One of the most difficult parts of listing your home for sale is setting the List Price. Your expectations might be totally different than the current market conditions. This guide will hopefully make your pricing conversation with your agent go a lot smoother.
When your price objective is not met with YOUR REALTORS®, it doesn’t wave the red flag to move on to the next one. The sale price you are hoping for has to be based on the current market information. Your conversation is the opening dialogue that will shed light on your goals for pricing and proof provided by your agent that is closer to reality at what the home should be pried at.
Some of the questions you should be asking the agent are…..”Do you think the market is at its peak right now” or “For this time of the year, what is the advantage of listing my home for sale?” The REALTORS® will want to know this from you “What is motivating you to place your home on the market?” A lot of research will be done on the REALTORS® part. The price that you feel is appropriate is the base of the pricing plan. Remember the reality word from the last paragraph….it applies here too. Just because the neighbor down the street sold their home for X amount of dollars, most times doesn’t mean that’s what you will get. Your improvements loses value just like driving that new car off the dealership lot.
One of the biggest mistakes sellers do is to rely on Zestimates for their market sale price. In this article from THE BALANCE “Zillow never claims to be 100 percent accurate all the time or even 80 percent accurate most of the time in all areas.” Your REALTORS® is fully armed with current, reliable and accurate information. Your agent will show you the Market Value VS Market Price. Market Value is your list price. Market Price is what the buyer is willing to pay. You need to be somewhere within these numbers.
You need to expect your REALTORS® to come armed with FACTS. The sale price to list price ratio for proven sold prices in you direct market area to be exact. For example, your REALTORS® tells you “Today, sellers on an average are getting about 99.1% of their final list price.” What does this mean? Well, they are not getting 100% of their last list price. They didn’t even last long enough on the open list price, before cutting the price. What you should be asking is “How many price adjustments did it take to sale?” “Where did the sale prices start?” “Where did they end?” “How many days on the market did it take to sale?”
Finally, this is your home. This is your decision. Don’t make the mistake of setting the price of the home out of reality. Take all the information given to you by your realtor. Base the sale price on the proven research and facts. You are setting the initial market position for your home. It’s time to sit back and see how the market responds.
Pricing is a process to be sure. Your agent will market your home, the list price will position it in the market place. The market will or will not respond to the list price. The market (buyers) responds by the volume of showings. If within 2 weeks of going “Active” in the market place, there are no calls or showings, there is a pricing problem. Remember, the market (buyers) responds very quickly. It’s time to revisit the list price, goal and objective. You have to be laser focused to reach the finish line….SOLD!