This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link).
Price matters — but so does everything else: When buyers come to see your home, they’re looking for reasons to reject it, not to buy it
If price matters more than anything else in the sale of a home, why bother to clean, repair, stage and market the property for sale?
In a buyer’s market, if a home is priced above its market value, it probably will not show. If it doesn’t show, it can’t sell, and this by itself is all the argument anyone should need to price a home to the current market.
The corollary proposition is that, if your home is properly priced, it should get frequent showings.
So the battle is won, right? All you had to do was price your home to the current market, and you attracted the attention of buyers. Victory is at hand.
Not quite.
Your home is showing, and that’s good. But if it is dirty, if there are obvious repair issues, if the space is cluttered and confusing, if no one has worked to point out why it’s such a good buy — other houses will sell and yours will languish on the market.
As long as you’re priced right — and price can be a moving target in this market — you’ll get showings. But if your home is not a better value than the other houses your buyers are seeing, they’ll buy those homes instead.
That’s exactly what you would do in their place, isn’t it? When you’re picking through the melons at the grocery, you aren’t looking for the ones that are bruised and shopped over, unsightly and unappetizing. Why would you expect buyers to buy a property that you would pass on in a heartbeat, if you were in their shoes?
When buyers come to see your home, they aren’t looking for reasons to buy it. They’re looking for reasons to reject it, so they can move on to the next home. The one they buy will be the one that raises the fewest objections, for the money. If you want that money, you have to do everything you can to take away your buyers’ objections — before they think to raise them.
Not willing to do that? It’s not a problem. Just cut your price.
Technorati Tags: arizona, arizona real estate, phoenix, phoenix real estate, real estate, real estate marketing
Discover more from Bloodhound Realty 602•740•7531
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Property in Poland says:
The priority of the sellers is show a product of quality to the buyer … a atractive product, in this case, the house have to be clean, repaired … that it looks nice .. it is the best advice =)
June 15, 2008 — 9:05 pm
Linsey Planeta says:
Well said. Price is first and foremost. That’s what gets them to the door. What they find once they arrive will make or break the sale. ‘Buyers are looking for a reason to ‘reject it’.’ So true in this buyers market.
June 22, 2008 — 9:31 pm
condo queen says:
I think that if you price your house fairly, you will not have a hard time selling it. To speed up the process though, it is important to pay attention to details. Keep your house clean, and well maintained so that potential buyers don’t have to ‘imagine’ what the house could look like.
July 24, 2008 — 8:10 am
UK Property Investments says:
Price is important. Most of our investors are pushing to see how far under the market valuation the seller will go.
But they are alos looking for the opportunity to add some value to the property by change of use or by redevelopment.
Finally if they can see an opportunity for a quick rental or sale to generate cash flow, they also get a bit excited.
You’ve got a great Blog and we love your attitude to it all. You are the Ted Nugent of real estate.
August 13, 2008 — 2:40 pm