How do You Price your Home to Sell?

Selling your home can be tricky and pricing it to sell isn't as easy as getting an appraisal and slapping a dollar amount on a sign. You need to look at a number of different factors before you price your home when it's time to sell. A real estate agent can certainly help with this process, but it's a good idea to do your own research, so that you understand the right price for your home.

Things to Consider

• Expenses - You have to consider your selling costs and work them into the price.
• Urgency - The faster you need to sell your property, the lower your price will be, in most cases.
• The Market - A competitive market-analysis will show you what other homes similar to your home sold for recently. This is a powerful tool when it comes to setting the price for your house.
• Competition - The number of homes on the market, especially in your specific area, will help to determine the asking price.
• Financing - If you own a home with multiple financing options, such as an assumable loan, you might be able to ask more.

Don't Consider These Things

• What Your Neighbors Say - Unless you live next to a real estate expert, you cannot base the fair market value of your home on what someone thinks another home sold for or is listed for.
• What You Paid - When you bought your home, the market was probably very different. That cost is irrelevant in determining today's value.
• The Replacement Value - It doesn't matter how much it would cost to replace your home. This is only good for the insurance company.
• Landscaping and other Cosmetics - Even though staging your home is important, unless an improvement you made added livable space, it probably won't factor into the asking price.
• Your Attachment - The way you feel about your home won't be reflected in the price at all. This is hard for many people to accept, but the buyer won't feel that same attachment.

If you overprice your home, it will be very hard to sell and you will actually help your competition. As your home stays on the market, you will notice the offers coming in are much lower, if you're getting any offers at all. This can lead to a losing qualified buyers and the longer your home is on the market, the more buyers start to wonder why.