Two Items To Remember When Pricing A Home For Sale

It's interesting to see sometimes how sellers determine the price or market value when preparing their home for sale.  This really came to light recently as we were negotiating an offer to purchase. 

When we originally viewed the home we noticed a For Sale By Owner sign in the garage.  Of course that made me curious so I went to the internet and sure enough I found the home, and it was listed for $10k less than it was currently listed for.  As we did our due diligence on the property we determined that the price it was listed for on the internet was more in line with the market.  We made our offer to purchase just a little below the FSBO price and provided information on how we arrived at the price including what we found during our internet search.

The counteroffer came.....at full price.  Within the counteroffer was a list of the whys.  One of the why's was that they had to sell at a higher price to cover the real estate commissions.

So here are the two items to remember when pricing a home for sale:

1).  How much you have to pay in real estate commissions has nothing to do with the market value of your home.

2).  At the end of the day it's not the seller's money that pays the commissions, it's the buyer's money.

As a Buyer’s Agent it was my duty to educate my clients on these two items as well as the many other tangible and intangible items that go into market value of a home, and these clients were great students. Our sellers couldn't come to grips with this reality so we walked away.

There’s a lot on a sellers mind when their home is on the market, but if you remember these two items when pricing your home for sale your stress level will be less and your transaction will go smoother.