Have you thought about selling your home and are finding it difficult coming up with a sale price? Perhaps you may be thinking that you may make a mistake of listing the home lower than what it’s worth and leave money on the table?
A lot of homeowners in today’s real estate environment has had the same challenges in coming up with the correct pricing of their home. Because of the market correction and upcoming holidays those who are not prepared are seeing their homes on the market longer and not selling.
There are two types of sellers.
- Price Motivated Sellers – They want to only sell if they get a certain price. From my experience the price they want is always higher than what buyers will pay for their home. They have a place in mind to move to, but it’s not that urgent.
- Situation Motivated Sellers – They have to sell because of a possible life changing events and it would be great if they could get the highest price for their home. They are flexible and if needed they could also rent out their home if it doesn’t sell but they prefer not to.
If you are the situationally motivated seller than this information that will greatly help you to price your home correctly. Increasing your chances in getting your home sold quicker than that other similar homes in the area and for a higher price.
Because of the market adjusting and we’re rolling into the holidays, determining a listing price can become a lot more difficult. Basically what we’re seeing is prices adjusting lower than it was at the beginning of the year. And it varies depending on the neighborhood and location. On the average for the city of San Jose overall you’re seeing an estimated 10% downward price adjustment from May to Oct of this year. And with Holidays that will have an effect on how you price your home correctly.
The key things to keep in mind when pricing your home in today’s current market is:
- Look for similar homes in the that area sold within the last month and see how much they sold for and how long it took to sell.
- By looking at similar homes that sold within the last month this will give you a true indicator of the current market in your area. If you choose to look at homes that sold 6 or more months ago your looking at a different market and that’s going to give you the incorrect price information.
- To find similar sold homes for your area you can use on-line real estate sources such as Realtor.com, Zillow.com or a local real estate agent. If your in the San Jose, Silicon Valley area feel free to use this on-line resource Realscout.
- What is the current traffic of buyers and interest level from buyers in the area?
- This information will help to determine how aggressive you have to be when pricing your home. For example… if you get a feel that the traffic is low and the interest level is low in the area then naturally to gain more traffic and interest you’ll have to aggressively price your home better than other homes for sale in the neighborhood.
- Some of the ways to get this information is by visiting openhouses in the area to see the traffic coming in and also have a conversation with the agent there and ask what what the foot traffic and interest level is like for the area.
- What are the current homes that are for sale priced at and how long have they been on the market?
- Seeking out this information will help validate the sale price you have in mind. In your area if you see a similar home and it’s priced in the range you were thinking of selling, but it has been on the market for many weeks that tells you the market for that price range is not selling and has already been tested. So logically you’ll have to adjust the price to match the current market expectations.
- To find current for sale homes similar to yours in the area use on-line real estate resources such as Realtor.com, Zillow.com or a local real estate agent. If your in the San Jose, Silicon Valley area feel free to use this on-line resource Realscout.
- Any upcoming homes for sale in the area?
- Another home coming on the market the same time you were thinking of putting your home for sale could lower your chances in getting the home sold quickly. If an area gets flooded with other homes for sale, then you’re dealing with competition from those homes and if they priced a lot more aggressively that can draw buyers away from your home.
- A lot of agents now days like to put a coming soon sign a couple of weeks before a home officially goes on the market, so drive around your area to look for these signs and give the agent a call to find out when the home will go on market. Or if you know of a local agent or agents who does a fair amount of business in the area give them a call to find out if they have any homes coming on the market soon. Then if the time frames fall around the same time you were thinking of putting your home on the market you can now adjust your properties timeline to gain more exposure.
- What are the current interest’s rates and are there any signs of the rates going up?
- Today’s home buyers are a lot more rate sensitive because of the increase in home prices and the increase of talks that rate are going to rise. This in turn has caused some homebuyers to sit on the fence a lot longer or altogether change their mind in becoming homeowners. As a seller that could mean less demand for your home which affects how you price your home correctly.
- To get an idea on the current interest rates and the possibility of the rates rising a good source is a mortgage lender or on-line mortgage resources.
By gathering the information of the 5 key things, I just mentioned It’s going to give you a good idea on the trend for the area and how you should price your home to sell.
If you are located in the in San Jose, Silicon Valley area and are needing help in pricing your home contact me. I’m here to help.
Marlo Ibon | Aloha Agent
408.422.3000
DRE#01834583