Pricing Your Home Correctly

Seattle homes are selling very quickly.  There is a pent up demand for homes in every price range.  However, buyers are not going to be suckered into purchasing an overpriced property.  What's more, buyers have become savvy shoppers and negotiators.  It's more important than ever to price your home at or slightly below market value.  This flies in the face of every seller's desire to overprice their home.  After all, you can always come down, right?  Wrong!

Studies have shown that sellers who begin their listing with a price over market value sell for less.  Here's how it works.  For the first couple weeks in the life of a listing, all buyers in that price range will want to see your home.  If it's priced fairly, you'll get an offer.  If it's priced below market, you'll get multiple offers.  This often creates a crazy bidding war that results in a much, much higher price because of the emotion and competitiveness involved. 

However, if your home is overpriced, your home is not shown by agents.  If they do show your home, they use it as a negative example to sell someone else's home whose price is at or below market.  Offers rarely come in.  Your home sits on the market.  After a few weeks, you reduce the price but it's too late.  Only agents representing newcomers to the market see your listing.  They see the date it was listed and wonder what's wrong with it.  Again, there are few showings.  When you finally do get an offer, it's usually below your reduced price. 

The choice is yours.  You can price your home correctly from the beginning, get more money and have fewer selling hassles.  Or you can overprice, sell for less and have your home on the market for weeks. 

One final thought.  It's not just the money.  When you sell your home, you give up your privacy.  The phone rings all the time, you leave when agents want to show, and you have to keep your home in showing condition 24/7.  How long do you want to live like that?  Also, you're selling for a reason, right?  You're moving to a new job or another new situation?  No one likes being stuck.  An extended sale puts your life on hold. 

Don't suffer needlessly.  Get more money and a faster sale.  Pricing your home correctly is the smart decision.