Week of October 22nd, 2007
The Secret to Pricing Your Home to Sell
When you are selling your home, its value is determined by one thing only—what a qualified buyer is willing to pay for it. No more and no less. A home without a buyer has no value in the market place. It might have a great value to you, your banker, your insurance agent and your appraiser. But none of these people are buyers.
So here is the secret to pricing your home to sell—it’s not what you think the home is worth that really matters, but it’s what a reasonable buyer will think your home is worth that will ultimately determine:
● if your home will sell at all
● how fast it will sell
● how much it will sell for
Many sellers believe that they can hold out for an inflated price and the market will come to them. This is often a mistake because buyers are under no obligation to buy any particular home—and no amount of advertising, flyers, open houses, websites, signage or other marketing will motivate a buyer to purchase an overpriced home. Why? Because they can always buy one of your neighbor’s homes for less!
So, what is more important—price or time? The answer is unique to every situation and controls every seller’s decision to sell and every buyer’s need to purchase. Sellers either need to sell within a certain amount of time or can hold out for the best possible price. Buyers either need to buy within a certain amount of time or can wait to purchase a home for the lowest possible price.
A seller who would like to sell for top dollar should be prepared to potentially wait longer for a buyer willing to pay a premium price. On the other hand, a seller who needs to sell quickly should expect to discount their price somewhat because of the limited time they have to leave their home on the market.
Successful sellers take ownership of their pricing by making a clear decision about which is more important to them—selling quickly or getting the highest possible price. When selling your home, ask yourself what is your highest priority—price or time?