Every homeowner wants the best price for his home. Actually, when selling your home the most important thing is to price your home correctly. You should be sure that you’re not overpricing your house just because you love it. Especially, if you’re going to sell a home on your own, with the help of FSBO listings, pricing may become too tricky. So, let the emotions step back. You need to take your time and do some research before putting your home in the market. If you overprice your home, thinking that you can change the price in the future and so become more attractive to buyers, you’re deeply mistaken. The best first price is what you need to have for selling your home quickly. Any experienced realtor will tell you that pricing your home correctly from the very beginning is critical for getting the best price. Here, we’ll provide some of the most important things you should consider when pricing your property.

Tip 1: Search the market

Market conditions make most important factors to consider when pricing your home. Here you should have a close look at the past to have a prediction for the future. Each homeowner should do market research to see what homes and for how much have been sold recently. See how your home fits with those sold ones. No one is going to offer you top dollar for your house if they are not really interested in. Home selling is a science, marketing, and art! So, make sure to perform like a pro. Analyze your local market. If real estate prices are falling, you should also set a really reasonable listing price. Still, if the market is on fire, you may price your house more ambitiously.

Tip 2: Check out some comparables

After examining the local market in general, take 10-15 houses, most like yours, that were sold in the last few months. Find the homes that have similar conditions in your neighborhood and compare them with your home. Consider their prices. See what buyers were looking for when buying a home in your area. If it is on your budget, add some up-to-date features to your home to be good for your market. Don’t set the price too high or too low. Also, visit some of the houses that are now on the market. See what they offer. Attend open houses. Yes, these are your competitors. And if they are on the market for really some long period, you should find out what the reason is. It is in the high price, you could rethink your home price. Try your best to find out what has been sold and price your home accurately, according to those prices. Bear in mind, that the real estate market can change even in half a year. So you don’t have to compare your home with one sold a year or two ago.

Tip 3: Don’t be ‘creative’ with the asking price

Unlike the daily use of goods, houses shouldn’t be priced creatively. This means you should set round numbers as your home price. You may use your creativity when staging your home, but not when pricing it. Imagine your home on online listings or in a newspaper listing with $76,999 asking price. Not fun. In the end, think like a buyer and be honest to yourself. How much would you pay for your house NOW?

Tip 4: Have a pricing strategy

Here you might need professional help. Thus having a pricing strategy will maximize profitability and increase buyer’s interest; you definitely will have to pay some extra money to a good realtor to help you find the pricing strategy for your property. Even if you look at all the houses for sale in your area, in fact, you may never know the demand for sure. A good agent will find the best price or price range for your home according to the buyer’s performance. Or could advise to sell your home in an auction or for “offers above” – a specific figure. Here is what you might have no understanding of – what all the cons and pros are for each strategy.

Tip 5: Online calculators / professional help

Now, when online listings are available to everyone, and there are different websites and online calculators for setting a proper home price, every homeowner wants to save money by not hiring a realtor. We can’t deny online calculators are a great tool to have a starting understanding of your home. But they are only the start. What they consider is not specific. These calculators collect general information about the square footage of your home, a number of rooms, beds, baths and few factors about houses in your neighborhood. They don’t see your house and don’t know if it is near a school or too close to a highway. Still, these are very important factors every buyer considers when buying a home. So, as we mentioned above, working with a good specialist is a good idea.

Bonus Tip: Add value to your home before listing it

Before setting your home price and listing it, make sure to check out our article on how to add value to your home on a budget. Spend some money and take the risk to invest in your home being sure it will pay off shortly.

By: Hermine Aslanyan  

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Additional Resources: 

6 Tips For Selling Your Home Fast by Glenn Curtis, via Investopedia

Summer Home Selling Tips by Bill Gassett

Selling A Home In 2016, What You Need To Know by Wendy Weir