When you sit down to decide what price you should list your property at, there are a few questions you need to ask yourself.
How did you come up with that number? Is that price going to get my home sold quickly, with maximum profit? If you simply checked MLS prices to determine where you want your property priced at, you could be making a few costly errors:
1) Without having a sales representative complete a comprehensive market evaluation of your property, you may not be considering all of the factors that help to determine price.
2) Remember! MLS only displays list prices. You should always base your price on properties that have already been sold…..not on houses that are currently for sale.
Here are a few other potential problems that can occur if you overprice your home:
• You will make other similar properties look like a bargain. You are effectively helping to sell all other houses…except your own!
• Where properly priced houses will sell in a reasonable amount of time, your overpriced property will sit on the market collecting dust.
• Sales representatives will avoid showing your house to potential qualified buyers. With a surplus of houses on the market, it won’t be worth their time showing clients overpriced houses.
• You could create a negative impression of the property before people even have a chance to step inside.
• With the house staying on the market for longer than desired, you could end up having to accept less money than if you were to price it properly in the first place. The longer your house stays on the market, the more chance it will be deemed stale or riddled with problems. This is a downward spiral you don’t want to find yourself in.
Here are a few factors that should not affect your asking price:
• The original cost of the property. As price is determined by current market conditions, you can’t consider what you originally paid for the house.
• Your emotional attachment to the house. Your emotions have no affect on what a buyer is willing to pay.
• The opinion of friends, family or neighbours. Sales representatives can assist you in understanding current market conditions and use the prices of recently sold properties to determine the most appropriate price for your home.
If you are considering selling your house, give me a call for a free market evaluation. We’ll look at recently sold properties and current market conditions to determine a price that will have your house sold quickly while yielding maximum profits.
Thanks for reading. Please visit again soon for current and relevant information on the Burlington, Oakville and Toronto real estate markets. If there are any questions you may have regarding market conditions, mortgage rates, investing in real estate or how to sell your house for maximum profit, please don’t hesitate to call or email me with whatever is on your mind.