How To Price Your Home When You’re Ready To Sell

Deciding to list your home is a big deal. There are a million and one things to check off the to-do list before taking the step. Arguably the largest decision you’ll need to make is what price you’re planning on listing your home at. 

How to price your home to sell is a lot more tricky than you’d think. Overprice it and you’ll be sitting on your home for longer than you want, price it too low you could be walking away from the deal short-changed. 

While there is nothing stopping you from dropping the price at a later stage, when your home’s listing has been on the market for some time, it’s tough to encourage buyers to be interested in it. 

You want to avoid landing up in a pricing dilemma. But what is this pricing dilemma?

What is a pricing dilemma?

As discussed, pricing your home too high can be a mistake, as discouraged potential buyers are hard to re-attract. But if you price the home too low, it can be a benefit for you, especially if the market is right. 

Houses priced below market value will receive multiple offers and will drive up the asking price up to market value. The pricing of your home should be based on supply and demand. Also, having a good idea of what the markets are doing is key. 

What are the markets doing in your area in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC? 

Housing market in Virginia

In 2021, there will be a strong demand for homes. And housing stock has seen a drop in the market comparing the year-on-year change. Virginia Realtors stated that there is a 50.1% decrease in the month’s supply. 

And even with the decrease in inventory, the sales volume has seen a 31.2% increase year-on-year, jumping from $2.7 billion to $3.5 billion. 

The main reason for this massive jump is that many buyers are getting into bidding wars for properties and driving up prices. The median sales price for homes has jumped by 9.6%. 

Combine all this together and you have a very healthy seller’s market. 

Now let’s look at Maryland. 

Housing market in Maryland

It’s the same story in Maryland as well. Record low-interest rates have created a mob of eager home buyers with limited housing inventory. 

And inventory is moving incredibly quickly. According to Maryland Realtors, year-on-year comparisons between 2020 and 2021 for median days on market dropped from 29 days to 8 days! 

New listings also dropped from 8,811 to 7,404, so it’s a seller’s market. Just like they are conducting bidding wars in Virginia, buyers in Maryland are driving up the price of homes. The median price for homes has jumped up 10.2%. 

What about in the nation’s capital? 

Housing market in Washington, DC

Just like its neighbors, Washington DC is a seller’s market too. The metro saw an average price gain of 12.1% compared to last year. 

This price surge, once again, is down to the combination of low interest rates and an imbalance in supply and demand. Housing supply (for sale listings) has dropped by 52% over the last year. 

And in turn, homes are moving quickly.  On average, expect a house to be snapped up within 6 days or less. 

To summarize, currently, the market is a seller’s market. And posting an asking price below the median price could easily see it reach market value and above. 

While you can assess the value of your home on your own, you can also ask for assistance from local realtors and brokerages. 

Hiring a realtor or brokerage to assist 

One of the first tasks a real estate agent or brokerage will complete when being hired is to complete a real estate comp. 

A real estate comp is one of the best techniques used to determine the price of a property. It is used by real estate agents and agencies as well as appraisers. 

How they reach their final figure is by looking at how much others were willing to pay for a home similar to yours. You can actually compare the original listing prices with what the finalized price is and determine the usual drop in price. 

If you are in a buyers market, you will need to prepare for this drop, but in a seller’s market, it could increase.

They can use any locally listed house near your home as a comparison. But don’t be tempted to try it on your own, it would be very hard for you, as an average Joe, to access this real estate information.  

This being said, you can do a basic real estate comp using the listing prices. Remember to limit your search to your neighborhood and within a ½ to ¼ mile circumference around the property. 

If you are unsure about properly completing the comp, you can request a Comparative Marketing Analysis (CMA) report. 

While we’ve said you could request one, most realtors will provide you with a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) for your home. 

With a CMA you’ll be collecting data on:

• Zone of home

• Schools in the area

• Public transport

• Access to shops

• Pricing in the area

• And the properties sold in the area over the last 90 days. 

By taking this simple step you should be able to generate a better asking price and entice a new buyer for your home. 

Other factors that realtors might overlook are renovations completed on the property, also neighborhood dividing lines, and physical barriers. Don’t get trapped comparing your home to one on the other side of the tracks. 

