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How to Price Your Home to Sell

Interface Digital — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 21:42:41 +0000

Deciding to sell your home is a big deal, and coming to a consensus on the list price can be the first big hurdle. Whether you’re working with an agent or listing on your own, it can be a challenge to learn how to price a house. If you’re asking yourself “How much should I sell my house for?” this guide will help you through the process.

1. Start with your Zestimate

Zillow’s Zestimate is the estimated market value for your individual home, computed daily based on millions of public and user-submitted data points, and it’s a great starting point for your pricing research. You can find your Zestimate simply by searching your address on our website. Make sure to claim your home so you can let us know if any of your home facts are wrong, which could be affecting your Zestimate. Potential buyers use Zestimates when researching homes, so you’ll want it to be accurate.

2. Review comparables of recently sold homes

What is a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA)?

If you’re working with a real estate agent, they’ll be providing you with a CMA, which is a compilation of recent sales from your area. It takes into consideration home details, days on the market, and final sale price.

If you’re selling your home on your own, you can definitely do your own research online and get a good idea of your home’s value. But, don’t be afraid to contact a few real estate agents to request a CMA. They’re used to providing comps to potential clients, and they may not even need to step foot in your home. You might also consider hiring an independent appraiser. For a few hundred dollars, they can give you a fair market value for your home.

If you do search for comps on your own, note that comparable properties should:

Be within ¼ to ½ of a mile from your home.
Have been listed within the last 3 months.
Be roughly the same age as your property.
Have square footage within 10 percent of yours. So, if your home is 1,500 square feet, you should look at homes between 1,350 and 1,650 square feet.

3. Learn from other sellers’ mistakes

Review expired listings from your area to gain insights on pricing your home to sell. Compare original list prices of recently sold homes with their final sale prices. Did it take many price cuts to get a sale? Perhaps it was overpriced to begin with?

4. Don’t let your asking price lump you in with the competition

Ever heard of price banding? It’s the practice of looking over current inventory in your neighborhood and finding a less crowded price point. Prices tend to get bunched up as sellers try to price their homes competitively. For example, if there are four homes in your neighborhood priced between $274,000 and $276,000, and the next set of homes start at $290,000 and up, you should take advantage of the wide open $280,000 price band.

5. Avoid obscure and century pricing

Whether at the grocery store or in a home sale, there’s a proven psychology that items priced just under a “century” number (meaning a nice, round number) are more attractive to buyers — think $9.95 instead of $10, $19.99 instead of $20, and so on. For whatever reason, your $299,999 home might seem more approachable than if it were priced at $300,000. However, pricing a house at a random and obscure number (like $123,456) is distracting to buyers and gives a bad impression of you, the seller.

6. Price for online search ranges

Consider the price range your home will fall into on popular online real estate websites. Most buyers have a price range they are considering or can afford. A buyer looking at homes in the $280,000 to $300,000 range will likely not see your home if it’s listed at $305,000. But, if you choose a home listing price of $299,999, it’ll show up in their search results — and they just might end up being your buyer.

7. Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes

It’s hard to put aside your emotional attachment to your home, but when selling your home, it’s a must. Look around at what else is selling around the same price. Objectively, are these homes worth more or less than yours?

8. A note on pricing for a bidding war

There’s a difference between “How much can I list my house for?” and “How much can I sell my house for?” Sometimes, especially in big seller’s markets, sellers list their homes for an attractively low asking price, in hopes of driving up the eventual sales price with a bidding war.

While this strategy can work, there’s always a risk of the financing falling through on your highest-priced offer, especially if your home doesn’t end up appraising for the offered amount. When that happens, you’ve jeopardized lower offers, and potential buyers may wonder if there’s a flaw in your home that made your deal fall through.

When evaluating offers, always look carefully at all aspects of each offer before deciding which to accept — there are more factors than just the price offered.

9. Don’t hesitate to cut the price after listing

Even with the best research, sometimes you’ll come to the conclusion that you’ve listed too high. Luckily, it’s not unusual to see price cuts. In fact, according to the Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report, 60 percent of sellers change their price at least once. The key is to recognize quickly that you’ve overpriced, and make an accurate adjustment.

Avoid the temptation of making a few little pricing tweaks over time. Older listings simply aren’t as attractive to buyers, and your goal is to sell quickly. It’s always better to make one big price correction up front.

How to price your home for the current housing market

To learn how to sell your house for the best price, keep in mind the following factors:

Seasonality: In the majority of the country, spring is considered the best time to sell a home — the weather is improving and families want to move during the summer break from school. Fall is considered second-best, as most people are back in town from summer vacations. Winter is the slowest season, not only because of bad weather, but because people are busy with the holiday season. Of course, the very best time to sell varies a bit city by city.
Inventory: In Economics 101, we were taught the basics of supply and demand, and it definitely applies to real estate. If your home is one of 20 for sale in your neighborhood, you’ll have a hard time getting the price you want, since supply outweighs demand. But, if it’s a hot market and you’re one of just a few homes available in your area, you may be able to get your asking price, or even higher.
- Buyer’s market: In a buyer’s market, you need to be priced slightly lower than the competition, because there are more homes for sale than there are buyers in the market.
- Seller’s market: In a seller’s market, you can add about 10 percent to a comparable sale, since inventory is limited and buyers are competing for fewer homes.
- Neutral market: In a neutral real estate market, there’s a good balance between the number of buyers and the number of homes for sale. In this market, you’ll want to keep an eye on nearby comparables to

Why Do People Sell Their Homes?

