Shouldn’t I price my home a little bit high and leave some room for negotiations?
This was once a common practice, but you should not set a high price and hope sellers negotiate with you. There are a few reasons for this.
First, if your home is priced too high, people most likely to buy it may not even see it. Most buyers find homes using specific criteria. They either enter their criteria on a website or in the MLS via their agent. If a home doesn’t meet their criteria, they may never see it.
Say, for example, that your home is priced at $610,000 and you would be happy if it sold for $590,000. If sellers search for homes between $500,000 and $600,000, they won’t even see your home, even though you would be happy to sell it within their range.
You should also price well because the competition is priced well. Buyers sift through many homes online and in email and quickly rule out any home that doesn’t seem like a good value. If you’re even 5% overpriced, you make the competition look better – lower-priced comparable homes look like great deals, while yours seems like a bad value. Priced well, buyers will feel more confident considering your home.
Finally, you don’t want to price too high because you may end up losing money. If your unsold home sits on the market for more than 30-days, which are crucial, you may be inclined to price less than the competition to sell as soon as you can.