Take the Emotional Strain out of Pricing Your Home

Your home may be your castle, but should you need to put it on the market you may not easily find others who share your opinion. A prospective buyer doesn’t place the same emotional value on your home as you do. Settling on an asking price for your home could prove to be an ego-bruising task unless you obtain some valuable information and make some smart decisions.

Your REALTOR will make suggestions and recommendations regarding a reasonable selling price for your home. Those suggestions are based on activity in the marketplace and on comparisons to properties similar to yours. At that time you’re better off putting aside the emotional attachment to your home and looking at it as real estate, a commodity which rises and falls to the pressures of the marketplace.

Ultimately, it is your job, as the seller, to price your home. Your REALTOR’s job is to supply you with enough facts, suggestions and information about the marketplace so that you can make a rational decision. Make sure your REALTOR brings you information you understand, so you can be a part of the pricing process.

If you disagree with your REALTOR’s suggestion for a sale price, you may be drawn to another who offers to sell your home at a higher price. But a promise to sell your home at a higher price is not one that can be kept if the market doesn’t allow it. Be aware that the sale of your home is a package deal. You must have a rapport with the sales associate, approve their marketing plan, and come to terms with their suggested price.

It is not wise to enter the market with an overpriced house, unless you can afford to let it sit on the market. If you intentionally elevate your price to leave some negotiating room, you may set your sights too high and lose prospective buyers. Buyers looking in that price range will have viewed nicer homes for the same price and therefore cross you off their list. Buyers in the slightly lower range will overlook your house because it’s just a little out of their reach.

Under these conditions, your house could sit on the market for months, leaving you with no option but to drop the price. When you have new prospects in the lower price range, they will wonder why it hasn’t sold sooner. The end result; you get less than you would have if you had priced it right in the first place.

It is a good idea to always know the market value of your home, whether or not you are in the market for a new one. This knowledge might help you determine which home improvements are going to pay off and which aren’t.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking every dollar you put into your home will be returned when it is sold. Statistics show your best resale investments are updating the kitchen, bathroom, carpets and paint, and that homes decorated in neutral colors will attract more people. Being a smart homeowner will make you a smart homeseller.