Saturday, October 18, 2008

Do You Want to Sell Your Home? Price It Ahead of The Market!


With the 2008 Presidential Election and the holidays quickly approaching, the Columbia SC real estate market has plenty of homes for sale. As a matter of fact, current market conditions have motivated me to post a series of "Trouble Selling Your Home" articles on my blogs. Topics have included:



Unfortunately, one challenge of some current homeowners that hasn't been addressed at The Patterson Files is mindset. Why do I know this to be true? Just look at the questions that are posed by some homeowners. For example, one of my favorite real estate bloggers is Linsey Planeta from http://www.ocrealestatevoice.com/


I subscribe to her http://www.whydidntmyhomesell.com/ blog. When I opened my inbox on today, I received a copy of her most recent post entitled "The Biggest Mistake to Make in Pricing Your Home". This post was based upon the following question that was posed by a current homeowner:


"If you really want to move a house in today's market what is reasonable to ask over fair market value?" - Karen from Rockford

There are sellers that are still insistent on obtaining maximum (or above) price for their home.
Well, Karen from Rockford! I have some serious questions for you!


1. Do you NEED to sell your home in the next sixty (60) days? If YES, then here are some other questions that will go to the heart of your current situation.


2. Do you NEED to sell your home for the maximum price? or do you NEED to sell your home?


3. Do you NEED to sell your home for the maximum price under current market conditions.................... or do you NEED to sell PERIOD?

These seem like simple questions that border on the word DUPLICATION.

For those of you that are having trouble selling your home, I assure you! They are NOT!

They are not the same question unless your actions, motivation and mindset about selling your home are on one accord and are conducive to meeting your current real estate NEEDS.

Depending upon the Absorption Rate and popularity of your neighborhood, you might be disappointed by the maximum price that buyers are willing to pay for your home.


You must price your home ahead of the market!


What does that mean? If you don't price your home in a way that positions yours to be the next in line to sell, then you might be chasing the market instead of pricing the market in your favor for a quick sale.


Let me allow Joshua Hanoud with Tropic Shores Realty in Spring Hill, FL to explain the risk of not pricing ahead of the market.


"The risk that you take by pricing above market value is that the market throughout most of the country is still trending downward, and if you are not the next home to sell, yours will be worth less next month. Market value is market value. It's not set by you, your realtor, or anybody else other than the buyer who is willing to put cash down on the table and slide it all over your way in exchange for your keys."


I know you might not want to hear these statements. However, if you were sick, you'd want the doctor to tell you ASAP! Well......In my mind, it's no different with my real estate clients. Therefore, paraphrasing The Shawshank Redemption...


It's time to GET TO SELLING or GET TO STAYING! The choice is yours.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice article. I believe pricing is the #1 for home sellers. Many of my clients say "let put the price a but higher - maybe somebody gets caught. If not, we can lower it while negotiating." But you have to be very careful with this strategy. Home buyers are not stupid, especially in days of online listings, where they can compare prices of thousands another properties. And once you set your price too high, you are out of the game and it's very hard to get back!
Regards,
Elli

Anonymous said...

Hi David - You're 100% on target with this one - if a seller wants to sell a house - they absolutely MUST price it to sell!

One of my favorite little cliche's is as follows:

"The market is only slow if you're over priced"

Price your property well, and you will not only sell for more money NOW than you will later - but you'll save on holding costs including regular maintennance, interest on your mortgage, ulilities, etc.

Take care,

Josh