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 REALTORŪ 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
me today and I'll 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.
Also 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 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.
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