Setting the Sales Price for Your House

The hardest part of setting a sales price is forcing yourself to see your home as a house.  When it's listed for sale, it is a house on the market, "a product" .  You have to abandon your personal point of view. How much will a ready, willing and able buyer be willing to pay for your home?  Buyers don't care how much you paid, how many memorable moments you and your family shared in the home, how much you need for the downpayment on your next home or how much time and money you've invested in your home's upkeep, remodeling, landscaping or other improvements.  They care about the value of the house when compared with the others they are interested in .  You have to be the best home for them in the price range in which they are looking.  The lender's appraiser will also only be looking at value that can be documented by closed sales in the area to approve the loan.

When setting the sales price, it's a good idea to keep in mind that there are usually three prices for a house  when it is on the market.   The price the seller would love to get, the price the buyer would love to pay, and finally, the SOLD price.

Before you set the sales price of your house, I'll do a walk thru evaluation then perform a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA).  The CMA will show the listing price of similar houses in the area as well as the prices at which the houses actually sold.  Ideally, these are recent sales and this will tell you the price buyers are willing to pay for a house like yours .  It will show how long they were on the market before they sold.   Additionally, the analysis will give us information about houses currently on the market and about houses that were on the market but never sold.  This will help you understand the houses you are competing with in trying to attract a buyer in today's market and what buyer's have rejected.  It may be hard to accept, but your asking price must be determined by today's market.  Not what you could have gotten or hope to get.

Next, I'll ask you about your goals in selling the house. Everyone who sells a house has different goals that need to be factored in when calculating the selling price.

Market conditions will play a role in setting the sales price of your house. I'll factor in how quickly houses are selling in your area, interest rates, the strength of the school system, and finally whether it is a buyer's or seller's market.

I'll then recommend a price range at which to list your house to meet your goals in the local market.  The final decision is yours.