Deciding on an asking price for your home is a difficult process. It’s always tempting to take the price you bought the home for, add a few thousand and call it a day. Unfortunately for many home sellers, the selling price of a home is determined by the climate of the local real estate market and the comparatives analyzed in the comparative market analysis. If you’ve staged your home and paid attention to curb appeal and are still not receiving any attention, it’s likely the asking price is to blame. Here are 4 reasons you may have to consider lowering your asking price.
1. Your Home Has Been on the Market Longer Than Average
It doesn’t matter if you are in a buyer’s or seller’s market, the comparables will show you how long similar homes are staying on the market before they are sold. Once your home has passed the threshold without any offers, it’s highly likely that the price is too high and is discouraging buyers from submitting an offer. If you’re unsure what a normal time on the market is for your area, look up your city in our local market reports and check out the average Days on Market. This is how long it has been taking, on average, for a home to sell recently in your local market. If you’re home is still on the market beyond that average, it’s time to consider lowering the price. This will attract the attention of buyers and their agents.
2. You’re Only Receiving Low Ball Offers.
You’ve received an offer! But, it is much lower than your asking price–and this keeps happening. If buyers are only submitting low ball offers on your home, the asking price for your home is too high for the value buyers are seeing in the home. Talk to your agent about how to handle these offers. It might be time to lower your asking price.
3. Many People are Coming to Look at the Home But There Have Been No Offers.
Your home has everything going for it: location, layout, size, build. Buyers keep coming by to walk through the home and gush about how wonderful it is, but no one has made an offer. It’s time to take a serious look at your asking price. Is it really in line with the comparables in your neighborhood? If you haven’t already done so, have an appraiser check out the home to make sure its worth as much as you priced it.
4. You Can’t Make the Needed Upgrades to Attract Buyers.
Your home may not be receiving the right offers because it is not in the same state of repair as other homes in the same price bracket. If you are short on funds and can’t make the necessary updates, that amount must come out of the asking price. Buyers are going to be thinking about the cost of fixing and maintaining the house when they look at the asking price so you have to make it worth their time and money.
Tip: It’s not enough to just lower your price a little. Getting into a lower price bracket is the best way to attract a new audience for your home. Price brackets occur in 50K increments. this seems like a lot and maybe you don’t want to go down that much. Your agent will be able to help you make the right decision for your home. But, if you can switch brackets you’ll be part of a new set of competitors. This time, your home will be a catch for buyers and it could even inspire a bidding war.
Lowering your asking price isn’t always the solution, so take time to consider your other options. Often the problem is in the marketing and not the home. If you or your agent haven’t spent enough time advertising the sale of your home, it is highly likely that your home isn’t showing up with home buyers are looking for homes to view.
Working with a First Team real estate agent gives you access to a large marketing team that will make sure your home is being viewed by the right people. When a home is marketed properly and it is still ignored by the market, it’s time to consider the asking price is too high. Lowering the price is never the most ideal way to sell a home but it’s better than letting it languish on the market. The longer it’s listed the less likely you are to sell the home at a reasonable price.
