In setting the list price for your home, you should
be aware of a buyer’s frame of mind. Based on a list of houses
for sale in your neighborhood (which can be in the form of a printed
list from us, or online search results that you’ve found yourself),
buyers will determine which houses they want to view. Consider the
following pricing factors:
* If you set the price too high, your house won’t
be picked for viewing, even though it may be much nicer than others
in the area.
* You may have told your REALTOR® to "Bring me any offer.
Frankly, I’d take less." But in that list of houses,
yours simply looks too expensive to be considered. If you price
too low, you'll short-change yourself.
Your house will sell promptly, yes, but before it has time to find
the buyer who would have paid more.
NOTE: Never say "asking" price, which
implies you don't expect to get it.
To determine
the proper list price, contact a REALTOR® and have them provide
you with the following professional services:
* Furnishing comparable sales.
* Analyzing market conditions.
* Helping to determine offering incentives.
* Estimating your net proceeds.
Using
Comparable Sales
No matter how attractive and polished your house,
buyers will be comparing its price with everything else on the market.
Your best guide is a record of what the buying public has been willing
to pay in the past few months for property in your neighborhood
like yours.
We can furnish data on sale figures for those "comps",
and analyze them for a suggested listing price. The decision about
how much to ask, though, is always yours. The list of comparable
sales we bring to you, along with data about other houses in your
neighborhood presently on the market, is used for a "Comparative
Market Analysis (CMA)." To help in estimating a possible sale
price for your house, the analysis will also include data on nearby
houses that failed to sell in the past few months, along with their
list prices.
This CMA differs from a formal appraisal in several
ways. One major difference is that an appraisal will be based only
on past sales. In addition, an appraisal is done for a fee while
the CMA is provided by us and may include properties currently listed
for sale and those currently pending sale.
In the normal home sale, a CMA is probably enough
to let you set a proper price. A formal written appraisal (which
may cost a few hundred dollars) can be useful if you have unique
property, if there hasn't been much activity in your area recently,
if co-owners disagree about price, and any other circumstance that
makes it difficult to put a value on your home.
NOTE:
If you do order a market value appraisal, make it clear you don't
need an elaborate, or full narrative report--the kind that's complete
with photos of the house and neighborhood, a map specifying the
site, and floor plans is sufficient.
Return
to Selling a Home
