Before you even start the home-selling process, you need to consider what could be a make-or-break decision: what’s the right price?
You can narrow down a few numbers from the get-go—it’s not often that “gut-instinct” number that jumps into your head the moment you decide to sell. Don’t be unrealistic, either, by choosing a price that you know is more suited for fantasy than reality, and avoid “testing the market”—that is, trying to ensure demand hasn’t gone up and pricing too high. Your buyers have probably done their research, after all.
Setting the right price isn’t as hard as it seems, but it’s important to remember a few key factors along the way.
GET BUYERS TO YOUR DOOR
You won’t get much business if you’re not attracting potential buyers right to your door—something that not only includes primping and sprucing up your home, but making it work buyers’ time. If you test the market and set an unreasonably high price, most prospects will soon move on and settle for a comparable home with a more attractive price tag .Setting a home’s price doesn’t take place in a vacuum: first come the buyers you need to attract. Pricing your home higher than the average will also put you out of touch with agents who will have a hard time selling the deal to buyers.
WHY HELP THE COMPETITION?
Not only does testing the market and bumping up your asking price hurt your chances of selling your home now—it will make it that much harder to do in the future. If your home and a neighbor’s are similar in age, style and square footage, but theirs is better priced, your home loses the edge it might have had.
A REALISTIC APPRAISAL
If you get a buyer in the door, they’re going to get a mortgage lender’s appraisal. If the appraisal turns out lower than what you’re asking, the loan could be denied and you can sour the buyer-seller relationship. Don’t underestimate home shoppers—they know what they want and what they’re willing to pay, so anything much higher than this is risky business.
MONEY TALKS
Attracting an undereducated, possibly first-time home buyer by pricing your home higher than average won’t get many through the door. (It only takes a look around the neighborhood and nearby asking prices to realize what really counts as a “deal.”) Plus, quickly changing your asking price, even if you’re lowering it, gives off an air of desperation or haste, which you don’t want advertised during a sale.
If you are actively debating how to make the best of this spring’s selling season in Lake County, give me a call. Together we can map out a strategy that works!
Loretta Maimone
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