How to price your home correctly in today’s market
There are many factors that come into play when you are trying to sell your home, but the bottom line is price. Here are some tips on how to price your home as you prepare to put it on the market.
Since houses aren’t selling like they used to, it’s obvious that the market has changed, so what’s the most important thing people need to consider right now?
I’ve worked in real estate for over 24 years and I love what I do, but my biggest challenge is still walking into someone’s home and telling them that their home may not be worth what they expected or hoped it would be worth. In some cases, if you just bought your home, it may not even be worth as much as it was paid for a few years ago. So my number one challenge is to make people come true, to get people to understand that price is the most crucial part; yes, it is a beauty contest, but mainly it is a price war; we have to put a correct price on it.
Homeowners should also assess their thinking before starting the process of selling their home.
What I mean when I say mindset is: “Do I really want to sell? Do I have to sell? Am I willing to pay the asking price in today’s economy?” If you are thinking of selling your home, you should ask yourself these questions because if you are not really ready, you may want to consider other options, such as renting your home instead, or perhaps a lease purchase, or delaying it for a few years until market turns around. But don’t venture there and just experiment; it’s no fun having your house on the market right now. The market is very, very competitive.
People must also take into account some external factors; not just what works for them right now.
We all make plans with our imaginary equity; I did the same. I sold my house not long ago and I thought I had an “x” number of equity in my property and when I closed, it turned out that I had about two-thirds of what I thought I had. We make plans with capital that we do not have. The market doesn’t care about our plans, unfortunately I’m sorry but they don’t care so always keep that in mind.
Everyone is looking for a deal, so you should take advantage of it right now.
It is a price war, but it is a beauty contest. The part of the price war is that it has to have great value. It has to be a wonderful value because we compete with distressed properties, we compete with foreclosures, and we compete with houses that people have left. One of the ways you can compete is to find an agent who will forfeit their share of the full listing commission. This type of arrangement will lower the cost of selling your home so that, in turn, you can lower the sale price of the home. A lower sale price will bring more traffic through the front door because it looks like a better value from the outside. This type of program is working very well for many people.
How can anyone find out what the approximate value of their home is right now?