Avoid the most common mistake that novice home sellers make.
They don't check comparable sales and just put the home on the
market. It sounds to simple to be true. But, it happens all the time.
At other times, they do not check the highest and best value of
the property and sell a prime development property for pennies on the dollar.
One savvy investor bought a prime development property for about
$275,000 and re-sold it for over a Million Dollars! The sellers made the
mistake of selling their property without checking out all their options.
Understand how different market settings affect how you should
price your home.
First, you need to
determine whether or not you are in a Buyer or Seller’s Market.
While you’re
scouting out other homes for sale in your area, you should also pay attention
to how long they’ve been on the market.
Places like Zillow
and Realtor.com often have a little section under each home that tells how long
it has been up for sale in their systems, although not necessarily how long
they’ve been on the market.
If homes in your
neighborhood are getting snatched up right and left, you stand a good chance of
the same happening for you permitted that your home is priced right.
This would be
referred to as a seller’s market, and you could get more profit from your
home’s sale.
On the other hand,
if the ‘Home for Sale’ signs in your area seem to be growing roots and taking
up permanent residence, then you are probably in a buyer's market.
How to price your home in a seller's market.
Sold homes don't
matter that much. You should price your home to be competitive with the other
homes on the market.
But, you don't have to match the price of what homes have
sold for.
For example, we
recently sold a home that we thought was about $100,000 overpriced. Comparable
homes were selling for about $525,000 to $550,000. But, home prices in the area
were increasing rapidly.
There was nothing similar available for less than $650,000. The
seller owed $650,000 and so we priced the property at $699,900. And guess what?
It sold 3 months later for $674,000.