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Pricing Right is the Key to Selling Your Property

When you decide to sell your property, you want the highest possible return from its sale. Determining price is the most critical step in preparing your home for sale. Identifying the best price for your home depends on current market conditions, which includes information about

1. homes that have sold recently (the successes);
2. those homes that are currently on the market (your competition); and,
3. those homes similar to yours that have not sold (the homes rejected by buyers who are looking to purchase a home. This is where a carefully conducted Comparative Market Analysis comes in. This analysis will include information about each of the above categories of homes. The facts of the market at the time you want to sell will tell you where your home should be priced. This price will not depend on what you paid, what you need to net, what you want to net, what your neighbor says you should get, what a colleague at work says you should get, or what it might cost to rebuild your home after a catastrophic event.

Obviously, pricing your property too low will not provide the best return. Likewise, pricing a property too high usually hurts your bottom line. Here’s why: homes priced too high miss their target market. Qualified buyers who might find the property is just right for their needs won’t see your home because it’s out of their price range. When buyers see an overpriced property in its early marketing stages and do not buy because it isn’t a good value, they rarely come back after the price has been reduced.

You have only one opportunity to make a good impression. Overpriced properties are often “used” to sell other homes that are more appropriately priced. “If you like this one, I know of a similar one for less…” And, real estate agents are hesitant to show an overpriced property unless it will make a competing property look like a better value—one for which the buyer may want to write an offer. If your home is appropriately priced right from the start, you maximize your opportunity to reach the most qualified buyers.

Statistics show that the longer a property is on the market, the lower its selling price will be in relation to the asking price. Pricing right from the time the property first goes on the market is critical to your bottom line. Buyers who have seen most available homes in their price range will wait for the right property to come onto the market. That’s why well priced real estate sells quickly.

Pricing high at the start in order to "come down" later denies you first, best access to the buyers who might otherwise see your home. And, any reputable realtor will tell you that "a home that is not seen will not sell." Reducing an asking price some time after the advertising process begins rarely makes a buyer think there is a bargain to be had. Rather, her or his first question after noting that the price has been reduced is, "What is the problem with the home?" or "Why hasn't it already sold?"

Pricing strategy depends on the market conditions at the time your home goes on the market. The best price can be determined most easily by a Keller Williams professional like me who is active in the market, who constantly previews properties, and who daily monitors changing market conditions. I will be happy to help you determine the right price for your property, in order to sell your home in the least amount of time for the highest return!

Nothing is nicer than replacing a “For Sale” sign with one that reads “SOLD!”

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