Interface Digital — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 21:33:40 +0000

American homeowners are a restless lot, moving every five to seven years on average. Ranging from personal relationships to physical surroundings, there are many reasons why people sell their homes.

However, a home that no longer is a good fit for one family can be a dream home for another. When a home no longer is a good fit, it might be time to make a change.

Home-Related Reasons

The motivation for a move often reflects the residence itself, or the area around it. This does not always mean there is something wrong with the home or the area, but the situation for the homeowners may have changed, requiring something different.

Home is Too Small

Increased family size is the most common rationale for selling a home. First-time home buyers often outgrow their starter residences. As the kids grow, people say they need a larger place.

Made a Mistake

Maybe they thought they could get by without a front yard, but the noise from the street is just too much. Maybe the pool is proving a pain to maintain—and they never use it anyway. Perhaps they’re sick of tripping over the steps to the sunken living room. Whatever the reason, homeowners might believe they made a mistake when purchasing their present place and want out.

There Goes the Neighborhood

The neighborhood might have changed economically, socially, or in terms of infrastructure. Perhaps the overall area has developed in a way not to the residents’ liking: grown too commercial, too busy, too young, or too quiet.

Financial Reasons

Money matters are another common motivation for moving. Not only do people’s incomes change over time, but the values of homes also change over time, introducing another factor.

Moving on Up

People outgrow their homes in a figurative sense as well: Their careers are flourishing or they’ve come into money and can afford a bigger, grander, more expensive residence.

Deferred Maintenance

Some people don’t want to put on a new roof, replace the siding, or buy a new furnace, so it’s easier to buy a newer home. When you figure the life of most residential infrastructures is about 15 years, it could make sense to get out before it’s time to spend the big bucks.

Cash in Equity

Some homeowners can’t stand the fact their place is worth all that money and they can’t, as the saying goes, eat the house. Rather than stare at four walls with empty pockets, they find it more financially expedient to sell and use the funds for other things. So they cash in, taking advantage of the appreciation in property values.

Personal Reasons

Life changes in a lot of ways that have little to do with money or the size of one’s family. When owning a house is the only thing keeping a homeowner tied to a specific area, it might be time to consider cutting ties to the house as well.

New Job or Transfer

Obviously, work-related relocation makes it necessary to pull up roots—and it doesn’t have to be a full-fledged move to another town or state. Many people draw the line at a commute that exceeds a certain distance, especially if it means driving in heavy traffic.

See Family More Often—or Less

People frequently move to be near relatives, especially as they age. Conversely, some homeowners move to put distance between themselves and their kin. Dysfunctional and fractured families have been known to grow closer after being separated.

Need a New Challenge

Some people enjoy fixing up a home—spending time, money, and effort on remodeling. But once the work is completed, they become restless because they have nothing left to do. They like nothing better than selling up and moving on to the next fixer-upper.

Different Interests and Priorities

Some folks are simply tired of owning a home and would prefer to travel, pursue a hobby, or be less responsible. So, for these people, homeownership loses its priority status and selling a home turns into the ticket for realizing dreams.

Life Cycle Reasons

As people reach significant milestones in their lives, their residential preferences and needs often alter.

Changes in Relationships

Moving in with a partner or getting married usually means selling for one or both of the homeowning parties. Conversely, breakups also are a common reason for people to sell homes. One party may need to buy out the other and not have the cash available, the place may not be affordable to sustain on a single income, or the home simply holds bad memories.

Empty Nest

Downsizing a home is a key reason why empty-nesters move. The kids have grown up and moved out, and now the parents want a smaller place. Plus, the older you get, the harder a big house is to maintain, and the better an apartment or townhouse looks. Physical ailments make it difficult to climb stairs, walk long distances, negotiate narrow spaces, or do yard work. Since refitting can be expensive, it’s often more expedient to move to a place with a preferable layout or a condo complex with maintenance staff.

Retirement

Active-adult communities are attracting many buyers over age 55. These planned communities offer golf courses, clubhouses, workout and recreational facilities, social gatherings, and health and medical facilities, making it easier to age in place.

Death in the Family

When one half of a couple dies, the survivor often finds the home too big or too full of sad reminders to remain there. Maybe grown children find the familial home impractical to keep after their remaining parent goes. Estate planners often recommend that homeowners transfer title to a property into a trust, which allows their heirs to avoid probate proceedings and sell a home more easily.

WHY SELL YOUR HOME WITH US?

Interface Digital — Thu, 18 Jun 2020 15:06:13 +0000

When you sell your home to Offer Home, you can expect the BEST treatment. To help you with the transition of selling your home quicker, we make the process of buying your home super fast. This means that a fast offer for your home that will be expected in 24 hours at the max.

What does this mean? We work that quickly. Not only that, but we can close as fast as you allow us to when you call to get an offer. This can translate to under 3 days in some cases.

We buy houses in any condition with absolutely NO fees. Your house can have severe fire damage, and we can still buy it from you. Even if every pipe in any of your walls busted, causing massive water damage, we would still want to buy your house.

No house is unwanted by us. We love hoarder houses, and torn down or damaged homes. Bad tenants are a breeze for us to manage, and code violations are even easier. Just give us a call today and we can help you sell your home!

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