Ready, Aim, Fire

I talk with a lot of Sellers who are under the impression they'll sell faster by adding to their price to create "negotiating room".   It seems logical enough.  It's what I call the "shoot for the stars, you might hit the moon" philosophy of pricing.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work.

In today's Atlanta real estate market, if you want to hit the moon it's far better to take purposeful aim at the moon before shooting.  You want very little negotiating room.  A thousand or two is fine.  You want buyers to make an offer.

The pricing of property is critical in this market because buyers are very, very educated in what they're looking at.

Almost every buyer in today's market is working with a buyer agent, so they're going to be doing their market analysis just like you should be.  They buyer's agent is going to be advising their client and you don't want to be left out their with no offers because your priced too high in the beginning. 

You don't want your home more than 1% over "fair market value".  In fact, it's best to price it at the indicated market value, according to the market analysis.  Pricing your home right can eliminate the need for negotiation.  You should be able to look at a full-price offer with very few contingencies if you price it well.