The Stages of Selling Your home in Johnson County, Kansas - Step 3 - Pricing Strategy

The Stages of Selling Your home in Johnson County, Kansas - Step 3 of 11 Steps

Step 3 - Pricing Strategy - Is Your Home Priced to Show and Sell?

Home sellers often get confused that lots of showings means that buyers are interested in their home.

We touched on this earlier, but it bears repeating...Price your home to sell from Day #1...

WHY, you ask?

Simple! Pricing your home higher than the fair market value tells potential Buyers you're hoping to find someone uninformed enough, to offer more than the home is worth. While you might find a Buyer or Buyer’s Agent who fits one of these categories, there is someone tied to the sales process that knows too much, owns too much data to get the wool pulled over their eyes.

Have you ever viewed a home on Zillow? Have you ever seen a home priced well above the Zestimate? Why on earth would a home buyer offer well above what the home is worth?

Who decides the value of your home? You?...nope.

A potential Buyer?....maybe.

The appraiser representing the Buyer’s Lender?....YES! DING DING DING!

Pricing your home correctly starts by hiring a REALTOR who knows the real estate market data and can properly pull up a RPR Neighborhood Market Report. Why do I say properly?

When pricing a home to many REALTORS rely on only data from the MLS because they aren't knowledgeable enough in the area. Sure a REALTOR from Liberty, MO. can sell a home in Olathe, KS. but are they knowledgeable enough with the local Olathe real estate and economic market data? Real estate is local. Sure, a REALTOR can review stats on a computer, but if they don't have local market knowledge, they can hurt you with interpreting the data wrong, the seller.

What do I mean? If Sprint was laying off 1000 high level employees and your subdivision has a lot of Sprint employees, how do you think it would affect home values in the neighborhood?

The market could take a plunge in values with more homes coming on the market, right?

The next step in pricing your home is to pull up a Property Analysis Report or Comparable Market Analysis. This report will compare home values of similar homes to your home. Homes that share similar floor plans, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, garage stalls, lot sizes, etc should be similarly priced, right? Of course they should.

Finally, based on a thorough review of similar homes that have sold, you’re ready to price your home for the real estate market.

Remember that Buyer’s, Buyer’s Agents, and Appraisers aren’t looking at at the competition’s Listing prices. They don’t care what your competition is asking for their homes. And in point of fact, it doesn’t matter what anyone is asking...

Why? Because the home for sale could be one of the 4000 homes that did not sell. Many people price their homes too high, and lower the list price after receiving no acceptable offers to buy.

You’re smarter than that, and knowing HOW you’re going to win will keep you from the frustration that your neighbors have felt that did not sell or have a horror story to tell.

The appraisers, bankers and buyer's agents only care about what similar homes have SOLD for....and so should YOU!

Did you know the #1 mistake an amateur real estate agent makes when selling a home is pricing the home incorrectly?

Your pricing strategy will reflect the upgrades and deficiencies of your home compared to your competition and should deliver maximum traffic through your home in the first 3 weeks.

Home sellers often get confused that lots of showings means that buyers are interested in their home.

We touched on this earlier, but it bears repeating...Price your home to sell from Day #1...

WHY, you ask?

Simple! Pricing your home higher than the fair market value tells potential Buyers you're hoping to find someone uninformed enough, to offer more than the home is worth. While you might find a Buyer or Buyer’s Agent who fits one of these categories, there is someone tied to the sales process that knows too much, owns too much data to get the wool pulled over their eyes.

Have you ever viewed a home on Zillow? Have you ever seen a home priced well above the Zestimate? Why on earth would a home buyer offer well above what the home is worth?

Who decides the value of your home? You?...nope.

A potential Buyer?....maybe.

The appraiser representing the Buyer’s Lender?....YES! DING DING DING!

Pricing your home correctly starts by hiring a REALTOR who knows the real estate market data and can properly pull up a RPR Neighborhood Market Report. Why do I say properly?

When pricing a home to many REALTORS rely on only data from the MLS because they aren't knowledgeable enough in the area. Sure a REALTOR from Liberty, MO. can sell a home in Olathe, KS. but are they knowledgeable enough with the local Olathe real estate and economic market data? Real estate is local. Sure, a REALTOR can review stats on a computer, but if they don't have local market knowledge, they can hurt you with interpreting the data wrong, the seller.

What do I mean? If Sprint was laying off 1000 high level employees and your subdivision has a lot of Sprint employees, how do you think it would affect home values in the neighborhood?

The market could take a plunge in values with more homes coming on the market, right?

