Ready to Sell? Getting the Price Right is a Great Start
For would-be home sellers, it’s hard to beat the allure of the Northeast Florida real estate market. Job growth, attractive communities, beautiful scenery, excellent schools and superb quality of life make it a place where people want to live and buy homes. Not to mention Florida offers favorable tax treatment relative to other states! And in recent years, high demand has allowed sellers to net more with fewer days on the market. Still, Sellers need to be savvy about how they place their property on the market. Research tells us that setting the correct initial list price is one of the most important decisions to be made. When a home is overpriced and price reductions are necessary, it can take much longer to sell and typically results in a lower price. One reason: When we list a home on the market, it receives a great amount of attention and “splash” during the first 30 days because of wide-ranging marketing efforts to attract the current buyer pool. The current buyer pool is comprised of everyone searching for a home that started looking today, yesterday, last week, last month, and sometimes even last year. It is a powerful group of potential buyers. If the listing is overpriced, it causes potential buyers to ignore it or even worse, it may cause other homes to sell based on perceived value of those homes relative to the overpriced listing. Once this happens, it is often difficult to gain the attention of this buyer pool again without a price adjustment. The second issue that occurs with overpriced listings is increased “days on market”. As days on market add up, buyers wonder if there is an issue with the home, diminishing the sellers negotiating power. If you are considering selling your home, the key is to start with a thorough pricing analysis so that you can make an informed decision on whether or not to sell and at what price.
Call me to learn the value of your home so you can make great decisions based on real time market data.
~Courtesy of BHHS Insider, quarterly local update for Northeast Florida