Pricing Your Home to Sell. Part 1.

After 30 years of working as a REALTOR, I am still amazed at the average homeowner’s inability to understand the market value of their home. People think it has something to with assessed value, or that appraisal they paid for two years ago when they took out a second mortgage. Some people give serious consideration to insurance value, the neighbors house down the street, or worse, the opinion of the close relative that lives three states away. None of those sources mean very much.

Your home is worth absolutely what a ready, willing and able buyer is willing to pay you for it today. Not last week, or last year, or next week or next year. Right now, today and today only. The art to pricing your home to sell is a thorough understanding of what is true about your very local real estate market. By very local I mean as narrowly focused as your subdivision or even your block or building. Denver Real estate, and by that I mean the land and the dwelling that someone may wish to live in, is as unique as everything else in the world around us. And if anyone finds themselves living in a condo just like the neighbors, then they will paint the walls purple or install new counter-tops. So, the first lesson is, your home is not exactly like any other.

The second lesson is valuation techniques. For sales purposes, many people obtain an appraisal, or ask a REALTOR for a market analysis. Both are really just a comparison of what similar properties have sold for recently in close proximately to your property. The difference between and appraisal and a market analysis is simple, the appraisal is done to justify value, usually for lending purposes, and the market analysis is done to justify planting a sign in the yard. Other valuation techniques simply do not apply to the sales process.

The third lesson relates to time and price. Remember, today is the only day that matters. Last years market is gone. Please give yourself 5 seconds to lament any missed opportunity and move on. And next year is not here yet. If you want or can wait until next year to sell, then do so. Historical data would indicate that your home will be worth more next year. However, if you absolutely have to sell your home now, then obtain a professional analysis of your home’s market value. Then you must consider the validity of the analysis. If you are not sure, get 2 or 3 opinions.

Sorry, Zillow does not get you what you want, nor does any other web based valuation system. They may someday, but not today. After you have good information about the value of your home, you can go to lesson four.

The fourth lesson is, you must embrace the truth. We all want more for our home. Always. What you want is not what a buyer will give you. Want more, be prepared to wait. Willing to take less, you may sell your home very quickly. The trick is to hit the right dollar amount that will bring a buyer at a price you can live with.

Next time we will talk about the price from the buyers point of view.

That’s -30-

Written by Larry D. McGee, Denver Realtor - Visit Website Sphere: Related Content