overpricing (2)

The unrealized costs of overpricing a home

Sellers, there are more expenses to selling your home than commissions if you're not ready to sell. One of worst things a seller can do is overprice his/her home when it first comes on the market. A small overage is one thing, but when that overage hits 10, 15, 20, 30% and beyond, it's like burning dollars in your furnace to stay warm.

What are the unrealized expenses of overpricing a home? I only say unrealized because it seems that sellers are the last ones to realize the costs of overpricing. Let's assume the house is in good condition, ready to show and is in a good location, but it's priced too high. What are the unrealized costs?

  • The monthly expenses of maintaining a home that could be used in purchasing a new home. (Electricity, water, heating fuel)
  • The other periodic expenses that occur and need to be paid, such as: property taxes, insurance, maintenance costs, etc.
  • The expense of keeping the house ready to show. Who wants to keep their house ready to show seven days a week for six months, nine months or a year? You can never really take a day off from living in a museum.
  • The expense of having to pick up and leave the house for showings over and over. That may inspire more dinners out, more shopping trips and of course more inconvenience and more expense.
  • The expense of giving a neighbor an insight into what not to do when she's ready to sell. She watches your unsuccessful attempt to sell your house and then lists hers for 10% less. It sells immediately. You blame it on your lame Realtor, but the truth is it's your price. 
  • The expense of stress on the family. If you have children or pets in your house the above issues also affect them. Kids can't have kids over because they might have to leave at moments notice, dogs and cats end up crated for hours on end and neither can use the house the way they did before it was listed. 

A house that sells quickly is just as likely to sell quickly because it was listed well rather than because it was listed low. When you hire an Realtor to sell your house, make sure your hire one that you have confidence in and then listen to his/her advice and insights into the local market.

A buyer will likely buy another house that is similar if the price is lower. No matter how wonderful your house is, it's in competition with every house on the market. If your house is the most expensive one, it will likely sit longer than similar properties. Think about the unrealized costs of overpricing a home. When you're ready to list your home, give your Cornerstone agent a call for an honest assessment of your home and it's potential for a profitable sale in a reasonable time. 

Check out Beth Atalay's blog: You Are NOT Ready To Sell Your House Yet!! 

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Unrealistic Seller Expectations

I loved Debe Maxwell's post "The Longer the Shelf Life, The Less Chance You Have of Selling Your Home".  I wish I could send it to a couple of my sellers (previous and present).  In that post she demonstrated how a seller can inadvertently derail his own sale by trying to stick to an unrealistic price.  I have that same client today. 
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Last year I listed a house that was what I call, "Basic Vanilla."  There wasn't anything special about the house.  It was in an average neighborhood.  It had basic features and no pizazz, but that's OK because there are a lot of people out there that can only afford a basic vanilla house.  No problem.

I receive a very generous offer in  the first 5 days, and I was elated!  The seller countered with a higher price and the buyer countered
ar130641708160531.jpgthat with a slightly lower price.  At this point, I'm yelling, "Take the money and run!"  My seller, for some unknown reason, decided he wanted an extra $500.  Deal over!

He called over the weekend asking me to go to the buyer and coach him back into the deal.  The buyer would have nothing to do with it.  He was so aggravated the just wanted to move on.  Deal over, dead, blah! 


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Now, 18 months later, he has another  opportunity.  This offer is 20% below the last one.  What will the end result be?  A year and a half has past with no offers.  Will history repeat itself, or will he realize that his rigid attempt to stick with his unrealistic asking price could derail another deal?  I'll let you know, but this time I'm going to be a little more emphatic about the deal. 

 

This might be his last best chance to get a decent offer.  The property value has dropped considerably in past year(20+%), and with the current market I don't see it increasing any time soon.   Take a minute and go back and read Debe Maxwell's post.  It should be a must read at every listing presentation!
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