How Do You Price A Home For Sale?

Is there an easy way to price your home for sale?

One of the biggest stumbling blocks a home seller can run across is getting the right information to price their home properly for the market. Who do you believe? Are real estate agents the best people for pricing advice? Are you able to make a sound decision when pricing your home, or are you biased?

There are two major things that are going to influence the market value of your home.  What has happened in the market and what is happening in the market.  Sure the fact that you have a nice kitchen and your bathroom is Belgian Taupe will impact the mind of the buyer but it won't majorly impact the value.  It will make it more salable, that is what home staging is all about, but will it make your home worth $20,000-$30,000 more than the same model 3 doors down?

The value of a house is mainly determined by the market.  What houses have sold for and what they are selling for (or not selling for) now.  If you have had 3 homes in your neighbourhood that have sold at a lower than anticipated price, you will have a hard time asking top dollar.  There is reason why neighbours get angry when a couple that splits up lists the house low just to get it sold.

So how do you determine what houses have sold for in your market?  Well you could call a local agent to come in and give you a "free market evaluation" but I don't recommend asking them for their "opinion on value". If you are just calling them for that, with no intention of listing with them, you might as well get the info off your MPAC account and save them an evening away from their family.  PropertyGuys.com suggests using a service like what we are able to offer through our partners. An estimated value report or a full licensed appraisal from a 3rd party service are unbiased and will provide you with the info of what has happened in the market.

Take this info and mix it with watching 5-6 houses within  a kilometer of your house that are within $10,000 of what you feel your home is worth and you will have all the info you need to be successful.  The only thing you will have left to get over is the stubborn, bull headed, house proud owner of your home.

M

Mere Postings for the Private Home Seller

Does adding a mere posting on REALTOR.ca cover your back?

On the 2 year anniversary of the agreement between CREA and the Competition Bureau I wanted to give my thoughts on how adding in a mere posting on REALTOR.ca affects the Private Home Seller.

When you are selling a house it is key that you have all three sides of the Home Selling Trifecta covered. You can add all the exposure you want but if you neglect the other two sides of the triangle you will be deeply disappointed.  Knowing that you can always add exposure as you go, you are best to ensure both your product and your price are right in the beginning.

So 2 years after the ability for private sellers to do a Mere Posting on REALTOR.ca have we seen it as a magic potion to magically sell houses? Not in the least.  It just proves what we have always known here at PropertyGuys.com. Being on the same website as all the agents doesn't sell houses.  If you don't do your homework, if you don't deal with the smell of cat pee, if you over paid for your house 18 months ago, if you don't price your home without emotion and based on factual data, you might as well save your money. You can post your home on PropertyGuys.com, you can add a mere posting or you can use a high fee real estate agent and it won't make a lick of difference if you have not hit all three sides of the trifecta.