How do I price my home?

All the planning and expert analysis in the world can’t tell you how to price your property to get top dollar. Every seller dreams of selling in the first few days at a price beyond imagination. It’s your decision where you price your property to start. Armed with information in the Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) is a document prepared by real estate professionals to help buyers and sellers negotiate the price of a home by comparing it to recently sold homes in the same neighborhood…., you are the expert. Your experience in the house and neighborhood makes you more knowledgeable than any real estate professionalAn individual who provides services in buying and selling homes. The real estate professional is paid a flat fee or percentage of the home sale price by the seller. Unless you’ve specifically contracted with a buyer’s agent, the real estate professional represents the interest of the seller. Real estate professionals may be able to refer you to local lenders or…. Your personal needs decide how quickly you must get out of your property.  

The challenge is selling fast and high are two opposing variables. Most of the time a seller must sacrifice one variable to achieve the other. Price it low to sell fast, start high and wait. As a starting place, view the selling process as a reverse auction and let the market tell what it is worth. Keep in mind if financed, it must appraise at the contract price. A common strategy is to price your property at the high-end of the range. Then, bring the price down based on the interestThe cost you pay to borrow money. It is the payment you make to a lender for the money it has loaned to you. Interest is usually expressed as a percentage of the amount borrowed…. level (showings and feedback). If it is showing often and feedback is reasonable, it’s priced in the right range. How fast you bring your price down determines how fast you will sell your home. You don’t know when a buyer will show up for a particular price. The price must entice, the lower the price the more interested buyers. Price it too low and wonder if money is left on the table.

Keep in mind this strategy does not fit all situations. The higher the price risks more time on market, higher carrying costs, and other risks. There is a risk an appraisalA professional analysis used to estimate the value of the property. This includes examples of sales of similar properties…. can come in low. A buyer might terminate unless you accept a lower price. In most cases, a buyer can make up the difference, or part of the difference to negotiate a new price.  

Sellers often say “well, a buyer can always make an offerA formal bid from the home buyer to the home seller to purchase a home…..” The problem is buyers believe what you are asking for your home is what you want for it. If too high, buyers might not look at your home in the first place, let alone put in an offer. You have to entice with the price. If you need to, you can sell it for cash at 70% of value in 5 days, 100% of value could take 5 days or a year. Unlike a traditional agency, we do not need to convince you to price your home lower for a quick commissionThe fee charged for services performed, usually based on a percentage of the price of the items sold (such as the fee a real estate agent earns on the sale of a house). ….