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Slow-Market Approach to Pricing a Home

The Science of Pricing Real Estate

I often tell my clients pricing a home is NOT an "exact science".   And that axiom is more true today than ever before.  If you want to sell in this market, you have to be prepared to "make the market" rather than "chase the market."  And that might mean pricing your home 3% to 5% below the most recent sale in your neighborhood.

The other option is to price it at market value and wait.

And you could be waiting for a long time. ...

Secrets to Creating Irresistible Demand for Your Home


How do you get your home SOLD in one of the toughest real estate markets since...well...forever?

Simple.  Set a competitive price at before you go on the market and hire an aggressive agent to get qualified buyers through your front door. Seems obvious, but you’d be surprised how many agents and sellers don’t know this.

I explain it to all my clients - an attractively priced home pulls in buyers. And in this market, with price pressure from foreclosures, short sales and highly motivated distressed Sellers...this could mean you have to price your home below market value.

I know that's a tough situation for most folks...but let me remind you, more buyers equals more competition. And more competition means that your home will actually sell - which, in reality, is what you're trying to do in the first place.  Isn't it?...

Why Overpricing Doesn't Work


I talk with a lot of potential clients who believe that overpricing will work to their advantage because it will give them ‘bargaining room.’

And when I run into sellers who want to overprice their home, I tell them that although overpricing in a rising market may be appropriate, no one has ever been successful by overpricing in a falling market.

Leaving room to negotiate down on your price isn’t as valuable a negotiating tool as bringing in a greater number of highly motivated buyers....

Market Meltdown

"Buy at the sound of cannons. Sell at the sound of trumpets."

The stock market is in the "toilet" and real estate is in the "crapper". 

Might be a good time to buy.  I hear cannons...

Higher Power


One of the driving mechanisms of real estate values is the little known concept of "Buying Power".   In real estate, buying power simply refers to the amount, or quality, of home you can purchase with your monthly payment dollars.

The reason we saw the real estate bubble occur (and it's subsequent collapse) had everything to do with the increased buying power of the consumer.  The expansion of the credit market into the subprime arena (aka "credit challenged") - folks who might not have otherwise been able to get financing for a home were able to enter the market as first time buyers.  This, combined with historically low interest rates, predatory "teaser" rates and cartoonish "1 year interest only" loans allowed buyers to stretch their dollars even higher up the buying power ladder.

Fast forward five years to October 2008 and that's all changed....

Why Buying is the Right Decision


Because I'm a real estate agent and I said so.

On a serious note...I don't think there has ever been a better time to be buying real estate.  If you make good decisions now, time will make you look like a genius....

The One Thing You MUST DO To Sell Your Home. Ignore At Your Peril.


Did you know there is a sure-fire, guaranteed way to get your home SOLD regardless of market conditions?  And did you know this simple method of marketing and advertising is ignored by 90% of your competition in a buyers market and nearly 98% of the competition in a sellers market?

So what is the one thing you MUST DO to sell your home in any market?

PRICE IT to sell.

That's it.  If you price your home to sell then I can guarantee your home will sell, regardless of market conditions....
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