When you’re the seller, of course you want the best price possible for your home, but over-pricing your home is actually counter-productive! In order to get the best price on your home, it is extremely important for you to list at the fair market value. Research suggests that a home that is over-priced will more than likely end up being sold under the fair market value! Here are a few reasons why you want your house priced right at the very beginning:
More Buyers Available
When you think of selling a home, you may think that $10,000 dollars seems menial and that that wouldn’t scare away buyers. That is definitely the wrong way to look at it. Let’s say your house’s fair market value is $300,000 and you think that there should be no harm in listing at $310,000 so that’s what you do. Well all of my buyers get e-mails when a new house is listed in their price range and all of my buyers who have their max set at $300,000 are not even going to know your house exists even though the fair market value is in their price range.
Higher Chance of Selling Above the List Price
Generally buyers and their agents are smarter than the seller would like to think. So when a house is priced right, they’re going to know! And because you listed right the first time, you have more buyers interested like we stated above. We see this happen in a low inventory market like we’re in now where multiple buyers end up putting offers in above the listing price. Buyers in this market are tired of missing out on homes that are listed at the right price!
Higher Chance of Selling Quickly
It doesn’t take rocket science to know that over-pricing a home will likely lead to staying on the market longer. Time and time again, research shows that the longer a house is on the market, the lower the final price will be. So you want to sell it quickly. In order for a house to sell quickly, it needs to be priced right. This does not, however, mean that you should under-price your home unless you have a logical reason for it. I tell my clients frequently, if you end up with two mortgages because you priced too high, then you’re throwing money down the drain. Or you could end up sitting on your home trying to sell it and in the interim miss out on your dream home. If you have a $1700/month mortgage and you end up sitting on your home because you wanted $5,000 more than what you should have listed and it causes you to spend 4 more months trying to sell your home, then you just spent $6,800 (yes some went to principal, but the point remains) trying to make $5,000.
Do yourself a huge favor and call a qualified agent today and have them help you price it right. If they’re good at what they do, you can trust that they’ll give you good advice. Ultimately, the decision is yours, but lean on the advice of the professional!
Check out the Quick Guide to Selling Your Home Fast for more helpful tips!
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