How Do I Go About Pricing My Home?

Contrary to popular belief, you're the one who determines the price to ask for your home. While a real estate broker provides help and guidance in pricing, the ultimate decision is yours. Proper pricing is the most critical aspect of marketing. While you definitely want to get the highest price possible for your property, you must avoid setting an asking price that's too high. In reality, pricing a home too high ultimately results in a lower sales price, if indeed the property sells at all.

Pricing Strategy

Overpricing your home to "allow buyers to make an offer" may mean that buyers qualified to buy at your home's lower true market value may never see it. Even worse, pricing your home too high can backfire by making your competition look good. In other words, you'll be attracting potential buyers who'll compare your home to properly-priced homes in the range of your asking price and choose the competition over yours. The strategy for obtaining the highest price for your property lies in establishing an asking price that's as close as possible to its fair market value - the price a ready, willing and able buyer is likely to pay for your property. The starting point for ascertaining this figure is to perform an objective analysis of other recent sales in the area. Unless you're in a development that has identically-sized homes (a planned development or townhouse/condo complex), the challenge is to find recently-sold homes that are similar to yours in size, age and amenities. Using these comparable sales, I'll help you perform the same types of valuation adjustments that an appraiser will perform once we're in escrow. (Remember, even buyers who can afford to pay cash for a home normally obtain a mortgage loan for tax reasons - and their lender will send an appraiser to confirm that the sales price does not exceed the market value). Click here to request comparable sales. Beginning with such basics as square footage, number of bedrooms and baths, and usable lot size, appraisers adjust up or down for location, condition, and amenities such as central air, pool, den or family room, remodeled kitchen and/or baths, view, etc. in comparison to the comparable sales. Proper pricing of your home must also take into account your home's market appeal factors, however. Because emotional reaction to a home is the greatest single motivator for a buyer beyond basic housing needs, the more effort you put into enhancing your home's emotional appeal, the higher the price you'll get. Return to "Selling Your Home" Page,