Occasionally , the best move is to get an appraisal . An appraisal costs $ 400 –$ 600 . This might be a worthwhile investment , since most buyers are getting financing to buy your home and their lender will require a full appraisal on the home . Purchasing an appraisal upfront can save some sellers tens of thousands of dollars , in which case the upfront cost of the appraisal is tiny in comparison . Every once in a while , the appraisal comes in way below or far higher than our estimate of market price , but the majority of the time it confirms our research . In either case , it is always nice to have another viewpoint on what the house might sell for .
How Do You Know When Your Home Is Priced Too High ?
Too many agents and homeowners make the mistake of assuming when a house hasn ’ t sold within a month or two that it ’ s overpriced . It very well might be overpriced , but before you drop the price , you should examine all sides of the Listing Triangle , which includes Presentation and Visibility .
To determine if a home is listed too high we need ask the following questions :
1 . Is the visibility of the listing exceeding other competing homes on the market ?
2 . Are we getting a normal amount of showings for what is expected for a home in this price range and location , but no offers ?
3 . Have we successfully communicated or illustrated the best features of the home in the listing ? 4 . Is the home being shown when it is looking its very best ? 5 . Is the feedback we get from buyers and agents all positive , but we still have no offers after weeks or even months on the market ?
If we answered YES to these five questions , then the price of the home is most likely too high for the market at that time . That doesn ’ t automatically mean the solution is to drop the price . It might mean that depending on the seller ’ s goals , we may need to try selling it at another time of year or when the market is stronger . The point is , lowering the price is not the only solution .
Can You Underprice a Home , or Will the Market Self-Correct ?
If a market is healthy with a fair amount of demand from buyers , and we do a good job with visibility and presentation , and the house is superior in some ways to other listings — we may get multiple offers from buyers . The question always becomes , “ Did we underprice it ? Could we have gotten more ?” In a healthy market buyers will push up the sale price to what they feel
The Listing Triangle™ Page 27