Is your home priced to sell?
Is your house sitting on the market for too long? Are you beginning to wonder what is wrong with your house? When you list your house for sale, the mission is to get the maximum price and to sell your house as quickly as possible. But most people fail to realize that they may have priced their home too high and that it is discouraging some really serious and qualified prospects to come forward.
How do you decide if your home is priced to sell? There are many factors that are helpful in calculating a fair market value of your house – that includes the market conditions, location of your house, existing interest rate and whether you have any personal reasons to sell a house quickly. Let’s look at some top factors that impact the asking price of your house.
What factors determine your asking price?
1. How urgently you want to sell your house? If you want to close a deal faster, you should be willing to sell your house at a lower price.
2. How many homes are available in your area in the same price category? Competition plays an important role in estimating a selling price for your home.
3. What does the ‘Competitive Market Analysis’ say? You must be aware of the price range at which the similar homes have been sold in your area lately. The comparable rates will give you an idea on how to price your home to make it more sale-ready.
4. What is the current market rate? No matter how much you originally paid for your house, your asking price is largely influenced by existing market rate.
5. What is the condition of your house? If the condition of your house is better than the competition, in terms of features, facilities and the maintenance work, there is no harm in pricing your home a little above than what you competition is demanding.
6. What time of the year are you set about to sell your house? Winter is really a slow time for sales, especially around the holidays and festive season when not many people are looking to buy homes. Spring is usually considered the best season to sell your home as the families want their kids to settle before the new school year starts. there are other reasons that make spring season the best time to sell your house. To know more, read ‘Why Spring is a good time to sell your house’.
7. What are the current interest rates? With higher interest rates, the cost of mortgage payments also increases. This makes the prospect of buying a house less exciting.
8. What is the location of your house? People are willing to pay more for a house if it is located close to good schools, hospital, gym and sports centers and other value-adding facilities.
9. Have you invested in home improvements projects lately? If you have remodeled your house and upgraded your kitchen and flooring, and got a fresh lick of paint, it is likely that you will fetch a good price for your home. But sometimes going overboard with home improvement initiatives may backfire and bring no return on your investment. For example, home buyers are more interested to know what the general condition of the house is and whether the house is ready to move in. Repair and maintenance issues and foundation problems take precedence over the remodeled kitchen and bathrooms. To get more insights on how to attract more buyers, read Tips to make your house look ‘ready for sale’
What happens if you have priced your home more than the current market rate?
1. It is very much likely that your home will stay on the market for a long time.
2. Potential home buyers take the Competitive Market Analysis very seriously. If the similar homes in your area are priced lower, there they are more likely to attract more buyers.
3. If your house remains on the listing for more than four to six weeks, it is bound to encourage negative speculations about why your house is there on the market for so long. In turn, you will gradually lose market interest and potential buyers.
4. You might end up losing more money than you planned to gain by pricing your house higher. You may require to make additional mortgage payments or incur extra maintenance costs if you are not able to sell by the deadline you had planned.
5. You may be forced to lower the price of your home. Real-estate statistics suggest that if a home has been on the market for too long, a home seller has to settle for a price that is far less than the fair market value.
Overpricing a house is one of the most common mistake that can have a huge impact on the sale your house in more than one ways. It is best to be realistic about pricing your house just right the very first time. A reliable real estate agent in your area can help you estimate the fair market value for your home and help you sell your house quickly. How? Read ‘How a good real estate agent can help you sell your house quickly?’