South Atlanta Househounds

Let’s be  honest.  The most significant factor in selling your home is price.  Yes… staging is important.  Yes… neighborhood and schools are important.  Yes… location is important.  There’s a ton of factors that affect price, but at the end of the day it all comes down the “principle of substitution”.  If I can buy your 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house for $170,000 or I can buy another 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house down the street for $150,000 and both houses are about the same… guess what… I don’t think your house is selling today.  

When pricing your home there are three prices we should look at.  To sell it in 30 days, to sell it in 90 days and to sell it in 6 months to a year.  First decision is how quickly do you want to sell.  I would suggest that if you are going to price your home to sell in 6 months to a year you should wait and not put your home on the market now.  There is a glut of homes on the market in Henry, Butts and Clayton counties currently.  When you leave a house on the market for what seems forever it just makes folks think something is wrong with your house. 

The biggest problem with setting price is most folks start out trying to price their house to sell it in a year and want to sell it in a month.  Unfortunately that is not the reality of the buyers market we are currently experiencing. 

Understand that as a sellers agent I have fiduciary responsibility and I want to sell your home for the most money possible.  It benefits both of us.  That said, I am honest and I won’t just “buy” your listing by giving you an inflated sales price so you will choose me to list your home.  You may or may not like the price I suggest but you can always count on the fact that I have your best interest at heart.  Here is a few tips as to how to property price your home. 

Determine Your Home’s Market Value

The three most common ways to estimate value is to hire a professional home appraiser, evaluate your agent’s CMA (Competitive Market Analysis) and use online valuation tools. 

• You probably don’t need to hire a professional appraiser unless your home is unusual or in an area where there haven’t been many recent home sales.
• You should interview at least three successful real estate agents who sell homes in your vicinity. The reason to interview multiple agents is to cross-check their evaluations of your home’s market value.  When you interview the agents, watch out for an agent who “high balls” your home’s value, hoping you will list with him or her because they suggest a high sales price in order to “buy” your listing. 
• Be very careful when using the online valuation tools.  These sites use computerized data crunching tools and are typically based upon public records — tax assessments, deeds, demographics, property characteristics and sales price trends, but can also include data from mortgages, multiple listings and appraisals.  They only give users a “ballpark figure” of what their home is worth rather than a well-researched and unbiased opinion of value. 

Know Your Competition

• Grab the flyers from the other houses in your neighborhood and determine what their listing prices are and how your house compares to theirs in amenities.  

What Are Your Unique Selling Points

• Is your house in a great location?
• Is your house better maintained than most?
• Does your home possess desirable amenities?  Spacious updated kitchens, granite countertops, keeping rooms, updated bathrooms and master suites are all popular upgrades.

Know the Market

• Selling in a buyers market is very different from selling in a sellers market.  We are currently in a buyers market, but all real estate markets fluctuate.  During a sellers market you can list your house just over the prices of recent home sales in your neighborhood.  During a buyers market be prepared to price your home more competitively, budget in closing or buy-down concessions.  I always prefer to market financing options during a buyers market. 

Set Your Price

• Hopefully you will use an agent to help you with this task.  Using the tools and information above, you should set a price both of you and your agent feel comfortable with.  If you and your agent disagree on price, a possible option is to start at your price and if no offers or interest in X number of days then move to the agents price. 

Monitor Your Price

• The interest in your house is a good indicator of how well you priced your home.  If your not getting enough showings then chances are your price is too high for them to bother even looking at your house.  If your getting showings but no offers then it may be time to look at a price adjustment or some concessions on financing or closing costs. 

As I said above pricing is key, but there are several things you can do to make your home more valuable.  Effective marketing, staging, property preparing your home to show and keeping your home “open house ready” are all crucial to getting the most for what your home is worth.