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How to determine the appropriate sale price for your home By Theresa Agovino For starters, realize that the market has changed and that your home may not fetch as much as it would have six months or one year ago. The house may also take longer to sell in this environment. “People won’t overpay for houses in this market,” said Jim Gillespie, president and chief executive officer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp., which has over 3,300 offices and operates in all 50 states. Experts advise contacting several
real estate brokers to ask them what your home is worth. The agent
should be able to provide you with sales figures for comparable
homes in your neighborhood to establish a starting point. Make sure
they are comparing your home to others with a similar size and
characteristics. However, if the most recent sales are over six
months to a year old a seller should consider making a downward
price adjustment. “A house isn’t a commodity,” said Harley E. Rouda Jr., CEO and managing partner of Real Living Inc., a brokerage with offices in 11 states. Rouda said one way to establish a
reasonable price is to look at homes up for sale that are similar to
your own and see what owners are asking. Keep your emotions in check when determining a price, experts advised. “Most people aren’t realistic (when it comes to pricing their home). It is human nature to think your home is worth more than it probably is,” Gillespie said. Realize that someone else may be asking – and may get – a higher price for their home because it is in better condition. To make your home more presentable, consider removing clutter, storing large pieces of furniture, laying new carpet and painting rooms neutral shades. You may love your blood red family room but others will find it vulgar and won’t be able to envision it another color. “A lot of people don’t have an imagination,” said Gillespie. But at the same time, you can’t expect to add the money spent on cosmetic fixes to the price of your home. “Common maintenance needs to be done,” Gillespie said. The worst decision a seller can make is to set the price too high to leave room for downward negotiation. The price can be lowered somewhat, and initially you may need to tinker with it. But generally, homes attract the most buyers in the first few weeks on the market, and if potential purchasers are turned off by an exorbitant price, they’ll just go look elsewhere. “If a house is on the market for a long period of time it becomes stale,” Gillespie said. “People start to think something is wrong with it.” Experts say sellers should ask their real estate agents how they plan to market the house because a wider audience increases the chances of getting your asking price. A strong Web presence is a must these days because so many people use it as a starting point for shopping. Gillespie said there are numerous ways a broker can expose your home to the greatest number of buyers including conducting open house and broker tours, placing it on multiple listings services and working with relocation companies. Some related links that open in new windows:
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