Also, square footage is important, especially in the current market’s desire for multigenerational housing, where millennial homeowners and in-laws live together. Try to keep the comparisons within a 10% variance up or down. 

And the last detail that might be forgotten by a realtor is to compare homes of the same age. Sometimes homes that are built in a certain decade now live side by side. Make sure that the homes in the CMA report are from the same decade. 

While reports and comps will help, it’s often the trends and aspects that aren’t mentioned that will determine the value of your home. 

What factors will determine your house’s sale price? 

Other factors determining how to price your home for sale

While it’s great to compare your house with others in the neighborhood, it’s often the house itself that determines the home’s selling price. 

Does your home need repairs and renovations need to be completed?

If you are selling the home “as-is” and you have no capital to complete repairs and renovations, you can price your home lower to make sure you sell.  

Homes that need extensive work need individuals willing to put in the time and capital to make it livable m. And if there is visible mold, water damage, or a smell around the house, it’s going to be a tough house sale. 

Also, if your home is kitted out with outdated appliances this could also mean lowering the asking price, as the new buyer will need to replace these items. 

Is your home desirable?

Desirability is a major drawcard for properties. This can extend from the area you reside to your home’s finish. 

If you live in a hip and trendy midtown complex, the desirability card you’re selling is a lifestyle. Morning runs to the artisanal bakery, lunches at the corner cafe, and gourmet suppers by candlelight. 

Alternatively, if the home you’re selling looks something like from the pages of an interior decoration magazine, that’s the desirability factor that will sell the house. 

Price to avoid obscure and century pricing

When you’re determining how to price a house to sell, you need to make sure that you don’t price as a “century” number. A century number is something with a zero at the end. By avoiding this, it’s where you list your house for just under the full amount you want. 

In the retail setting, it’s the reason why they price items at $19.95 and not $20. There’s proven psychology that humans read these prices as more attractive.  

List your home to be separate and searchable 

Most American homebuyers are searching for properties online. This means you need to consider where your listed home’s price will land it. 

If houses in your neighborhood are all listed at a certain price, or there’s a pricing gap in the market, it would be wise to slot your home in the opening.

This also applies to online search results. Most users search for homes in certain price brackets. A buyer will look for homes between $280,000 – $300,000, but won’t bother looking for yours if it is listed at $305,000.

Learn from sellers’ mistakes and what buyers are seeing

One of the last things to consider when thinking about, “Pricing my house” is to do some research into how other sellers’ have fared within the market. 

This can be done by finding withdrawn and expired listings. You can do this by looking up listings online. The difference between the two terms is an expired listing means the agreement between the seller and agent came to a close without a sale, while a withdrawn listing means the owner took it off the market.  

If the agreement came to an end it means that the professionals couldn’t find a buyer for the property at that price, while a withdrawn listing means that the seller was unhappy with the offers (a generalization). 

You can also determine what the average listed time is in your area. 

The next step is to put yourself in the shoes of a buyer. While you’re bound to have an emotional attachment to your home, be honest about it and try to work out if, from their point of view,  it’s worth the asking price. 

Finding the solution to the question, “How to go about pricing my home.” is complicated and can be extremely stressful. 

But what if you could get a cash offer within ten minutes without having to do a thing? 

We buy houses for cash!

House Buyers of America will buy your home for cash. This means we can act quickly and buy your home “as-is”. House Buyers of America will buy any home at a fair price.  

There are no stressful calculations or research to be done. All you need to do is to give us a call at 855-659-3289, or you can use our online form to get started! Our Real Estate Consultants are ready to assist you!

And as the perfect buyer for your house, we’re going to give you a fair cash offer on the phone within ten minutes. 

House Buyers of America will handle all of the paperwork and we’ll do it quickly if you’re ready to sign on the dotted line. 

And once you’ve signed the contract, you will see the cash in your account in a matter of days. 

Currently, House Buyers of America will buy homes in Washington DC, virginia house buyers, Maryland, and all throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

But why House Buyers of America? 

Why select House Buyers of America?

Since 2001, House Buyers of America has been in the business of buying and selling homes.  

We bring our experience and customer service records to the table. 

This means our staff is able to assist with nearly every situation because we’ve been there, bought and sold thousands of houses.

Give us a call if you’re looking for a buyer to purchase your home within 10 minutes!