The Danger of Overpricing Your Home

A home sale isn’t like a garage sale, where sellers and buyers haggle over price. In fact, it is the price of the home that determines whether any particular buyer will even take the time to view it. Price it too high compared to similar homes, and few buyers will show up, meaning you won’t have anyone to haggle with.

Can you guess what the number one criterion is that a buyer’s real estate agent uses to search for homes on the MLS? That’s right; most of them search by price. What happens then when you overprice your three-bedroom, two-bathroom home is that it will come up in the searches of agents looking for four bedroom three bath homes or other homes that are far nicer, newer, larger, and with more amenities.

Your house will stick out like the proverbial sore thumb, and the chances are good that you will get few people viewing it. In fact, you’ll be lucky to get “drive-bys” only.

The home then sits on the market until you decide it’s time to get realistic about the price. Unfortunately, it may be too late by then. Other agents and homebuyers are suspicious about homes that languish on the market, and yours may become stigmatized.

Put yourself in a buyer’s or agent’s shoes. When searching for homes, what if the same home keeps coming up over the course of a month or two? You’d become suspicious. You might wonder what’s wrong with the house since no one seems interested in buying it.

In the first two weeks a home is on the market, it will be the most popular and receive the most traffic. If it’s overpriced, not only will viewings be limited, but you’ll lose the most valuable marketing period. And, no, you will never be able to duplicate this honeymoon period, even if you the price down the line.

Unless the market is red-hot for sellers and multiple offers are the norm, work with your agent to determine the home’s value and price it right.