When the Owner Sets the Price

Ok, it's not a science, pricing a home correctly to sell.

But it IS an art! An art based on careful analysis of "comps" and knowledge of the market trends, pertinent community information, the exterior and interior decoration/staging, etc.

When a homeowner decides to sell his/her home without representation by a real estate agent and sets the price for the public to consider, the result is usually a vastly overpriced home. Heck, even agents who have their OWN home to sell tend to set the price way too high to start with. We can't help it - it's our own castle we're talkin' about here! ;-)

And FSBO (for-sale-by-owner) sellers are not only those folks who have a sign stuck in the front yard that they purchased at the local hardware store. These sellers also might choose a high profile internet-based FSBO service, or one of many so-called discount brokers to get their home entered into the local MLS.

The FSBO discussion is a large topic, not to be even skimmed over in this post. Suffice it to say, if the home is overpriced, it won't sell. And what's the point? I have personally watched a homeowner in my own neighbor try to sell his home for over a year now. He first tried selling with an internet FSBO service all last summer and fall. He is back on the market this spring with a real estate broker, but still vastly overpriced. I know this gentleman wants and needs to sell the property, but I also know he won't get what he is asking. The homeowner is wasting precious market time, the broker he has listed the property with is spinning his wheels trying to sell a property that won't sell at anything close to the list price.

Sellers, the message is this: The buying public won't pay you what you think you NEED to get for your home. The buyer does not CARE what you need to get from the sale. The buyer will only pay you what the correct market value of the house is, or LESS, depending on how desperate the seller becomes. Price it right, the first day on the market, and find your buyer quickly!