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Agree. A neighbor of mine recently underlisted at $429. The strategy did work as he had miultiple offers and sold for $440. Strange thing is, I'm listed at $475. My house is on a bigger lot, and it's in much better condition, yet I'm getting offers under $400 (one was 73%). Luckily I'm in no rush to sell, but I'm wondering if I should take the risk and reduce it like my neighbor did.
How long have you been on the market? I would say if it's been over a couple months, drop the price..my thinking is everyone is bidding low, we have been on the market since Sept...the house down the street, about the same size, but no backyard and looked into the area with our community pool (no privacy) was listed at $527,000. We listed ours at $524,000. It had been on the market a few months when we listed. Well they ended up selling it, I think maybe December for $505,000. Well we dropped our price, and yes we have played the game...started too high. We made a mistake so no one yell at me! Dumb..but we were trying to stay within the other homes here. Well, we are still sitting here, we have had 3 price drops since then, to 499, then 489, now we are at 469 for almost 2 weeks. Got lots of interest last week, thought we might have an offer coming in. Nothing..even our agent, can't quite figure out what is going on...except it's just bad timing...anyway, long story short, I have been thinking all day we need to drop again..we need out, we are not desperate, but we don't want to be sitting here 2 more years.
Anyway, that is my sad story, if you can drop the price, drop it and see what happens. We figure we can make it up on the buying end back in NorCal in a few months...I am ready to go!!!! Like yesterday....
We listed about 4 weeks ago. I'm going to give it 2 more weeks, since we really are priced right. Seems we have a lot of interest one week, then nothing for a week. The thing I don't understand is that out of all the people that were outbid on my neighbor's house, only one came to see mine. He said it was in better condition, and had a nicer yard. Spent a whole hour looking, but never heard back. That was 2 weeks ago.
I know how you feel; I just want to be done with this now!
We listed about 4 weeks ago. I'm going to give it 2 more weeks, since we really are priced right. Seems we have a lot of interest one week, then nothing for a week. The thing I don't understand is that out of all the people that were outbid on my neighbor's house, only one came to see mine. He said it was in better condition, and had a nicer yard. Spent a whole hour looking, but never heard back. That was 2 weeks ago.
I know how you feel; I just want to be done with this now!
I would wait a couple weeks and see what happens...we have sold several homes before, this is the hardest time we have had...it's definitely a buyers market, but how can they purchase my home if we can't even get them through the door? And it goes in spells...we'll have several in one week, then a week or two with nothing..then it starts up again...frustrating..hang in there!
Any thoughts on this pricing strategy? Will my neighbors really hate me? I just want to move quickly and price accordingly....
From the hip, w/o reading all the feedback. My experiece has been, lowest price or not. A sale is a sale and it benefits everyone! Something sold! Good news for the neighborhood!
I'm going to have to break that news to a seller in the morning. Some folks came to buy his place, but they bought a lot (140 acres) down the road from him. Bad news for him, not his, good news, they bought somehthing! It's available for next Sunday's showing and people are buying!
To the OP, this sounds like the right strategy to me. I have heard it a million time, but now that I am a buyer who has been watching the market for several months I can confirm - homes that show well and are priced well sell faster and often for more than others on the market. In my area, sometimes with multiple offers and even above asking.
Now, the next step if you are pricing like this, however, is to make sure the house shows PERFECTLY. Read everything about staging - de-clutter, etc. If the living room is pink, spend the $200 to paint it taupe. Get it clean and sparkly. These steps with the right price can make all the difference.
And, forget the neighbors. Just because they want to spend every weekend for the next 8 months cleaning and leaving the house while they wait for a buyer to come along doesn't mean you have to!
To the OP, this sounds like the right strategy to me. I have heard it a million time, but now that I am a buyer who has been watching the market for several months I can confirm - homes that show well and are priced well sell faster and often for more than others on the market. In my area, sometimes with multiple offers and even above asking.
Now, the next step if you are pricing like this, however, is to make sure the house shows PERFECTLY. Read everything about staging - de-clutter, etc. If the living room is pink, spend the $200 to paint it taupe. Get it clean and sparkly. These steps with the right price can make all the difference.
And, forget the neighbors. Just because they want to spend every weekend for the next 8 months cleaning and leaving the house while they wait for a buyer to come along doesn't mean you have to!
I agree...forget the neighbors..you are moving and you better believe if THEY were selling they would do what they have to do, regardless of you and the other neighbors. It's a business transaction, they will get over it, or not. But you will be gone and that is the whole point...We had neighbors who undercut our house a few years ago, whatever...that was what they had to do and we understood. We still managed to sell for the right price a year or so after that...and we are still good friends..
Thanks everyone for the feedback! Your experiences have given me hope that we can sell in this market. Our home will be on the MLS by Friday at $325K. I believe this is the right price to sell our house quickly. The realtor said we're in an excellent position because many other sellers in our town bought in the last 5-10 years and don't have the home equity we've built over 15+ years. She also said many have much higher debt so they can't afford to cut their price to the level that we can. I'm still staging some areas for the MLS pictures tomorrow (buying some flowerpots, etc.). But the realtor actually said "At your price, you don't really need to bother updating/staging much..." Keeping my fingers crossed we can buy another house soon!
p.s. My realtor also agrees that this underpricing strategy could actually result in a higher sale price compared to my neighbors who are now greatly overpricing their homes...
Ok, I've interviewed a few realtors and finally found one I really like (who has the top sales #'s to back it up). I'm planning on listing w/her on Monday and she (along w/3 other agents I interviewed) recommended a starting price of at least $350K. However, in our price range, our town has over 120 homes that look just like ours (and they're averaging 6 sales a month in this range). And the market's not getting any better...
I want to move w/in the summer. I also have my eye on some $600K houses that have been on the market for a while at a greatly reduced price. So, I've decided to list at $325K w/ not as much negotiating room. I also thought the $325K price would be a good price for buyers searching popular websites (Both the $300-$325 and $325-$350K filters would catch it). And there are more buyers in this price range. The realtor thinks it will sell quickly at that price. She also mentioned the neighbors probably won't like it. But you can't please everyone.
BTW, it is a 15 year old house and I am the original owner (good home equity). It is the smallest house in a neighborhood of $500K homes. It is very clean and well-staged. However, there are some things (e.g. cabinets, appliances) that are neutral but not completely updated.
Any thoughts on this pricing strategy? Will my neighbors really hate me? I just want to move quickly and price accordingly....
if your neighbors think it's too cheap maybe you can suggest they buy it and make a profit. otherwise they should mind their own business
if your neighbors think it's too cheap maybe you can suggest they buy it and make a profit. otherwise they should mind their own business
Now, THAT is a great answer!
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Well we dropped our price, and yes we have played the game...started too high. We made a mistake so no one yell at me! Dumb..but we were trying to stay within the other homes here. Well, we are still sitting here, we have had 3 price drops since then, to 499, then 489, now we are at 469 for almost 2 weeks. Got lots of interest last week, thought we might have an offer coming in. Nothing..even our agent, can't quite figure out what is going on...except it's just bad timing...anyway, long story short, I have been thinking all day we need to drop again..we need out, we are not desperate, but we don't want to be sitting here 2 more years. 
