What You Need to Know About Choosing an Asking Price
The one factor that can help you sell your house fast, or stand in the way of you selling, is the asking price. Any house will sell quickly if priced right. And even the nicest house in the best neighborhood will not sell if it is priced too high. The trick is finding the sweet spot and pricing your house right from the very start.
The danger of overpricing your asking price
There is a theory among homebuyers that if you price your house higher than what you really want for it, you will still be able to walk away with what you want after the buyer negotiates for a lower price. This may make sense in theory, but it does not work.
If you price your home high, you may have it priced outside of the range that serious buyers are going to be looking. Meaning your house will sit on the market with little activity. Once your home has been on the market for over a month, buyers start to wonder why it hasn’t been purchased already. The longer the house is on the market, the more suspicious buyers become.
Buyers are also not willing to pay for the work that you completed on your house. That means when you decide on what price to sell your house for, you can’t just add in the amount of investments that you made to the price that you purchased the house for. Buyers don’t care how much extra you spent to put in the highest level kitchen cabinets.
How to get it sold
Buyers are informed about the current market conditions. When you want to price your house right, you are going to need to look at comparable properties that have sold recently in your area. This will tell you what buyers are willing to pay and what houses are being appraised for.
Talk to multiple real estate agents before choosing the one that you are going to use. By doing this, you will be able to get the price recommendations from several agents. Once you choose your agent, price the house on the lower end of the range that they provide to you. This will create a lot of interest among potential buyers. Sometimes pricing low helps you sell high if there is a bidding war that starts.
Before you put your house on the market, take time to see what buyers are seeing when they look at your house. What areas stick out that you need to fix or upgrade? What changes could you make in order to get your house ready for a buyer. Most buyers are looking for houses that are in move-in ready condition. When a buyer sees a house that is outdated, they are going to factor that into the price they are willing to pay for the house.
Once your house is on the market, do not wait too long to adjust the price if you need to. If your house is not getting a lot of activity it is most likely priced too high. Lower the price before it’s been sitting on the market for months so you can keep interest in the house going.