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I Want to Sell My Home; How should I price it?

If you are considering selling your home, I would welcome the opportunity to help you price it to sell quickly, to qualified buyers, and at the high end of the market range.

Currently, the real estate market is strongly in favor of sellers. Homes that are for sale often have multiple offers, many sell above the list price, and without contingencies. Nonetheless, as always, correct home pricing is critical!

Some price their home based upon “how much they need out of the sale"; or what they want; or what they paid for the home; or what they owe on it; or what rumors they hear about pricing.


A home should be priced to sell based upon the market conditions and the market competition.


Even though every home, every location is unique, an experienced, reputable real estate professional will be able guide you through the process to price your home correctly. The location is all-important. The condition is critical. The size, the number of bedrooms, the bathrooms, etc., are all key in the valuation process. As they say, the devil is in the details. Your professional broker should review all the homes for sale that you'll be competing with as well as studying what homes in your area have recently sold for.


Beware of these mistakes:


Some believe they need a big cushion in their price so they will "have room to negotiate." If the home is priced too high, all that is accomplished is helping sell the competition.


Some price their home high hoping: "Some naive buyer from Silicon Valley with a lot of money in his pocket will come to town and pay cash." Cash-rich buyers will be sophisticated enough to research values. They will almost be certain to be working with a real estate agent and most likely will finance their purchase. The mortgage company will require an appraisal, and a home that's priced out of the market won't appraise.

Some price their house high just to be on the safe side; they don’t want to accidently under price the home. They believe they can always reduce the listing price. As it takes time for them to accept price reality, the listing will become "tired and worn" to the real estate community. The best time to sell a house is when the listing is new and exciting.

Another strategy for some home sellers is to bring in two, three, or more real estate brokers and then list with the one that "quotes" the highest price. A real estate broker using this strategy is not doing the home seller any favors. Their advice is helping sell the competition while the homeowner's listing grows stale.


You should list with the real estate broker that does the best job reviewing the for sale and sold properties with you and does the best job calculating the pricing to list and sell your home against the competition. The broker you select should have a carefully crafted, comprehensive marketing program designed to give your property the broadest possible exposure to the optimum demographic in our market.



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