Make your home stand out from the market
The rules have changed. Everyone knows that supply far exceeds demand right now on resale homes. In a normal market, a home priced competitively would receive showings and within a reasonable time, an offer. That is not always the case these days.
Right now there are well-priced homes on the market that are not even getting showings. Buyers are still holding back and more homes get added to the inventory.
This is what can happen next:
• Let’s say a home is listed for $250,000 in January and that price puts it mid-way between competing properties. Each month new homes are listed and others on the market drop their prices. Within a matter of months, that $250,000 home owner finds himself at the top of the market among his competition.
• A better strategy would have been to list the home in January at the low end of the market, making it the best VALUE among competing homes. It is likely that it would have been the next home to sell.
• Now even if the $250,000 home drops its price it’s still the mid-priced home and other homes are a better value. So the seller has to “chase the market”. Had he “led the market” he may well have been sold.
Often Realtors are the ones who deliver the information about what the market is doing and the inclination is to “shoot the messenger”. Just as doctors sometimes have to give unpleasant test results, so do real estate agents. But sellers need and deserve the facts so that they can make informed decisions.
Pricing a home right at the very beginning can insure a faster sale and better net proceeds to the seller.
