In my first blog on the "Most Common Mistakes Sellers Make When Selling Their Home", I talked about failing to properly showcase the home. Today we will address pricing and negotiations.
First, pricing the home correctly is critical. Many sellers want to list high and unfortunately for the sellers, they will hire 
a Realtor who will list their home at the highest price. Seller's should not pick a Realtor this way nor price their home this way either. Think about it. If a Realtor is caving and listing a home where a seller wants it (that is if it unreasonably high) and not where the market dictates, then how much backbone will they have when the time comes for negotiating with the buyers' agent. You want an agent that is experienced and has some backbone so that they can do the best job for you!
If you price your home too high what is going to happen is that the home is going to sit there. You may miss some ready, willing, and able buyers because they can only go so high and you have priced above their price point. The buyers that can go this high will also be looking at all your competition. Many of the homes that are your competition will be priced right. Your overpriced listing will only be helping these homes sell. Your home will sit longer, and longer "days on the market" tends to give a buyer the feeling that the home is prime for a low offer. When a home is priced right for the current market, and a buyer feels it is a good (or at least decent) price for the home, you will get offers quicker. This is key. And if it seems like a good price to one buyer, it may seem so to another buyer. If you happen to get more than one offer at the same time it will tend to make both buyers offer more on your home than they would have otherwise. It is always in your best interest to price right. 
Next, sellers can make the mistake of rejecting the first offer, or not being flexible enough with the first offer. Thinking that they will be able to get a better offer on the home if this buyer is not willing to give the seller exactly what they want. Not necessarily so. Many times when this happens the seller will lose this buyer, only to sell for less or make more concessions with the next offer. This was especially a problem in the downward market that we had been experiencing. Many sellers would list too high and not take reasonable offers and then when they would lower their price they wouldn't lower it enough to do any good and they only chased the market down and could have sold months prior for much higher than they ended up. Be sure to listen to your Realtor. They are the expert.
Which brings up one more point. Make sure you are hiring an expert. You may know a Realtor that just got their license, or a friend of a friend who is a Realtor. If they are not experienced you end up not having the representation that you need. Experience make a huge difference. Also, make sure that they have the proper tools to do a good job for you. Besides experience, ask what camera are they using to photograph your home? If it is their phone or some really cheap camera then they are not really set up to do the best they can for you. Great photos will get more people into the home. The more traffic in the home the better chance of getting an offer quicker and for more money. And when your Realtor comes to take the pictures make sure you have done your part in preparing your home (see part one for more on this subject). Also make sure that your Realtor uses the Internet to market your home. And definitely make sure to have good curb appeal. Many times if a buyer doesn't like the front of the home they won't even want to see the inside. Knowing what to do to present your home in it's best light is part of what we do for you!
If you are getting ready to sell in the Phoenix Metro Area, give us a call, we would love to help you sell your home.
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