Changing the past

I just went in and edited my first post. I had ended that post with a promise to add a new topic every week and as you can see, I didn't fulfill that plan. If only we could do that in every part of life. Say or do something we'd rather forget, go back and edit it out. When we make mistakes though, they are ours to deal with.

One of the most common regrets for Homesellers comes from pricing their home too high when entering the market. As a Team, we provide a market analysis showing what price range would be appropriate when we come in to list a property. Some homeowners are sure that they can get more, or they just want to test the price and plan to drop it later if they must. If they are close to where we feel they should be, we will work with them and let them see what happens, always having a timeframe agreed upon for lowering the price if they turn out to be overly optimistic. If they are way off, we prefer to walk away from the listing rather than offer unrealistic promises.

What often happens to those Homesellers is they miss the opportunities they should be having as a new listing. When a home first hits the market, agents pull it up as a new listing and send it out to the clients that are looking in that price range. If the home does not measure up with the other selections, the buyers will reject it as a home to preview. The buyers who would have been interested will not receive the listing since it is priced above their range.

If the seller waits too long to lower the price to a reasonable level, even after the price drop, buyers begin to wonder what is wrong with the home. They can see on the listing grid that it has been on the market a long time, they think the sellers must be getting anxious which encourages them to write lower offers. In the end, the sellers are typically angry with their agent who wasn't able to sell the home, angry at the low offers and often lower the price to below the initially recommended range.

As Realtors, we know you want to walk away with the most money possible from the sale of your home and we want the same thing for you. Pricing the home right to begin with is the best ticket to that goal. It's a Buyer's market out there and being competitive, without under pricing, is a delicate science and an important aspect of your entire marketing plan.