Pricing homes incorrectly is a pitfall that many sellers and real estate agents fall into. It’s not a one-sided decision, so when a real estate agent and seller come together to decide on a price, there’s double the number of considerations you need to account for. Read on below to learn 6 ways that you can be successful in pricing a home to sell!
Price your home just right
This sounds simple but pricing your home not too high, not too low, but just right, can be a grueling process. Pricing a home correctly reflects the value that you’ve worked hard to establish over the years. But when you find the right price, your sale price has room to grow. Homes.com notes that this past January over half of all buyers (56%), faced bidding wars because their homes started off being listed at a reasonable price. Many sellers may think higher listing prices will result in more sales, but many buyers may overlook those homes from the start if it’s outside of their price range. On the contrary, if you list a home below its market value, you may not end up getting all the money that your home is worth. Family Handyman suggests employing the “99” strategy. With this, you would price a home at $499,000, instead of $500,000 to deploy a psychology strategy. With this, you are also ensuring that your listing is visible to prospective buyers whose search parameters are set up to $500,000.
Consider comparable homes
When it comes to pricing a home to sell, you’ll want to look at comparable sales of homes that are like your listing. This includes homes that are similar in size (not just number of bedrooms and bathrooms, but also square footage), location, and features. Nerdwallet suggests compiling a comprehensive report called a comparative market analysis that can help you determine a realistic listing price. Based on this, you can get a sense of if you should price your home similarly, or if you should price it higher.
Fight the urge to overvalue your home’s upgrades
While many of us enjoy sitting on the couch watching HGTV, not all home renovations have a high return on investment, even if you’ve put a lot of money and labor into these renovations. According to HomeLight, Remodeling Magazine reported that the average return on investment for 20 professional remodeling projects in 100 major U.S. markets, was only 63.8%. What many sellers find is that to break even on their investments, they would have to price their home much higher, which isn’t always realistic. Considering every dollar and every hour you spent on a project is a timely process, and it’s a process that takes time away from when your home actively being on the market!
Leave your emotions out of your decision making
It’s hard to not feel emotional when you price a home because your home is full of memories and you have special ties to it. Instead of emotions, rely on market research because a potential buyer won’t have those same memories and won’t be considering what you paid for the property and/or the sweat and labor you put into home projects. The same stands true for when you receive offers. It’s easy to want to wait until you find the perfect offer, but if you wait around forever, you’ll always find something wrong and never sell.
Don’t rely on the internet
The internet offers many helpful tools, one of which is a self-described price calculator to tell you what your home is worth and should be listed for. It seems quick and easy, but you’ll want to take that information at face value. Be sure to also look at other factors like comparable homes, proximity to power lines, noise levels, the neighborhood, and more to determine the most appropriate listing price.
Change your offer as needed
You may have a mindset that altering a listing price is a negative thing, but it’s not. When you reduce a price, you’re getting buyer attention because a new alert will be there, and your listing may now be visible to a new group of potential buyers. Beyond the price, you can alter the text in your listing, offer more open houses or 3D tours, or look at any other changes you can potentially make.
When it comes to pricing a home to sell, Lantern Real Estate Group can help you make sure you are pricing your home competitively. Our team has years of combined experience and we will answer all your pricing questions from start to finish.
If you’re ready to get started on listing your property, visit Lantern Real Estate Group to chat with us today!
