Real Estate Article:  Proper Pricing of Your Home

When pricing your home for sale, proper initial pricing is very important.  We will show you a “Right Price Analysis” on your home and we will talk about the current real estate market conditions.  But you may not agree.  

Perhaps you are thinking…  

“I need to leave plenty of room for negotiation.”  Although low offers do occur (at whatever price you are listed at), the prospective buyers are usually just trying to find your “bottom dollar”.  All you need to do is counter-offer with your “bottom dollar” even if it’s not too far below your list price.  

“I can always come down.”  Often when a seller starts out high, they end up selling the home at a much lower price than they would have sold it for if it had been priced right initially.  And it takes longer!  

“We’ve been getting showings.”  When buyers look at a listing that is priced too high, they compare it against homes that are priced right and usually go for the lower priced home.  

“What about all our improvements.” I’m sure you’ve seen all the articles on how much various home improvements add to the value of your home.  That’s at best!  Adding the cost of all the improvements to your home can often take the price way over market value for your area.  Even if you get an  accepted contract, the home might not appraise if the sales in the area don’t support that price.  

“I’m negotiable, they can always make an offer.”  Buyers know “everything is negotiable”, but will only look in the price range where a lender says they are qualified.  Although they will look a little higher if nothing is available, there are usually a lot of homes on the market at any given time.  In general, the higher the price, the fewer potential buyers there are.  

“Can’t we try it for a few weeks.”  Sure, but you might miss potential prospects.  Real Estate Professionals and buyers will notice your home in the MLS and think “Boy, that one’s overpriced.”  They’ll keep that opinion for the life of the listing - even after you lower the price.  Those few weeks can be fatal!  

According to real estate expert Brad Inman on CNN's Open House, in a slow real estate market you need to not only make sure your home is priced right, you need to make sure it is in top showing condition and that is marketed aggressively on the internet.  For more seller help, see our seller main page and seller articles page...as well as our page with links to area real estate market conditions.

Linda Grissette, GRI, e-PRO Certified

Licensed in the state of Missouri.

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