Should You Start Out with a HIGH Listing Price?

Because of the change in real estate market conditions, more sellers are competing for fewer buyers. So once again, it seemed important to challenge a long-standing "myth" of real estate.

"The initial listing price isn't that important because the price can always be adjusted down later."

Many homeowners believe this.

It is a myth.

Not true.

If most buyers first viewed your house because of a newspaper ad, a magazine, the internet, brochures, or the sign in your front yard, the initial listing price probably would not make a difference. The house would always be "new" to those seeing it.

But most buyers do NOT come to your house because of various types of advertising. That is the another myth.

Sure, buyers call on an ad, they often LOOK at that house, but not always. Once they talk to an agent, they may discover it isn't what they need (or want) at all.

However, they ARE talking to an agent. That agent knows the current inventory and will know of other property that DOES fit their needs.

Those are the properties that buyers look at, and THIS is how most buyers end up looking at your house, too. Because of other agents, not because of your ad.

Hardly anyone buys the house in the ad.

As a result, you need to get other agents interested in your property, and this is where your listing agent comes in...and why a good listing agent is extremely important. The listing agent gets buyer's agents looking at your home.

Those agents have clients who called in on other properties.

Buyer's agents are not swayed by advertising. They look at the needs of the client, where the client wants to live, location, condition, and other details of the property...

And most importantly....

...price.

If your house is overpriced, agents are going to show similar homes that are priced more attractively. Your listing will get passed over.

Agents pay MOST attention to homes newly on the market. There are fewer NEW listings than current listings. It is easier to keep an eye out for what is NEW, compared to the vast number of current listings.

New listings are on the "hot" sheet circulated in real estate offices. The MLS computer identifies new listings. Your listing agent may hire a service to distribute fliers to all the buyer's agents. There are office previews and MLS tours to showcase new listings. A lot of attention is focused on what is NEW.

With agent's looking at newly listed homes so aggressively, a properly priced home gets attention.

An overpriced home gets passed over.

You may be thinking, "But I'm willing to negotiate!"

Buyers aren't thinking in advance about how much you are willing to negotiate. They are comparing your asking price to other asking prices.

Plus, when your house is new on the market, you may not be willing to negotiate as much as you will later, once you've realized your error. Keep in mind that statistics show, quite often, the first offer is the best offer.

So what happens if you overprice in the beginning and get more realistic later?

You don't have all those important Buyer's Agents looking at your listing because it is NEW. A price reduction later in the listing cycle often gets overlooked. It is just one of many listings, not one of a few new listings.

As time passes, you could actually become desperate to sell because you've accepted a new job or because you have already bought a new home.

That is a recipe for receiving lowball offers, so you could end up selling for less than if you had priced the home correctly in the first place.

Agents know this stuff, but many sellers still mistakenly believe they should "price it high" because they can lower the price later, if necessary.

That is not the best strategy.

© copyright October 2003 by RealEstate ABC, revised March 2006.

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When Your Selling Price is too High, Beware! Meeting With Realtors So you’ve decided to sell your home and have a fairly good idea of what you think it is worth. Being a sensible home seller, you schedule appointments with three local listing agents who’ve been hanging stuff on your front doorknob for years. Each Realtor comes prepared with a "Competitive Market Analysis" on fancy paper and they each recommend a specific sales price. Amazingly, a couple of the Realtors have come up with prices that are lower than you expected. Although they back up their recommendations with recent sales data of similar homes, you remain convinced your house is worth more. When you interview the third agent’s figures, they are much more in line with your own anticipated value, or maybe even higher. Suddenly, you are a happy and excited home seller, already counting the money. A Sales Practice Called "Buying a Listing" If you’re like many people, you pick Realtor number three. This is an agent who seems willing to listen to your input and work with you. This is an agent that cares about putting the most money in your pocket. This is an agent that is willing to start out at your price and if you need to drop the price later, you can do that easily, right? After all, everyone else does it! The truth is that you may have just met an agent engaging in a questionable sales practice called "buying a listing."  He "bought" the listing by suggesting you might be able to get a higher sales price than the other agents recommended. Most likely, he is quite doubtful that your home will actually sell at that price. The intention from the beginning is to eventually talk you into lowering the price. Why do some agents "buy" listings this way? There are basically two reasons. A well-meaning and hard working agent can feel pressure from a homeowner who has an inflated perception of his home’s value. On the other hand, there are some agents who engage in this sales practice routinely. copyright 2000 by Terry Light and RealEstate ABC, revised 2002

