Should I price my home higher knowing a Buyer will try to negotiate down?

 

The age old question that I routinely receive from my South Florida home Sellers, yet it’s heard nationwide; Should I price my home higher knowing a Buyer will try to negotiate down? To understand, it’s best for us to break down the Buyer thought process, their home buying process and their understanding of a home’s price, when your pricing strategy is to price your home higher in anticipation of a Buyer wanting to negotiate. We’ll then see how this method can affect your home’s actual selling price.

 

You’ve decided to price your home higher than what you’d actually accept as a selling price – what will follow?

 

Buyers will be viewing your competition’s homes.

 

This is what a Buyer sees from your inaccurately priced home? Yes, simply said, other homes, your true competition. Before a Buyer sets out on their home search, most will have been pre approved for a mortgage or will have a set amount of cash available to buy a home.  They will be searching for homes priced within that particular range of what they can afford.

At your home’s listing consultation, presented by your Real Estate Agent, you were likely advised of your home’s competition; those homes actively for sale, who you will be competing with to get your home sold.  Remember those homes? Those are all of the homes that active Buyers are now viewing

 

Tweet This: “What does a Buyer see from your inaccurately priced home? Simply said, other homes, your true competition.”

Qualified Buyers aren’t seeing your home.

 

The Buyers who can afford the true value of your home will never see your home, because they’re seeing your competition’s homes, as explained above.  Ideally, they should be seeing your home, along with other Buyers who may find your home to be just right for them. It’s possibly just the right size, the right location, the right finishes, the right condition, but not the right price, so they won’t see it, as it never comes up in their home searches because it’s not within their price range.

Buyers that search for a home in the price range where you decided to list your home for sale, will find other homes for sale that will likely be larger and have more desirable features than your home.  Why is that, you ask?  It is because your home isn’t really valued at what you listed it for sale at, as you just wanted some wiggle room knowing the true value is below what you listed your home for on the market.  Therefore, where you desired to place your home for sale is amongst a group of homes that are valued at a higher amount due to size, features, location, etc.  With this in mind, why would a Buyer pay more for your home when they could get a nicer home at the same price; larger, upgraded features and nicer location  They wouldn’t even bother with your home and remember the Buyers who would likely love your home’s “real price” and it’s features aren’t even seeing your home because you priced it too high!

Talk about a huge missed opportunity in selling your home!

 

Buyers want to see homes right away; they’re ready to buy.

 

Once a Buyer has made the decision to buy a new home, they’re ready to buy now and they’re anxious to get started in their search to find that perfect home.  When they are first new to the market with their home search, they’ll review a list of all of the homes currently active for sale within their price range (your competition, remember?) Then going forward, as new homes hit the market, they’ll be all over them the minute they become available to take a look at, to see, if the right home has become available for them.  What this tells you is that the first few weeks that a home is on the market will bring the greatest amount of Buyer activity, as your home is fresh to them, like that vine ripened tomato!

 

Tweet This: “Like that vine ripened tomato, let your home be the one that is freshly picked from market, price it right”

Buyers see homes that sit on the market as less than desirable

 

You know what happens to the vine ripened tomato that I described above – the longer it sits attached to the vine and it isn’t picked and/or selected?! You can envision that, I’m sure.  Well, a similar thing happens to a home that is no longer fresh to the market.  It’s almost as if it slowly rots and with homes that rot, so to speak, they will have an attached stigma of not having sold; their perceived value begins to decline. Buyers will wonder, why your home has not sold? The mind is very powerful in what it can imagine. Perhaps something is wrong with the home, something is hidden that was discovered by another Buyer, perhaps it’s priced too high for what the home has to offer, the imagination can go on and on, as they wonder wanting to know just what is wrong with your home and why didn’t it sell within a few weeks when it was fresh to the market?

 

Buyers offer a substantial discount off of your home’s price in order to consider

 

Buyers will think that because your home hasn’t sold that you may be more desperate to sell your home and you may be more willing to take a lower price to get your home sold.  Buyers will not just simply offer a price based upon your home’s true fair market value, as now your home has the added stigma attached to it from not selling. So now, when you had just wanted the higher price to leave room for negotiation, you’ll find out that Buyers also want to reduce the price for the stigma that has been attached to your home due to not selling.  Did you ever think that when you wanted to price your home to leave room for negotiations that you’d also be leaving room for negotiations due to the added stigma of not selling? Don’t do it!

 

The Buyer’s home buying and thought process described above results in a lower selling price.

The method, as explained above, when you price a home to negotiate, routinely results in a home Seller selling their home for less due to all of the reasons discussed. The actual cushion that you think you are setting up to protect you, actually harms you in the end. I will always proclaim that when you price your home to negotiate you will get just that; negotiations to reduce the price. Price it right and the desire for a Buyer to negotiate will be reduced when they see the home priced fairly.  

Your home was not seen by qualified Buyers, your home languished on the market and then when you see your home isn’t selling you reduce the price trying to chase the market to catch up and Buyers see this and will want a discount thinking you are likely anxious or perhaps even desperate, to get your home sold; not a winning home selling strategy when trying to get top dollar for your home.

 

What would the Buyer’s thought process be, had you not priced your home higher to allow room to negotiate?

 

1. Your home would be seen by Buyers who could afford your home

2. Buyers who want to buy, would be ready and able to see your home now!

3. Buyers would view your home, as the just ripe tomato on the vine, ready to be picked; picked for them and their family to move in to.

4. Buyers would not see any stigma attached to your home with it being just fresh on the Real Estate market

5. Buyers will not think to discount their offering price with a home that is priced fairly, in fact, due to it being priced fairly they may be willing to offer more to make sure that the other Buyer they just saw leaving, as they were coming in to view your home, didn’t try to buy your home by outbidding them.

6. And, if by some chance, you have a Buyer who wants to try and negotiate too far off on your home that has been priced right, then you’ll want to make sure that you have a skilled Real Estate Agent going to bat for you who is well versed in the art of negotiations. Your Agent  will need to know your local Real Estate market, as I know my local Coral Springs Real Estate Market and Southeast Florida Real Estate Market and know that you home is indeed priced right, at fair market value. The knowledge, skill and persistent determination of your Real Estate Agent is ever powerful here in order to benefit you, the home Seller.

 

Don’t just take my advice regarding pricing a home to negotiate. You can read more about such damaging effects of overpricing by visiting the veteran Real Estate Agent from Massachusetts, Bill Gassett’s article discussing this very same thing. You should know that this detrimental pricing strategy is seen nationwide and Bill will explain to you how the same goes for his neck of the woods:  Damaging effects of overpricing a home

Call me, Lynn Pineda, at 954-464-1100 and I’ll be glad to answer any additional Real Estate questions. Feel free to email me at LynnP@ImagineYourHouse.com too.

 

Real Estate Article written by South Florida Realtor, Lynn Pineda. Keller Williams Coral Springs Realty. June 12, 2014.