Pricing your home

Home Sold SignPricing your home for sale

Choose the right kind of comparable homes that have sold to help you price your home for sale. Paying attention to the price of homes like yours sold for will give you the best idea of the what a buyer might pay for your home. The trick is finding homes that closely match yours.

We are fortunate in Raleigh because we have always had good turn over. That means you can always find comparable homes to help you set the right price for yours. You can find home sales data for Raleigh on my blog, www.RaleighRealEstateNews.com.

What are good comparable homes (comps)?

Location- A good comparable sale is a house in your neighborhood, your subdivision, on the same type of street as your house, and in your school district.

Type of home- Compare to similar homes like 2-story to 2-story, ranch to ranch, etc…

Home Improvements- Have you updated your house with new flooring? New kitchen cabinets and counter tops? New bathrooms? New lighting and plumbing fixtures?

Date sold- Comparable sales should not be older than 90 days.

Closing costs- Did the seller of the home you are comparing yours to pay benefits to the buyer for things like closing costs? If they did, you will need to subtract those for your price.

Buyers seek value- When their are a lot of other homes for sale like yours, you will need to show them more value than the other homes they might be considering.

Pricing your home incorrectly is the most harmful factor to significantly lowering your final sales price. No amount of home staging or upgrades will overcome a home that is priced too high. Beware of agents just telling you what you want to hear just so they can get the listing. Challenge your real estate agent and ask questions about why they feel a certain price is better than another. It’s easy to tell you where to price your home, it’s another thing to show show.

Distressed sales, like bank foreclosures and short sales, will put pressure on homes prices and you should consider what that will do to your listing price.

5 Rules to Remember:

  1. What you paid for your home does not affect it’s value.
  2. The amount of cash you need from the sale of your home does not affect your value.
  3. What you owe on your mortgage does not affect your value.
  4. What another real estate agent says your home is worth does not affect your value.
  5. What an appraiser says your home is worth does not affect your value.