Is your home priced to sell?

How do you attract buyers and get the most money possible as quickly as possible?  Without digging too deep into it, let’s just say it usually starts with the price. 

When a buyer is looking for a home, they generally start with a price range.  That’s how they determine which properties they want to look at. 

The price of your home is set by the seller as advised by a real estate professional but in all honesty, the value is determined by the buyer.  It can be a hard pill to swallow, especially in the current market in Calgary.  It’s important to keep emotion out of it because it can cloud your judgement and you may just overprice your home.  Which can mean that your goals of attracting buyers, getting the most money and selling quickly may not be realized.

Factors That Affect Price

Things to think about when determining an asking price are:

Timing:  Is there any urgency to selling your property?

Selection:  What type of competition is there in your community?  Are there are lot of listing or only a few?

Market Analysis:  A study of what homes in your area sold for in the last three to six months will give you a realistic picture of what similar properties went for.

Factors That Don’t Affect Price

Your real estate professional will be above to provide some objectivity because these things don’t count:

• How much you paid for your home. Your original cost is irrelevant.
• Improvements you have done. Yes, a new kitchen and bathroom will certainly add value but it’s not always guaranteed.
• The replacement cost of your home, which you may have kept in the back of your mind for insurance purposes.  It doesn’t matter what the price tag is if you built your home from the ground up today.
• Your attachment to your home. Buyers make an offer based on how they feel, not on how you feel about the value of your home.
• Your out-of-pocket expenses in the sale transaction. As much as you’d like to add in property tax reconciliation, lawyer’s fees and commission, these items can’t be built into your price. They can be take out of the proceeds, however.
• What your neighbour has to say. They may have anecdotal information about what other homes in the neighbourhood are worth but take their advice about what fair market value might be with a grain of salt.

And If Your House is Overpriced?

Let’s say you want to start high with the expectation that your asking price can be adjusted if there’s no action in the first few weeks.  In the meantime…

• Other homes in your neighbourhood will look pretty good compared to yours and will likely sell first.
• While you’re waiting to see if there’s any action, you are losing customers. Statistics show that 80% of likely buyers will come through your home within the first month of being on the market. If you don’t grab their attention, it might take another 60 days after that to find other potential buyers. It is already taking longer to sell in Calgary right now, so overpricing your home will just add to the misery.
• If your home is on the market too long because it’s been overpriced, people will wonder what’s wrong with it.
• You will continue to make those mortgage payments and if the home is empty, utilities and maintenance will have to be paid.  Weigh these extra costs against the price you want over and above what’s been recommended to you.
• By the time you do get an offer, you may end up accepting a lower price than you would have had to accept should you have priced it correctly in the very beginning.

If you have questions about the true, honest asking price of your property, it only pays to work with a professional REALTOR®.  You’ll save money in the long run.