If you've got any interest in the real estate market, or have even watched any of the shows on HGTV late at night, then you've certainly seen a lot of different reasonings or suggestions as to why a particular home has not sold. Everything from staging to inviting smells when you enter the home and of course location ("The three L's of Real Estate = location, location, location") play a vital role as to the home and its appeal to a potential buyer. [Check out the included video from Lennar about "10 Tips to Help You Sell Your Home" for more ideas on those topics!]
However, in this economic climate that we're faced with currently, the bottom line is PRICING. Are you the most competitively priced property in or around your neighborhood?
Now, that's not to say that a home with all hardwood flooring, stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, new paint, and a heated in-ground pool should be priced LESS THAN a builder-spec home with vinyl flooring, formica counters, and no pool! Don't get me wrong on this topic here folks. What I am trying to say is that if you have any of these upgrades, you still must be priced appropriately for the market!
Gone are the days where you could fetch $10,000 over appraised value just because you had done so many marvelous updates or upgrades to your home. Gone are the days where you could demand a specific price because, well, you felt like that was what the home was worth - to you.
Bottom line is that the VALUE of a home is only "what it is worth to the person willing to buy it." This market has seen alarming dips in values, increases in foreclosures, and is going to continue to be a volatile situation for the coming months & years. But with a professional agent on your team, you can come to a fair market value & that agent will work their butt of on your behalf to fetch you full market value!
There's been recent times when I've insisted on a Seller paying for an Appraisal upfront, prior to my listing of the home, because they were soooooooo far over market value, and no matter what I told them, they still wouldn't listen to the "reality" of the marketplace. With an Appraisal in hand, they're sure to understand the "real value" of the home! It also adds as a selling point to a Buyer in some instances, that they know they're not going to spin their wheels with a home inspection, termite inspection, credit report fee, and an appraisal fee at their Lender, only to find out the home won't appraise out for their offering price.
You certainly don't find too many patients walking into their doctor's offices and claiming that they know how to do the surgery that only their doctor is qualified to do, now do ya? That doctor would laugh them out of the office and send them on to the next one! A great Realtor is your doctor to the real estate market; your surgeon. A great Realtor is going to assess your property, it's value, it's pros & cons, and come up with a marketing plan to strategically exhaust all efforts to bring you a fair market value for your property.
Don't price yourself out of a sale... Consult with (and preferrably listen to) a Realtor.
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