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I got an offer at nearly full price within four days of placing my home for sale by owner. Am I priced too low? I had two separate realtors do competitive market analyses. One wanted to list my house at $215k. The other wanted to list it at $209k. I listed it FSBO at $215k. I saw the comps, and I believed we were priced fairly at $215k. However, my wife talked to another neighbor who is going to list a similar house for $260k. Personally I think the other neighbor is living off of last year’s prices, because I’ve seen the comps that are current. We are competing with a lot of short sales and foreclosures which has driven prices down. For tax purposes, my house was valued as of January of this year at $269k. But there was no way it was ever worth that, even at the height of the boom.
So basically my question is thus … given the ease with which we got an offer, does it sound like we are priced too low? In general, the market is a buyer’s market and many homes on the MLS are taking about 60-90 days to sell. I understand you don’t know our market, but should I raise the price and hold out for something higher?
Location: Pittsburgh--Home of the 6 time Super Bowl Champions!
11,310 posts, read 12,375,584 times
Reputation: 4938
Don't be greedy in todays POOR market! That's my advice to you. I've had my house on the market for over 4 months and it is priced appropriately. Not one single offer. Count yourself lucky that you are receiving an offer! Realtors run the comps for the past 2 months on neighborhoods, so if they told you 215,000 then you're priced appropriately most likely. You can always counter the offer for full price.
How fresh were the sales that the real estate agents used for the comps?
How similar were they to your property?
What are is the inventory like near your property right now?
If the offer came from some one that wants/needs to close ASAP it may be the right price AND the right terms -- as long as you feel that your asking price was fair and the offer is fair you and buyer should both be getting what you want. Don't let "sellers remorse" make you crazy!
I got an offer at nearly full price within four days of placing my home for sale by owner. Am I priced too low? I had two separate realtors do competitive market analyses. One wanted to list my house at $215k. The other wanted to list it at $209k. I listed it FSBO at $215k. I saw the comps, and I believed we were priced fairly at $215k. However, my wife talked to another neighbor who is going to list a similar house for $260k. Personally I think the other neighbor is living off of last year’s prices, because I’ve seen the comps that are current. We are competing with a lot of short sales and foreclosures which has driven prices down. For tax purposes, my house was valued as of January of this year at $269k. But there was no way it was ever worth that, even at the height of the boom.
So basically my question is thus … given the ease with which we got an offer, does it sound like we are priced too low? In general, the market is a buyer’s market and many homes on the MLS are taking about 60-90 days to sell. I understand you don’t know our market, but should I raise the price and hold out for something higher?
Well, at first glance, we all want to say, yes, you priced it too low.
But....
Sometimes, you get lucky. Especially if you do the research and prepare things the right way. And it sounds like you did that. It could be that the right buyer just happened to come along at the right moment. If yoru research supports you price, and you are happy with that price, I'd not worry very much about the possibility of underpricing. I'd concentrate on the specific terms of the contract, and actually getting it to closing. Is your buyer a bona fide buyer? Do you have a good mortgage pre approval? Does your buyer want you to wait while he sells his house? Etc. etc.
The one thing I would NOT do is take the property off the market. Not yet. Not until you are sure of the viability of this offer anyway. You can continue to market the house, telling anyone else who comes in that you have an offer being negotiated. But don't yank all the marketing efforts just yet.
Location: Halfway between Number 4 Privet Drive and Forks, WA
1,516 posts, read 4,591,647 times
Reputation: 677
I'd say take the money and RUN!!!
BUT, make sure your buyers ARE infact qualified and you have a copy of their lender's letter stating so. Especially since you are FSBO!
(I FSBO'd earlier this year (closed in May) and we got full asking price PLUS our buyers paid all of their own closing. Was I priced too low? Nope. It just so happened another house in my neighborhood was priced too high. Their house sold mine. And their house never sold...)
BUT, make sure your buyers ARE infact qualified and you have a copy of their lender's letter stating so. Especially since you are FSBO!
(I FSBO'd earlier this year (closed in May) and we got full asking price PLUS our buyers paid all of their own closing. Was I priced too low? Nope. It just so happened another house in my neighborhood was priced too high. Their house sold mine. And their house never sold...)
Good luck!
And you, my friend, have discovered the secret. Sellers decide to sell the competition or get sold.
Hopefully you decided before you entered the market what price would make you happy. If you are getting your price, don't be greedy. Contrary to what Gordon Gekko says, in my experience greed gets you into trouble. You'll never know whether you left money on the table unless to take the risk and reject the offer. It's a huge risk. Is the upside worth it?
What has time got to do with it? If you're able to sell your property for an amount that you are comfortable with, why would waiting 6 weeks make you more comfortable? A friend of mine sold their house with only 2 showings, the second one was 9 months after the first.
You did your homework and got all the free advice you could get. Set your price and got an offer. Good work. Be happy.
What that means is that you priced it right for your area. Good deals go quick.
Pat yourself on the back for pricing it right.
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