| THE SELLER'S VIEW
Q. How do I establish the price of my home?
A. First of all, there is no "right" price. The value
of your home is almost entirely dependent on
what someone is willing to pay for it and how long you are willing to
wait to find that person.
Most sellers are not in the position to wait for the "ideal"
buyer who will pay their "ideal" price.
They want to find the optimum price at which their home will sell in a
limited amount of time. To
do this, they typically rely on comparisons with recently sold homes in
the area. A real estate agent can help you by giving you a list of homes
sold through the local Multiple Listing Service during the past year or
so. You can also locate this information on the Internet at free websites
such as http://realestate.yahoo.com/realestate/homevalues and http://www.domania.com/.
Once you have the basic sales information, you will need to match the
features of the
homes that have been sold to your own home. For example, if your home
is a three-bedroom, twobath ranch on a typical lot, your agent can point
out sales prices of similar homes to determine a listing price. Try to
limit your study to homes that are very similar to yours. If Victorian
homes are prized in your area, even a Victorian needing work will be priced
higher than other styles of homes of similar size.
To narrow the price further, you'll want to look at amenities sought by
buyers. An
attached garage, wood-burning fireplace, updated kitchen and baths, large
lot, and spacious rooms are among the factors that generally increase
a home's price. Conversely, expect the selling price to be lower if your
home does not have these or similar amenities. Location is also a factor.
Most buyers want good schools, good transportation, quiet neighborhoods,
and little if any commercial activity. For some people, especially telecommuters,
the availability of broadband transmission capacity in a given area could
be an issue as well. The presence or absence of these factors all affect
the selling price of your home.
Perhaps equally important are your reasons for selling and how long you
can wait.
Typically, the most interest is generated in the first few weeks a home
is listed. If you want to sell your home fast, you'll want to price it
so that it stands out among comparable homes on the
market. If you're willing to wait (and remember that you'll be responsible
for keeping the house in tip-top shape during the time it remains on the
market), you can afford to price it above the
competition. Sellers who try to hold out for the highest price, however,
may find themselves
reducing the price down the line. A house that has been on the market
beyond the average
marketing time generates little interest from buyers, even when the price
is reduced dramatically.
Most buyers will assume that the home has problems which they, understandably,
want to avoid.
Q. Should I consult a professional appraiser?
A. Those few people who cannot find comparable homes may want
to consult a professional
appraiser before settling on a selling price. An appraisal is the fair
market value of the home, so it should be close to the probable selling
price. (Lenders usually order their own appraisals, often paid for by
the buyer, before approving a loan in order to ensure that the home is
worth at least as much as the money being lent plus the buyer's down payment.)
If you intend to sell your home on your own, without a real estate agent,
an appraisal can provide valuable market information.
Remember, however, that determining market value is not an exact science.
A home is worth what someone will pay for it.
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