Pricing a home to sell is the most important aspect of your listing. Listing at true market value fast tracks the selling process right out of the gate. Getting a great price for your house starts with pricing your home correctly, so that your listing gains traction with potential buyers who won’t be put off by an overinflated list price.
More importantly, however, overpricing your home carries the risk of completely backfiring — delaying or preventing the sale and resulting in costly price reductions down the road.
The single most important advice I give my clients is to price their home correctly at the time of listing. I can’t stress this enough! Here are a few of the top reasons why pricing a home to sell is so incredibly important.
Leverage all the ‘new listing’ interest you can get
Potential buyers need to be able to find your listing online. Most agents offer saved searches and automatic new listing alerts based on the buyer’s criteria, including price. If your listing is overpriced, it might not even show up within a potential buyer’s search results. No eyes on your listing means no sale.
Most real estate websites sort search results by new listings first, and inquiries and requests for showings are typically the most active in the first 14 days on market. Interest generally drops after the first 21 days or so.
If two weeks is all we’ve got to make a great first impression, why risk being overlooked by being overpriced?
Pricing a home to sell impacts the number of days on market
They say timing in life is everything and this is also true in real estate. You can’t afford to have potential buyers overlook your listing because your list price is out of line with market value. Risking a lengthy home selling process and turning off potential buyers can have unintended consequences and puts you at a major disadvantage from the start.
Each day your listing remains on market (above and beyond the average number of days on market) works against you, and puts you in a difficult negotiating position for the few offers that do come in. Research indicates you may actually end up making less money on the sale than you would have if you’d correctly priced your home to sell from the start.
Even if you are willing to reduce the price later on, you run the risk of it being too little, too late.
Ready to price your home to sell? With nearly 20 years of experience in Edmonton Real Estate, Wally has helped hundreds of clients navigate the real estate journey from start to finish. Call/text Wally at 780-238-7384 or request a consultation.
Attractive pricing may attract multiple offers
In a hot market, especially if inventory is low, a well-priced home could result in multiple offers and, in some cases, a bidding war that drives the selling price above the list price. Do you know which sellers never end up with a bidding war? The ones who overprice their homes!
And in the quieter selling season or in a cooler market, with fewer buyers in general, overpriced homes will sit on market even longer — typically until the price is reduced. In this scenario you’ve gained nothing in terms of your final selling price and may have discouraged earlier potential buyers in process.
People aren’t as interested in negotiating as you think
Some home sellers think that overpricing helps build in some wiggle room, anticipating buyers will want to negotiate the price down. Realistically, people these days are not that interested in negotiating. You’re taking an unnecessary risk by assuming potential buyers are ready and willing to barter back and forth until the price reaches fair market value. Overpricing your home so that there is room to negotiate is a risk that’s simply not worth taking.
It is far better to price your home appropriately and not negotiate, than list too high and expect to negotiate.
The bottom line is that even the people who are interested in your home are not going to actually overpay for your home. So save yourself the time and energy and price it right from the start!
If you have questions about how to calculate the list price for your home, Wally is here to help! Call/text at 780-238-7384 or search home listings in your community.