Is Your Home Priced to Sell? How to Figure Out the Value of Your Home
One out of every two hundred homes is foreclosed upon. Depending on the area, this number could be higher.
One of the reasons many homes go into foreclosure is because sellers aren’t able to get them off their hands. If your home isn’t priced to sell, you may not be able to get out from under a heavy mortgage.
Learn the tips and tricks for the pricing of homes so you can move your house off the market quickly.
Making Sure Your Home is Priced to Sell
The first rule for setting your sale price is taking the emotion out of the price. While this has been your home, you don’t get any extra money for the memories you created there. You have to use real facts to determine how much you can get for the home.
If you put a large price tag on your home in hopes you are going to sell it for more than it is worth, you can hurt your chances of selling the home anytime soon. After a couple of weeks and showing to interested buyers, interest fades, and you can miss opportunities.
Often it is better to put your price lower than what you want to create interest in your home. If more than one or two people are interested in your home, they can bid up the price to a higher price than you’d hoped.
But how do you come up with the sale price to start with?
1. Look at Comp Listings & Sales
Looking at homes that are comparable to your home can help you get an idea of your home’s value and what the market can handle. Don’t assume the home next to you is a comp. Many things go into whether a home is comparable to yours or not.
It is tempting to look at the cost per square footage of these homes and then multiply it for your home. What many people don’t know is that cost per square foot is higher in smaller homes and gets lower as the house gets bigger. You can’t look at a 1,300 square foot house to figure out the square footage price for your 3,000 square foot home.
The homes you look at for comps should be only a maximum of 10% variance above or below in square footage to get the best information for your research.
Older homes won’t sell for as much as newer homes, outdated insides will take the price down, homes without certain features are valued higher and the list goes on.
2. Pending Sales
Pending sales can give you a good idea of what the market is willing to pay. You should know that the final price won’t be known until the sale goes through. Pending sales are just another piece of the puzzle and shouldn’t be where your research ends.
3. Withdrawn & Expired Listings
Look at all of the withdrawn and expired listing to see if any were put back on the market. If the homes were put back on the market, you need to add the days before the home was taken off and the days it has been on the market again to get the real listing time.
Now you need to gather clues about why the home didn’t sell. Look to see if the price was too high or if there were other factors in play.
One of the things to look at is whether it was an agent selling the home or if the homeowner was trying to sell it themselves. Even if it was an agent selling the home, you need to see if the agent was with a reputable firm. Some homes may not sell because the agent didn’t put enough effort or marketing behind the listing.
4. Speak with a Realtor
If you get overwhelmed trying to figure out how much to sell your home for on your own, you can move past the DIY stage and speak with a realtor. While a realtor won’t be 100% accurate, you can get a report from them to get an idea of how much you should sell your home for.
Realtors give reports like these to potential clients all of the time, and you shouldn’t be afraid to ask more than one realtor.
5. Get a Home Appraisal
Banks require an appraisal before they lend money on a home, but sellers can also get their home appraised. Get a professional appraiser to look over your home and give you a number for its value. You might spend a couple of hundred dollars, but it is worth it to know this number.
Getting an appraisal can also be helpful if you need to refinance your home or get an equity line of credit. Whatever you decide to do with your home, the appraisal will be worth the time, money and effort you put into having it completed.
Make Your Home Sell Faster
If you want to get your home off the market as soon as possible, you need to not only price it to sell but make sure people want your home. Homes that have high curb appeal will get more attention from potential buyers.
Increasing your home’s curb appeal doesn’t have to cost a lot of money, and it doesn’t have to take a lot of work. Plant colorful flowers around your home and install a new mailbox and your home is on its way. Add some bright paint to the front door, and you’re sure to have eye-catcher.
If you do have some money to put into the home, the bathroom and kitchen is a good place to change fixtures and update the paint to something neutral. You’ll be surprised what a good coat of paint can do for the look of a room.
Ready to Sleep Well Again at Night?
If you’ve done everything you can and your home is priced to sell, but still won’t sell – let me help you. Read our testimonials and then contact us today and see how we can help you.