I talk to sellers every week who think that they should be pricing their Raleigh home so that they can negotiate… I have to tell them that the idea of pricing to negotiate is SOOOOOO 2005. “Why shouldn’t I price my house a little high, since I can always drop the price later?” The reality is that in 2012 – we want to SET the price for a home in Raleigh, NOT chase the market down. When we put the sign out front, you and I will both know that we’ve done our homework, and we are pricing your house to SELL.
There ARE homes in Raleigh each month that sale with multiple offers on them. In fact, this “bidding” war could mean that we find a buyer who is willing to pay MORE than we establish as our asking price. That’s the advantage point I want you to be in.
The “old” strategy of pricing a home so that you could negotiate 5% or so sounds good – but, in fact, is more likely to result in a lower price. Here’s why. The first few weeks a house is on the market is when it will have the most activity. If a house is overpriced, it has to compete with houses at that higher price level, which are normally larger or have newer/more luxurious features.
So the overpriced home is not likely to attract an offer, or traffic. Today’s real estate market is about 2 things… Price – and Condition of the house. You are in a Beauty Contest. If your home backs up to a busy street, has a couple of “accent walls,” needs the bushes trimmed – AND it’s $6000 OVER the last house the buyers looked at… they aren’t even going to stop to come in.
Worse yet, those first weeks are when real estate agents preview the house. If it’s overpriced, they may not even bother to show it to their buyers. Eventually, the seller will have to drop the price – and may end up with an even lower price because buyers will wonder why the house has been on the market so long and may factor that into their offer.
The Answer is – listen to us. We KNOW the Raleigh Real Estate Market. We know what your home should be priced at for it to SELL.
