Unlocking Your Home's Value: A Guide to Pricing Strategies

Price Your Home Competitively

Setting the right price for your home is the single most important decision you will make when deciding to sell. Go too high, and you risk turning off every buyer in the marketplace, go too low, and you leave money on the table. One simple but powerful technique for pricing your home is to spend time looking at comparable homes. By doing so, you will be seeing the world through a buyer’s eyes and gain a better understanding of what a reasonable listing price looks like. (1)

Get a Free Online Property Value Estimate

Previously, the only method to get information on valuing your home was to pay a few hundred dollars for an appraisal or consult a real estate agent. Today, precise property information is readily available online. Sellers now have an advantage since they can conduct more preliminary research and quickly acquire pertinent data about their homes. You can start investigating how to price your property using a free property value estimator.

The estimator will ask you to fill out a brief questionnaire to provide some information, such as:

• Are you thinking of selling soon?
• What is the state of your house?
• What form of property is this?
• When was it built?

The tool then uses publicly accessible data, your home’s last sale price, current market trends, and recent sales records to present you with a free estimate of your home’s value in less than two minutes. However, for accuracy, you should supplement your online home worth estimate with the experience of a real estate professional. This will guarantee that your estimate considers current modifications and location factors like road noise, neighboring power lines, and school district quality.

Look at Similar Properties for Guidance 

Property values are hyperlocal and constantly changing. Therefore, agents and appraisers rely on comparable sales to price particular homes and catch market trends. A comparative market analysis (CMA) compares your house to recently sold properties with similar location, condition, and size. The strongest indicator of what a buyer will pay for your house now is what a buyer recently paid for a comparable home. 

Comps offer an objective benchmark and point of reference for determining a pricing range. When setting the price, a seller can then get specific about how their home outperforms or underperforms the comps in terms of home condition, location, and particular amenities or improvements.

Use the Real Estate Price Pyramid

This long-held real pricing approach considers the relationship between your home’s asking price and the percentage of purchasers who are likely to look at it. Generally, the higher you price your home above market value, the fewer your possible buyer base becomes. Here is how to price your home:

Price at Market Value

Most sellers will aim for a list price that is appropriate for the current market value, attracting approximately 60% of active buyers. Remember that buyers and their agents are also researching market value, so you want to find the sweet spot in price. In 2023, buyers frequently paid the full asking price for their properties. Cooler markets and more inventory would make purchasers less likely to acquire their houses above the asking price.

Price Just Below Market Value

According to the pricing pyramid, pricing 10% to 15% below market value increases the possible buyer pool from 75% to 90%. This is an effective method for increasing traffic when your property is unique, or there are few recent comparisons in your region.

Price Over the Market Value

It is unusual to price your home 10% to 15% above market value because it reduces the possible buyer pool to as little as 10%. However, this may be suitable in certain situations. You can price the house higher if you live in a good school district or if the property has an additional value that the comps do not have. However, it’s highly dangerous, so you should consider cutting the price after two or three weeks if no buyer is showing interest.

Follow the Seasonal Swings in Your Market

Conventional wisdom holds that the ideal time to sell a home is in the spring when the warm weather entices people to go outside. However, local real estate transaction data might differ significantly from national trends. Online tools can suggest the best time to sell your home for the most money and when homes have historically sold the fastest in a certain area. For instance, September is the finest month to sell in New York City, while May is the greatest month to sell your home quickly in Los Angeles.

June and July are the best months to sell in Pennsylvania and get higher home prices.

See How Much a Cash Buyer Would Pay 

No matter your price, a traditional sale normally necessitates some effort to prepare, stage, and show a home until an offer is accepted. However, other sellers require more confidence about when their home will sell and are seeking a simpler alternative. The simplest option may be an Allentown speedy transaction to a cash home buyer. Essentially, you supply a few facts about your home, the we buy houses Allentown investor determines the cash price, and you choose whether to accept or deny the offer.

If you opt to sell property for cash in a rapid real estate deal in Allentown, you won’t do all the work when pricing your home. You will only answer a few questions about your home, like how soon you want to sell, and then you will get a full cash offer within a week. The sale can also close within ten days.

Give us a call anytime at 484-484-0971 or fill out this quick form to get started today!