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Selling Your Home? Make It Stand Out

April 25, 2006 ARA Content News Service

(ARA) - Ask someone in the real estate industry how business has been lately and they're likely to tell you it has slowed down compared to last year. With mortgage rates rising, fewer people are in a hurry to move, and houses are staying on the market longer.

As a result of the increase in inventory, sellers are losing their ability to get top dollar. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) says pending home sales are already showing signs of leveling out, indicating the housing market is entering a period of stabilization. Existing home sales are projected to drop 6 percent to 6.65 million this year from a record of 7.08 million in 2005.

But if you have to sell anyway because of a move, job relocation or for some other reason, there are steps you can take to make your property stand out from the rest.

Mark Fortune is a Realtor whose territory covers most of Southern California. He says first impressions are critical. "When you walk up the driveway with a potential buyer, they want to see pride of ownership. If they don't feel good about the looks on the outside, they'll find flaws on the inside too. It's critical that your home have curb appeal if you want it to sell," he says.

That means trimming the trees, resurfacing the driveway, keeping the lawn mowed and the plants well manicured. Whatever it takes to make it look nicer than the neighboring homes on your street.

Inside, Fortune recommends sellers paint any rooms that need it, replace broken tiles and dirty carpet and remove the clutter. "You want a potential buyer to feel like they can just move in and take up residence. Not like they'll have to do a lot of work to get the home up to their standards," says Fortune.

Once you're ready to list your home, seek out an agent who is up on the latest trends. "Agents used to just put a sign out front, take out an ad in the local paper and wait for people to come. But the real estate industry has evolved a lot in the past few years and the old ways of doing things no longer suffice," says Brendan King, chief operating officer at Point2 Technologies, a software technology company specializing in online marketing tools for real estate professionals. "Online is where people are beginning their search for their new home, and they're going to a number of different sites for this information. If you want your home to sell, your listing needs to show up on as many sites as possible."

Realizing the importance of the Internet, Fortune signed on for the Point2 Agent software about 18 months ago to drive his marketing efforts in that area. He says he really appreciates having the ability to instantly gain widespread exposure for his listings.

Here's how the program works. First the agent's listings are captured from his or her Point2 Agent website and featured on www.point2homes.com. Then they are automatically syndicated to the most popular real estate search sites, including Google Base, Yahoo! Classifieds, Trulia and Oodle.

Fortune says he also appreciates the feature that allows him to easily put up multiple photos with each listing. According to a survey done by the National Association of Realtors, photos are critical. Eighty-four percent of consumers surveyed ranked them as the most useful feature in the online home shopping experience. "Agents who use our software can put up to 25 photos with each of their listings, so potential buyers can get a real good idea of what the house looks like before ever setting foot inside," says King.

"I've had people call me up from half way across the world to make appointments to see houses they found online. Multiple photos and solid exposure on the Internet really do a good job of helping sell the property," says Fortune.

So do the sellers themselves. When working with a Realtor who uses the Point2 Agent software, homeowners have the unique ability to log in and add personal comments to the listing. They can tell potential buyers such things as what makes the property unique, how great the neighbors are, information about the schools, etc.

So look no further, you have found a Point2 agent right here at PerchedinParadise.com!  Not only is Linda a member of this unique and growing internet based technology, she has earned the certified e-PRO designation from the National Association of Realtors.  And why should you hire an e-PRO to sell your home?  Read on...