and community not just the house.

Nannette: I put a disclaimer at the beginning of my post about "local market conditions". No, the extras don't add any value whatsover to the buyer or an appraisor. Community and lifestyles are different here. Unless you are in a boating community adding that as an incentive really doesn't work. All comes down to pricing first and foremost. Thanks Nannette.

You said it so well, I just emailed your post to one of my sellers! THANK YOU!

Caren: I hope it helps your sellers come to a good decision about pricing their home. Thank you for your kind comment.

I have tried to explain this to a seller recently. IF we don't get showings because your price it too high, We will NOT get any contracts to negotiate. The seller keep saying, I have to leave it a little too high so I can negotiate it down when I get an offer. Seller was definitely not listening to me, and 7 months later the house is still on the market, (with another agent as I terminated the listing). Too many dollars being spent with no chance of recovery, we had 7 showings in 4 months.

Thanks for your post Kris, this advice can't be said too often or in too many ways.

Gail: I cannot emphasize strongly enough how much correct pricing from the start can affect the outcome for a home seller. It sounds like your area is much the same as mine from a local pricing standpoint. You're welcome Gail, thank you for taking the time to comment.

I know we have touched on this point before but I totally agree that adding a car or boat as incentive makes no sense. People are looking at price and in fact the banks will not give value to these things...there is a reason for that... they depreciate...

your friend in Charlottesville!

Charles: I'll keep touching (and preaching) about this subject as long as the need is there for home sellers to be educated about this. As you said, not only won't the banks give value for these items (depreciatation) but what home buyer wants to mortgage a boat or a car with their home purchase? That is essentially what they will be doing.

Good points. It does come down to price. Incentives can be nice but if they don't look, why bother?

Gary: You gotta get them in the door first! Thank you for taking the time to comment.

I agree with this - same goes for Realtor incentives. They're nice and all, but it's not up to us which house the buyer picks out.

Suzanne: The incentives in my opinion only make a home stand out from the crowd once the buyer has picked it out for viewing. Picking it for viewing comes down to price. Thank you Suzanne.

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