Price it Right to Sell It Quickly
In preparing to sell your home, if you want to get it to move without unnecessary delay you have to decide on the right price point. With a price that is unrealistically high, a house can sit unsold for too long and that is deadly. It may well make more sense to start off lower than your most optimistic expectations in order to sell it without delay. This applies even if you are not already under the pressure of having a contract on another home. It is almost inevitable that before your sale is completed -- especially if the process drags on because no one is interested at your price -- you will be drawn forward into longing for a new home. If you are stagnating on the market with too high a price, you would find this to be a painful situation.
Analytical Tools are Easily Available
If you want a successful sale the thing to keep in mind is to be the very best deal on the block. If you are working with a Realtor, your agent will be able to provide you with a market analysis so you can see the price structure of the current market. Setting a realistic price point is something a Realtor can contribute to get the process started and headed toward success.
Quick Deal vs. (Maybe...) More Money
It is important to realize that the optimal price is not the highest price you can get from your home, but rather the highest price in the shortest reasonable time. There is a value on your time, and on the work that you have to do. That applies as well to the time to find the right buyer, or rather having that buyer get around to finding your gem of a home. If you look at it with this in mind, you can start to see the problem in a new way. If you are selling when there is a slow market, starting off too high can put you in the position of having not only to cut your price after the home goes up for sale, but also to offer other amenities such as help with settlement costs in order to obtain the sale. Once your position starts to slip, it can be a dangerous downhill slide. When a house is new on the market and priced right, that process does not even get started.
Real Estate Market Momentum Can Be an Advantage
If it happens that after seriously considering the case for not going for the highest price you are still determined to get the most you possibly can, you will have to wait until you can get that best price. Time trades for money, as always in an open market. If you think that the present time is not when you want to sell, you may have to give a bit on the idea of selling with speedy efficiency -- but even so, when the market changes you might need to act quickly. This could mean selling your home before you decide on another one. Unless you have relatives or friends with whom you can stay, you could defeat your purpose in gaining extra money on the sale by having to make do with temporary housing until you find another place. In some cases, the buyers might wait to take possession, especially if they can stay in their current home a little longer. Most of the time, though, as soon as they know their new mortgage is approved they will be anxious to close within a week or two.
About Those Repairs...
It is too easy to dismiss significant differences in value when you are deciding on a price for your home and you see others going for good prices. It's very tempting to see a house successfully selling for an attractive price in the neighborhood and come to the conclusion that yours should be sold for the same dollar amount, turning a blind eye to important features or needed repairs that would make a difference. You can, however, get it sold pretty quickly by setting a price low enough to offset the repairs the new owner will have to do. Still, you must realize, this option is only pertinent to work of a cosmetic or cleanup nature. As a general rule things like structural defects and faulty heating systems must be taken care of before the deal closes.
On the other hand jobs like replacing tired landscaping, painting, cleaning the carpets, fixing windows and shutters and similar jobs can be avoided, if that's what you want, by lowering your price of the home. Doing what you can to make the sale in the shortest reasonable time, looking at it objectively, is to your benefit. There are buyers who go out of their way to look for such an opportunity. If your home is in anything less than perfect condition you have to be especially careful in your price setting to make it work out the way you want it. In any case, though, the way to come out ahead as a seller is by setting your price right from the very start.
This article was provided by Automated Homefinder, Colorado's Longmont real estate professionals.