Charlotte Real Estate | Pricing Myths vs. Reality
Want to list your home attractively but, not take a ‘hit’ as a seller? There are a few misconceptions about how to set the sales price for your Charlotte real estate. Here are five common pricing myths and the reality behind them.
Myth #1: It’s OK to test a high price on your Charlotte real estate just to see if anyone will buy it at that price.
If you’re serious about selling your home, don’t play games. In this buyer’s market you have a very small window of opportunity to pull in serious buyers when your home first enters the market. If you play games, such as over-pricing your home just to test the market, savvy buyers will know that game and move on to something else.
Myth #2: You should price your Charlotte real estate higher than the market value to allow for room to negotiate.
Truth: No matter what your reasoning or rationale, overpricing your home is never a good idea. When your home is overpriced, very few potential buyers inquire about it or visit it. As explained in myth #1, if no one wants to buy your home, you won’t have anyone to negotiate with.
Myth #3: The appraisal value of your home has no impact on the sales price of your home.
Truth: Lenders consider the value of your home to be the price for which the home is appraised. For example, if you and your buyer have agreed on a sales price of $300,000, but the appraisal comes in at $280,000, the lender considers the value of the home to be $280,000, not $300,000. When this occurs, buyers will want to renegotiate the sales price of the home to match the appraisal price. Pricing it at market value is more crucial here than you know.
Myth #4: Real estate agents want to price homes high because they’ll make a higher commission.
Truth: If you’ve done the work needed to find a great real estate agent, you should trust your agent to price your home correctly. Because of prior experience, real estate agents understand more than anyone else the importance of properly pricing your home. If your home is incorrectly priced, it won’t sell thus, the real estate agent earns nothing.
Myth #5: Real estate agents want to price homes low because they’ll sell faster and easier without the agents having to do any work.
Truth: Professional real estate agents know that setting the price too low can be almost as harmful as setting the price too high. Buyers who are looking in a specific price range may not consider your home because of the low price tag. They assume it will not fulfill their needs or worry that there’s something wrong with it. Be certain that you’ve done the legwork to find a good agent who knows the market.
Debe – Excellent post! I think I’ve heard every single one of these at one time or another.
Hi Debe – this is excellent information for sellers when they are considering listing their home for sale. Now is not the time to test the market just to see if you can get a higher price. I have recently had this conversation about the importance of pricing your home in alignment with the market.
I find that the sellers who list with someone else do it because the other agent says they can get a higher price than what I suggest. When the house sits for 3 months, the end up having to drop the price to where it should have been, or below it. Sometimes this causes other realtors to think something is wrong with the house, and then it really takes a beating.