Homeowners

How To Price Your Home So It Sells Quickly

Congratulations, home seller. You’ve repaired, cleaned, and staged your residence beautifully. Now comes one of the hardest parts of selling a home: setting a listing price.

Listing a home in today’s market can feel tricky. Housing stock has increased enough that buyers now have more options and price reductions are becoming more common.

The right price can often help lead to a swift sale, sometimes even with multiple offers over the asking price. However, pricing your home too low risks leaving money on the table. Go too high and you could scare away potential buyers, your property could languish on the market, and you may need to cut the price tag later to secure a sale.

So, figuring out that perfect number relies on strategy, often working with a local real estate agent and pricing compared to what similar homes nearby have sold for recently.

Here’s some insight from real estate experts to help you secure a fast sale at a good price.

Sellers, beware of overpricing your home

Some home sellers enter the market hoping for a buyer to come along with a record-breaking offer. Be warned: that mindset can backfire fast.

“Sellers have to avoid trying to get a lucky moonshot in this market,” said Tali Raphaely, president of Armour Title Company in Owings Mills, Md. “If they ask for an unrealistic price, they take the chance of having their house overlooked by some buyers.”

That can lead to the home sitting without any offers and having to reduce the price in the future.

Jason Patton of ARC Realty in Birmingham, Ala. agreed that pricing too high is the first big no-no.

“The consumer is more educated now than they’ve ever been, so they know when something is overpriced,” said Patton.

Compare the right comps

One big reason sellers overprice? Online home value estimates can give them a false sense of certainty. They’re quick, free, and often inaccurate.

“Online values can be off plus or minus 30% because the service has never set foot inside the home,” said Jeff Lichtenstein, CEO and broker at Echo Fine Properties in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. “A trained appraiser mixed with real estate agents is best way to understand real value.”

A home that’s updated with nicer finishes, amenities, or has views is likely to receive higher offers than one that doesn’t. Also, the pricing in one neighborhood can differ from that in another three blocks away.

“There are streets in my market where houses sell for more on one side of the street than the other,” said Cari McGee, a real estate agent in Kennewick, Wash.

How recent a home has sold also matters.

“Lean on closed comps within a tight time frame,” said Sarah A. Strohschein, a real estate advisor at Engel & Völkers in Atlanta, Ga. “In this market, it’s important to look at the past 30 to 45 days instead of the last 60 to 90.”

She also advises studying pending listings closely.

“Look at their average days on market, dig into the history to see if they’ve been relisted, and if possible, tour those properties to understand their condition,” said Strohschein.

Consider your home’s updates

Local real estate expertise also matters when it comes to a home’s condition. That will greatly impact the price. Buyers are often reluctant to pay top dollar for a home that they will wind up spending thousands of dollars to improve.

“I study the most recent sales in the neighborhood and look closely at the condition differences because. Buyers notice every upgrade and every flaw,” said Brett Johnson, a real estate agent at New Era Home Buyers in Denver. “When the price matches the home’s true condition and the current buyer pool, it will attract activity even when inventory is sitting longer.”

Indeed, buyers have faced affordability challenges for years and are financially practical. In other words, they aren’t willing to pay premiums for a home’s “potential.”

“If updates are needed, your best bet is to make them before listing,” said Strohschein. “If updates aren’t in the budget, the list price has to reflect that.”

How to attract eyeballs to a home listing

Most real estate agents agreed that the sweet spot for pricing a home in today’s market is confident but realistic.

“Start 2% to 3% below the most recent comparable sale, not at the highest active listing,” said Itay Simchi, real estate investor and founder at Ohio’s Proven House Buyers. “Price is a marketing tool.”

This could entice more buyers to book showings. This could lead to a bidding war or potentially even offers over the asking price.

“In this market, I’m telling my sellers to price at the low end of the range,” said real agent Erin Hybart, founder of ADU & Tiny Home Connection in Baton Rouge, La. “The goal is to get buyers to feel like they’re getting a deal they can’t miss.”

In some markets, a conservative pricing strategy not only drives interest, but can also spark competition.

“We saw an unusual market uptick late in the season because mortgage rates dropped,” said Tia Hunnicutt, Proxima Realty Group agent in San Francisco’s Bay Area. “You can really cripple a property by not pricing low enough.”

And sometimes, pricing low isn’t about getting as much as possible but attracting more offers.

As Johnson put it simply: “I price with the expectation that buyers will negotiate.”

Sellers, watch your home’s first 10 to 14 days on the market

Once your home listing goes live, the clock starts ticking. A home’s initial interest will tell you everything you need to know.

“If you don’t get strong traffic immediately, drop the price quickly instead of waiting weeks,” said Simchi.

Remember, how many days your home sits on the market is visible to every buyer scrolling through online listings. The higher the number, the harder it is to justify a list price.

Buyers start wondering what’s wrong with the home. Even if the answer is “nothing,” perception becomes reality.

“If similar homes are sitting 30-plus days, the market is telling you the price is too high,” said real estate broker Raffi Isanians of San Francisco’s Modern Realty.

And that imagined equity some sellers cling to when pricing a home?

“The equity you ‘have’ is only real if a buyer will pay it,” said Isanians.