Time Is Money In Real Estate
This will be a two or maybe a three part post. So keep watching this same “bat channel”.
If you are thinking of selling or have something listed now, I recommend reading this article by Kathleen Lynn from the Belleville News Democrat. I really think Kathleen and the appraiser mentioned here, Otteau, are onto something, even though they’re obviously in a different market.
“Houses that are priced right are selling,” said Otteau. “Overpricing extends days on the market and guarantees that you will sell your home for less in a declining market.”
I know that when I do a search for someone who tells me they’re in the market and looking for a home or land, I start by sending them a list of what is in their price range. I only send them the first five, b/c if I send them more it has a tendency to overwhelm them with too many listings, too many numbers, etc. Now by default, the MLS system here shows the least expensive to the most expensive in the parameters of my search. I could change this but I don’t think that would serve the right purpose. So the first 5 listings they see, are the least expensive.
Otteau said that pricing a house a little below the competition not only catches buyers’ interest — it also reassures them that they won’t kick themselves later for overpaying if, as expected, home prices drift lower in 2008.
Those first listings they get from me, get burned into their minds, almost like I’ve set the bar for how they will shop from here on out. I try sometimes to help them understand that they may have to pay more to get what they really want, but sometimes they’re too disappointed to continue looking. So they don’t even see the higher priced listings or even know they’re out there.
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