Pricing, Pricing, Pricing

A well-known mantra for homebuyers has long been summed up in three words: location, location, location. We are now offering three critical words for home sellers: pricing, pricing, pricing.

The transition from sellers marketto buyers market began on the Outer Cape in the fall of 2005. The emotional transition has proven difficult for many sellers, who lived through the meteoric rise in home values in the early 2000’s. During those years, it was very common for sellers to list their property over the suggested value with a fair amount of success. That nudging upward of prices was contagious and pricing became a game of ‘let’s give it shot.’ This was all possible in an environment where credit was easy to come by and personal wealth was on the upswing.

The climate couldn’t be more different these days. Buying a second home has fallen in priority on many peoples’ TO-DO lists, making the field of buyers much smaller. For those who really want to sell, making your property stand out in the competing inventory boils down to one simple principle: pricing.

Consider that approximately 85% of homebuyers begin their search for a property on the Internet. The first criterion (after location) that a buyer enters on a site like trullia.com or realtor.com is a price range. If your property is not priced correctly, you risk being excluded from the search results of your potential future buyer. Your home will not even be considered.

Many buyers in our area are working with Buyers Agents who are sending them automatic email updates about new listings. What drives the selection of these properties? You guessed it, price.

The “sweet spot” for marketing a property is the first 30 days. It is during this period that the greatest numbers of showings typically occur. This is when the property first appears in advertisements and on real estate websites and excitement is generated for buyers closely monitoring the market. Today’s buyers are very savvy and they are using the Internet to study home values. They recognize when a property is priced right. Capitalize on this momentum by positioning your property so that it attracts a bonafide buyer during this period.

Here is the good news: there are buyers out there! During the past few months, we have seen flurries of activity around well-priced properties, with several of them generating bidding wars. There are buyers waiting on the sidelines for that next good deal to come along. Price your property correctly and yours could be the one they are waiting for!