The Key to selling your home?

You hear it all the time - If you want to sell your home you need to price it correctly - FROM THE BEGINNING. 

The Number #1 Key to selling a home is its price - and especially when the purchase is going to be financed.   Sellers (and Buyers) need to take the time to do their homework.  Gone are the days of putting a house on the market and having an offer in a week (unless it's perhaps a bank owned property -which has already had an appraisal done on it).  If you really want to sell your home (or buy) with the terms and time frame that work for you,   I offer you some  tips that in the end will save you time, money and unnecessary stress.  

 

BEFORE YOU PUT YOUR HOME ON THE MARKET :

• Have your Real Estate Professional perform a Market Trend Analysis- using Active, Pending, Withdrawn and Sold properties - Where does your property fit into that mix?
• Sold properties are the most important when pricing as they will be used to establish an opinion of value by an Appraiser (which if the property is being financed will have one) - Look for sales within the last 6 months or more recent (but no more than 12 months).
• Focus on homes that are of similar age, style, square footage, location (among other things)
• What were the List to Sale ratios?  How long were they on the market? What were the Terms of Sale? Any Concessions?
• Look at what is currently on the market - Again using similar properties - but do not rely solely on this as the basis for pricing your property - as you don't know how that seller arrived at their list price.
• Look at homes that are Pending sale (meaning there is a contract in place and they are in the process of getting to the closing table) - compare those to the ones that are still active - you'll see what's getting the activity which might also help in seeing where that final price should be.
• Look at expired and withdrawn listings that didn't sell - Where were they priced, how long were they on the market? How many price changes did they go through before being removed from the market? 
• After reviewing the market - ask yourself where your property fits in with what's before you and consider your time frame - when do you want to close?  Will your price get you there?  Would you feel comfortable sharing this with the other party to justify your price?  If NOT are you being realistic? 

These factors and others (that your Agent will cover) tell the story of what the market is doing as it relates to YOUR property.  And remember, if the property has been on the market for awhile - perhaps the comparable sales originally used to establish the list price are too old and are no longer valid - so you need to look at your market on a regular basis.

Why is this important?  Because, at the end of the day, chances are good that the person(s) who buys your home will probably finance the purchase - and their lender is going to require an Appraisal.  If your home is considered Single Family Owner Occupied the Appraiser will most likely consider the Sales Comparison Approach to value to be the most relevant and appropriate method of valuation to form their opinion. Which means pricing your property from the beginning using good market research is going to save you time, money and help ensure that the price you accept is going to be supported by the market and therefore acceptable to a buyer and his/her lender.   

Unless of course you are hoping to get a cash buyer who may not want an appraisal.  I have news for you, even the cash buyer will want to know that his/her investment is sound.

Price It Right From The Beginning!