Thinking about Starting Off With a High Sales Price?

So you’ve decided to sell your home and have a fairly good idea of what you think it is worth. Call Doug so that he can  prepare  a "Competitive Market Analysis"  and   recommend an asking and selling sales price. 

The market will tell the story with "sold's" and "actives" so you should look closely at that  information.  Some agents will try to "buy" the listing from you.......telling you a higher list price to get you to list with them, only to ask for price reductions later.  Beware of this pitfall. An experienced agent will present reasons for values.

Doug Burley, based on experience and track record.

Whichever the case, if you start out with too high a price on your home, you may have just added to your stress level, and selling a home is stressful enough. There is always lot of "behind the scenes" action taking place that you may not know about.

The agent goes to work marketing and promoting your home to any qualified buyers and agents in the area. Some of the promoting was described when you first met with the agent.

If you and your agent have overpriced, fewer agents will preview your home. After all, they are Realtors, and it is their job to know local market conditions and home values.

If your house is dramatically above market, why waste time? Their time is better spent previewing homes that are priced realistically.

Later, when you drop your price, your house is "old news." You will never be able to recapture that flurry of initial activity you would have had with a realistic price. Valuable time is lost. Your house could take longer to sell.

Even if you do successfully sell at an above market price, your buyer will need a mortgage. The mortgage lender requires an appraisal. If comparable sales for the last six months and current market conditions do not support your sales price, the house won’t appraise. Your deal falls apart. Of course, you can always attempt to renegotiate the price, but only if the buyer is willing to listen. Your house could go "back on the market."

Once your home has fallen out of contract or sits on the market awhile, it is harder to get a good offer. Potential buyers will think you might be getting desperate, so they will make lower offers. By overpricing your home in the beginning, you could actually end up settling for a lower price than you would have normally received.