Pricing Your Home For Sale in a Buyer’s Market
1. Comparison of your home to others Active and Sold on the Market
2. Location of the home—Conservation, Water, Highway, Electrical Utility, another home
3. How well your home has been maintained and how it “shows”
4. How much competition you have for the same home in your
competing neighborhoods
5. How many people are looking for homes in your market
Unless your home is priced way below market, homes that look better, usually sell faster and for more money. In this market you have to be “better than the next guy” just to compete. Also, when I work with my Sellers, I take them around to see some of their competition as if they were Buyers. This allows you to put yourself in the Buyer’s shoes and see what home you would buy and at what price—would you buy your home?....or is another home a better deal?...This helps my Seller’s get pricing of their home in perspective...because after all, the goal is to sell your home, not for you to keep it constantly clean and organized and waiting nervously because no one is coming to even see it.
I use staging techniques and clutter removal services to help show the home in its best light. Remember, Buyers want to visualize themselves in your home—-not you. So I have my Seller’s remove personal items, pack a lot of “stuff” away, in planning for their move anyway and clean, clean, clean. As an added free service, I bring in colorful, decorative pillows, area rugs, candles, small tables, pictures, etc. to embellish their homes and make them look in keeping with the styling of the times (Crate ‘n Barrel, Pottery Barn, Home and Garden, Ethan Allen etc.). Most of these items I then return back to the store once the home sells or keep them for future home staging. You can do this yourself; take a look at magazines if you feel your home could use a little decorating here and there.