Pricing your Home

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Getting ready to get into the real-estate market?


Most sellers today are nervous and unsure. They wonder: is taking a loss on our house inevitable?
The answer is no! A strategic sales plan, coupled with a smart buy in your new location will ensure that you recoup the maximum value for your home.


Your Strategic Sales Plan


Consult with an expert, local real estate agent to ensure your house is priced competitively and well-staged. Why? Because while there are always three factors to getting a home sold: location, price, and condition. Only two are under your control: price and condition. Of the two, which is more significant? Price. Remember that price will correct bad condition, but condition will never overcome a bad price.

Act fast. You're in a race against time: the best price you'll get in today's market is the one you get now. If you wait, it will be lower. And every month the price on your home decreases, your costs remain the same. For example, Kingdom Realty research shows that sellers who listed their home at the price the agent originally recommended, sold the home 38 days faster. This is over a month of mortgage and tax payments! For a home that cost $200,000 at time of purchase, with 20 percent down and an interest rate of 6.5 percent, selling a month sooner results in a savings of $1101.31 for the mortgage alone, not including the taxes and insurance that the homeowner would be paying during this time.

Don't worry about where the market has been, keep your focus on where it is going. The price your neighbor down the street got six months ago is not relevant in a market where your house is competing with others from all across town. Again, a local real estate agent will have the kind of long-term, wide-ranging data that will help you decide how to pinpoint your price with precision. 

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It's tough being the seller in a buyer's market. But you can improve your odds with the right research.

In many cases, making a smart deal and getting the best price come down to studying your market and being an educated seller.

"You've got to know more than you would have if you'd sold a year ago," says William Poorvu, professor emeritus at Harvard Business School and author of the book "Creating and Growing Real Estate Wealth."

"If you want to protect yourself, you have to become knowledgeable." 

Steps will help you to price your house

  1. Recognize that housing markets are local.
  2. Analyze who is buying and selling in your market.
  3. Ask the professionals.
  4. Know what your house is worth.
  5. Consider strategic pricing.
  6. Rebate your "commission."
  7. Evaluate whether you really have to sell now.
  8. Assess the market where you plan to buy.