The next step in pricing your home is to pull up a Property Analysis Report or Comparable Market Analysis. This report will compare home values of similar homes to your home. Homes that share similar floor plans, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, garage stalls, lot sizes, etc should be similarly priced, right? Of course they should.

Finally, based on a thorough review of similar homes that have sold, you’re ready to price your home for the real estate market.

Remember that Buyer’s, Buyer’s Agents, and Appraisers aren’t looking at at the competition’s Listing prices. They don’t care what your competition is asking for their homes. And in point of fact, it doesn’t matter what anyone is asking...

Why? Because the home for sale could be one of the 4000 homes that did not sell. Many people price their homes too high, and lower the list price after receiving no acceptable offers to buy.

You’re smarter than that, and knowing HOW you’re going to win will keep you from the frustration that your neighbors have felt that did not sell or have a horror story to tell.

The appraisers, bankers and buyer's agents only care about what similar homes have SOLD for....and so should YOU!

Did you know the #1 mistake an amateur real estate agent makes when selling a home is pricing the home incorrectly?

Your pricing strategy will reflect the upgrades and deficiencies of your home compared to your competition and should deliver maximum traffic through your home in the first 3 weeks.

Home sellers often get confused that lots of showings means that buyers are interested in their home.

We touched on this earlier, but it bears repeating...Price your home to sell from Day #1...

WHY, you ask?

Simple! Pricing your home higher than the fair market value tells potential Buyers you're hoping to find someone uninformed enough, to offer more than the home is worth. While you might find a Buyer or Buyer’s Agent who fits one of these categories, there is someone tied to the sales process that knows too much, owns too much data to get the wool pulled over their eyes.

Have you ever viewed a home on Zillow? Have you ever seen a home priced well above the Zestimate? Why on earth would a home buyer offer well above what the home is worth?

Who decides the value of your home? You?...nope.

A potential Buyer?....maybe.

The appraiser representing the Buyer’s Lender?....YES! DING DING DING!

Pricing your home correctly starts by hiring a REALTOR who knows the real estate market data and can properly pull up a RPR Neighborhood Market Report. Why do I say properly?

When pricing a home to many REALTORS rely on only data from the MLS because they aren't knowledgeable enough in the area. Sure a REALTOR from Liberty, MO. can sell a home in Olathe, KS. but are they knowledgeable enough with the local Olathe real estate and economic market data? Real estate is local. Sure, a REALTOR can review stats on a computer, but if they don't have local market knowledge, they can hurt you with interpreting the data wrong, the seller.

What do I mean? If Sprint was laying off 1000 high level employees and your subdivision has a lot of Sprint employees, how do you think it would affect home values in the neighborhood?

The market could take a plunge in values with more homes coming on the market, right?

The next step in pricing your home is to pull up a Property Analysis Report or Comparable Market Analysis. This report will compare home values of similar homes to your home. Homes that share similar floor plans, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, garage stalls, lot sizes, etc should be similarly priced, right? Of course they should.

Finally, based on a thorough review of similar homes that have sold, you’re ready to price your home for the real estate market.

Remember that Buyer’s, Buyer’s Agents, and Appraisers aren’t looking at at the competition’s Listing prices. They don’t care what your competition is asking for their homes. And in point of fact, it doesn’t matter what anyone is asking...

Why? Because the home for sale could be one of the 4000 homes that did not sell. Many people price their homes too high, and lower the list price after receiving no acceptable offers to buy.

You’re smarter than that, and knowing HOW you’re going to win will keep you from the frustration that your neighbors have felt that did not sell or have a horror story to tell.

The appraisers, bankers and buyer's agents only care about what similar homes have SOLD for....and so should YOU!

Did you know the #1 mistake an amateur real estate agent makes when selling a home is pricing the home incorrectly?

Your pricing strategy will reflect the upgrades and deficiencies of your home compared to your competition and should deliver maximum traffic through your home in the first 3 weeks.

Pricing YOUR home correctly is sometimes the difference from being a happy seller and an unhappy home seller.

To view all 11 Steps, go to: 11 Step Blueprint to Selling Your Home

About the Author: Chris Dowell is the lead agent of the Dowell Family Team in Johnson County, Kansas. The Dowell Family Team is a leading Keller Williams Realty real estate team in Johnson County. With over 24 years of full-time real estate experience, Chris shares his knowledge with Johnson County home buyers and seller. Chris also serves on several advisory committees. Have a question, feel free to contact Chris by phone or text  at (913) 712-9313.