Irrespective of whether you’re in a buyer’s or seller’s market, your home’s asking price will determine how quickly and for how much your home sells. Pricing carries more weight now than ever before since buyers have easy access to market data through MLS and Zillow. If you want to be smart about pricing, to expedite the sale and possibly get more than you’re asking for, follow these 10 steps to determine the perfect listing price for your home.
Set Aside Your Emotions
The first—and most critical—step to finding the perfect price for your home is to dismiss your emotions. Homes carry sentimental value. It’s easy to let those emotions rule your decision making, causing you to inflate the price of your home.
“My neighbors are the best. My home is immaculate and is in the best location. This is the best place to raise kids. Anyone would want to buy this home.”
Silence these voices and opt to listen to the reasoning of unbiased professionals like an appraiser or real estate agent. Besides, if you are also emotional about the selling process, it becomes far easier to inadvertently delay a sale.
Don’t Expect Above Market Returns for Remodeling
After spending time and money remodeling a home, you may expect to recoup all those costs plus a hefty profit. This notion, spurred on by all the remodeling shows on HGTV, gives the impression that a remodeled home is automatically worth far more. That isn’t always the case. While a remodeled home will have a larger pool of buyers, most buyers will still expect to pay the market value for your home. Think twice before putting in all that money, and work, and most importantly, time.
Rely on the Comps
At the beginning of your listing journey, I will prepare comps with information about properties similar—or identical—to yours that have sold in the last three to six months. This data gives you an idea of the market value of your property. It also acts as a guide on how much you can price your home for. If the highest sales price in your neighborhood is $875,000, chances are you can’t sell your home for more than that, unless it offers additional features like more bedrooms, bathrooms or square footage.
Look Into Hiring an Appraiser
If you want to verify the market analysis prepared by your agent, consider hiring a qualified appraiser. Having this data can give a precise figure of what to expect from the sale of your property and is rather sobering if you find yourself overcome by emotions.
Examine Local Property Data
Beyond an appraiser’s figures, local property data is informative, helping you price your home perfectly. This data exposes elements appraisers are unlikely to include in their analysis, information like days on the market, buyers’ age range and sales figures. While sifting through this data, you should pay close attention to information that will help you prepare for sale. Data from expired listings displays common pitfalls that hinder a sale. Whereas data from pending or previous sales reveal what you should do to expedite or guarantee a sale.
Avoid Inflating Your Home’s Value
Even after examining data, the temptation to inflate your listing price may still be there. It’s common for many sellers to think this strategy is a great way to “test the market.” Inflated prices usually have the opposite effect. Once you put your house on the market, the clock starts ticking; the longer it sits on the market the less interesting it becomes to active buyers. I am not a fan of a price reduction as buyers may see this as an edge for them and a sign of vulnerability on the seller’s end.
Get Guidance From Your Network
Your family and friends are the cheapest resource at your disposal for determining how much you should list your home for; that’s why it’s a great idea to get their feedback about your property before listing. You can make an event out of the occasion and simulate an open house for their honest opinion on what they think your home is worth. Pop out the wine and cheese. Everyone is looking for an excuse to get out!
Offer Incentives
To sweeten the deal—especially among younger buyers—consider incentives. Offering to help with closing costs, paying for inspections and providing credits for after-sales repairs are all incentives that make a home with a perfect price even more desirable while encouraging buyers with cold feet to commit.
Hire an Experienced Real Estate Agent
An experienced real estate agent coupled with the perfect listing price is a recipe for success. Experienced agents make the process stress-free and are a trusted resource to expedite the sale of your property. I am an agent with over a thousand transactions under my belt and work alongside a fantastic team, so if you need help selling your Bergen County home, contact me. My cell is 201-477-0117.
Levy Tewel is an associate real estate broker and team leader of the Tewel Team at Compass, helping sellers and buyers in Bergen County and New York City, with nearly a decade in the business, and over 1,000 closed transactions. Levy can be reached at 201-477-0117, [email protected], or www.TewelTeam.com.
