Even in a hot real estate market like we have today, it is still important for sellers to price their homes accurately from the start. If you are a homeowner thinking about selling, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking you can get away with over pricing your home as buyers are desperate, but that is just not so. Don’t get me wrong, you should be able to sell your home for every dollar that it is worth, and perhaps even a tad more, but only if your home is priced and marketed accurately from the start. This is why it is critical that your listing agent have access to all the latest market data as well as a complete understanding of how to use the market data to determine the price that will yield you the highest return without overpricing it and missing the opportunity to maximize your return.
What doesn’t work…
- “I’m going to hold out to get my price….I’m in no hurry”
- “I want to leave some “wiggle” room in my price or room to negotiate”
- “Let’s try this price for a while, I can always reduce my price later”
Proof the above doesn’t work…
It’s simple…when you are a seller, time is not your friend, period. Before I go further, I should point out that, like nearly everything in life, there are exceptions and unique markets that are different, but I’m addressing the main-stream market in St Louis, the $100,000 – $300,000 price range in the 5-county core St Louis market. To illustrate my point that, as a seller, time is not your friend, I created the tables below showing sales data for homes sold during the past 12 months for different blocks of time it took the home to sell. I did from 0 to 30 days, from 30 to 60 days, 60 to 90, 90 to 120 and 120 to 180 days. What the data reveals is that, clearly, seller’s that price their homes accurately and, therefore, sell their homes quicker and realize more of their original ask price than seller’s that spend more time on the market. Below is a quick recap of the percentage of original list price sellers sold for based upon how long it took to sell:
- 0-30 days- 100%
- 30-60 days- 95.11%
- 60-90 days- 93.58%
- 90-120 days- 92.96%
- 120-180 days- 92.50%
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Homes Sold in 0 to 30 Days
Homes Sold in 30 to 60 Days
Homes Sold in 60 to 90 Days
Homes Sold in 90 to 120 Days
Homes Sold in 120 to 180 Days
