Thinking of selling your property? How Should You Price Your Home?
Category Top Property Tips
Hoping a buyer will overpay for your home isn't a strategy, it's a wish. It's also self-defeating. Here's a few tips from Seeff Richards Bay.
As a seller, you naturally want to get the top 'dollar'. Chances also are good that you have a deep emotional attachment to your home. Combined, those factors often lead sellers to insist on a high price. But testing the waters can actually hurt a home's value in the long run.
Here's why:
Our analysis of website activity shows that new listings get an average of 50-60 page views on the most popular real estate portals the day they hit the market. Houses with price drops get only 15-20 views.
First impressions matter.
If your home is overpriced when people first see it, chances are good they won't look again. We estimate a house listed for sale gets three-and-a-half times more web traffic in the first seven days than it does a month later. After the first three days, web traffic to existing listings slows more than 65 percent. In three weeks, it's down 85 percent.
In short, your home's debut is its best chance to shine. An overpriced property is more likely to be ignored. In this current market, don't expect a rush of lowball offers. People won't assume you're willing to negotiate.
By the time you lower the price, your home will have the taint of being a languisher. Fair or not, a home fresh on the market at R1, 2mil looks different than one reduced from R1, 5mil to R1, 2mil.
Even if it's objectively a good home, if it's been on the market for a while, many buyers will wonder if there's something wrong with it. Once that stigma is there, it is going to be hard for a seller to get the full asking price. If there's already a price cut, savvy buyers will start circling. It's not a good situation for sellers to be in.
Remember, most buyers will look at your home online the first day it comes to market - make that impression count by pricing right. You'll get more and better offers that way, and you'll get them sooner. Ensure that you get solid advice from your agent to guide you on the ideal price to ask for your property given the recent deals in your area.
Author: Seeff Richards Bay
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