March 15, 2021
You STILL Have to Do the Work to Do to SELL!
Everyone is talking about how HOT, HOT, HOT the market is – and I wholeheartedly agree. But I also want to very strongly caution any sellers out there that the basic, underlying principles of pricing and preparing your home properly still apply. Maybe now more than ever.
If everything is selling with multiple offers above-asking price, why is this really necessary? Sellers ask me that question almost daily. We do a complete analysis of where the home should be priced and review our estimate of where it will sell. And then I get the push-back. “Shouldn’t I price it higher to get more money for the house?”
Short answer – NO.
First, not everything is selling with multiple offers above-asking. Let’s look at Dumont, for example. Over the last month, 21 homes have sold with 17 at or above asking. Just like we thought they would. But when homes were not priced properly, it looked like this:
House 1
Original price – $529,000
Sold price – $475,000
90% of asking in 124 days
House 2
Original price – $479,600
Sold price – $420,000
88% of asking in 114 days
House 3
Original price – $399,000
Sold price – $325,000
81% of asking in 65 days
Now compare that to:
House 1
Original price – $399,000
Sold price – $450,000
113% of asking price in 11 days
My point is this: you have to PRICE your home right (and prepare it properly – but that’s for another day) if you expect to get a HIGHER price. Today’s buyer is expecting to bid higher for a home that is priced right as soon as it comes on the market. Conversely, they expect to negotiate the price lower if it is not. You will only get buyers bidding higher when there is competition for the home – and you will never get buyers bidding higher when there is not.
To put it another way, NOBODY is bidding over asking unless EVERYBODY is bidding over asking.
And yes, you can quote me. 😊
