Brenda Lee - Your Real Estate Specialist in Surrey

Pricing your home for the maximum sale price. How to price your home depends on many factors. If your market area has excessive listing inventory and your home is similar in style to the competition, then it is very important to price your property at a competitive market value right when you list it.

Pricing the typical home in a average market In the average market only 30% of the homes will sell during a 3 month period.

This means that with 100 homes for sale, 30 will sell and 70 are not going to sell because they are over priced, not marketed well or exposed properly. This market is so competitive that even over-pricing by a few thousand dollars could mean that your home would not sell.

Put yourself in the buyer's shoes

I recommend that you put yourself in the buyer's shoes and just see how many homes a potential buyer could look at before reaching your price range. Typically the buyer will start to look at the lowest priced homes first. On a average home hunting day a buyer may look at 5 homes.

If your home is the 6th most expensive then your home won't get shown on the first day the buyer is looking.

The first visit will count the most!

My personal experience of selling over 600 homes is that most buyers will buy a home on their first outing. This does mean if you are not competitively priced in the first 5 homes, assuming that the other five are all equal in their perceived features and value, then you are not going to get that first showing nor are you going to get that first sale. The summary is pricing your home so that it is just high enough that you don't miss the first round of showings.

This all changes if your home is very special. If your home is unique to the point of you no longer have any real direct competition then you can price your home higher. For example if your home is the only one with a pool or is the only one backing on the park, the lake, in a cul de sac or has that extra garage etc. and there is a DEMAND for one of these unique features. Please remember that most sellers believe that their home is $10,000 more valuable than the identical home next door, because they have personally decorated it to their own tastes: " Yes I know it has that very special orange counter top that took you years to find."

Please be prepared that if you are lucky, maybe the new buyer might appreciate 80% of all your unique home features and as for the other 20% they are discounting the purchase price in order to fill in your pool and change those lovely counter tops. In summary, if your home is truly unique and there is a demand for that uniqueness then you can price your home much higher to test those buyers. I usually suggest that a 2-week trial will drag out most buyers that have just been waiting for your home to come on the market. If after 2 weeks of little to no action, then it is time to check in on reality and admit that some of your appreciation for your home's unique features are probably in your eyes-only. The danger of your home being on the market too long!

STUDIES SHOW THAT THE LONGER A PROPERTY STAYS ON THE MARKET, THE LESS THE SELLER WILL NET.

If on the market too long, there may be something wrong.

What should you do if your home has been on the market a while and you are not getting your share of the showings?

Once your home has been on the market for a longer time period then everyone starts to ask why isn't it selling, what is wrong with it, and the excitement of your home being just listed is gone. This is the time to review the marketing, exposure in Realtor incentives: price verses value, wages for the Realtors, presentation of your home. This is a critical point where you can analyze any feed back from your past showing or near showing. You can ask your Realtor to tell you exactly why the past customer did not buy your home.

Was it the color of the counters, the barking dog, the slime green pool. I always like to ask the Realtor to ask their clients at that price would they consider buying our listed home. It is very valuable to hear why they didn't buy your home and exactly how much they felt your home, in it's present condition is worth to them. Armed with this constructive information you can perhaps overcome their objections by fixing some problems with the home ( orange counter tops??) and then sell the home to   them or the next buyer for your full price. Fewer home showings means a lower price and a longer selling time! Fewer home   showings means a lower price and a longer selling time! Fewer showings on average will mean less of a chance for that higher offer, resulting in the home taking longer to sell and for less money. Let me translate this: if you had 20 showings and multiple offers or you had one showing and one offer, then the odds are that you probably had a 20 times better chance of a higher offer and quicker sale from the 20 showings. If you are the one with the over priced home and only got one showing then you are going to have to accept that low offer.

Remember you don't have any other offers as the other buyers have already bought someone else's home. What this all means to the seller is that is very dangerous to have your home over priced and not get the showings, especially if you really are committed to selling in a certain time frame. Is the first offer the best offer?? Interestingly, your first offer is usually your best offer. Your home is fresh on the market and everyone is excited about it. One should be careful that you negotiate with the   back door open and don't insult the customer. The clients are usually most excited about your property when they first see it.

During the next 24 hours the shine will have worn off and by now they are ready to let the dream of owning your home go and   go on to buying another home.

Pitfalls of pricing too high and reasons for keeping within market value

Here are reasons for pricing your property at the market value right from the start in order to net you the most amount of money in the shortest amount of time:

An overpriced home:

  - Lowers agent response
- Limits qualified buyers
- Reduces showings
- Discourages future interest
- Minimizes offers
- Limits financing
- Nets less for the seller 80% of the marketing is done when we decide at what price to list your home.
    If you are unwilling to list at current market value, you might be better off by not putting it on the market at
    this time.

Preparing your home to get the highest sale price:

MOST PEOPLE ARE TURNED OFF BY EVEN THE SMALLEST AMOUNT OF UNCLEANLINESS OR ODOR WHEN BUYING A HOME. SELLERS LOSE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS BECAUSE THEY DO NOT ADEQUATELY CLEAN.

If your house is squeaky clean, you will be able to sell your home faster and net hundreds, if not thousands of dollars more!.

If you are planning on moving, why not get rid of that old junk now so that your house will appear larger and not distract from the full value of your home. I always point out to the sellers that a simple crack in the dry wall may cost $10 to repair but in the buyers eyes this crack is probably now one of many and they better budget $2,000 to repair all the perceived drywall cracks.

The net result of your un-repaired dry wall crack or missing cupboard handle, cracked floor tile, dirty bathroom grout, window with the broken seal is going to cost you a least 5 times their actual repair costs when you look at your final discounted sale price.

Preparing your home to get the highest sale price:

Preparing your home to get top sale price!

A HOME SHOWN IN PRIME CONDITION CAN SELL FOR AS MUCH AS $10,000 EXTRA COMPARED TO ONE SHOWN UNKEPT AND IN DISREPAIR

Hide those pets!

Odors must be eliminated especially if you have dogs, cats, or young children in diapers or if you are a smoker or if you cook very spicy food. You personally may not notice the smell, but the buyers do!

Most agents have a difficult time communicating to their sellers about odor. If you employ an agent to get the most amount of money for you, please don't take offense if he must confront you about odor problems. Personally I usually ask my clients: do I have your permission to share with you all the things that you can do to get the highest sale price without hurting your feelings.

If the client can't handle constructive personal house cleaning suggestions, then as their agent I have to respect their wishes and keep my advise to myself.

Make Your home easy to show!!

TOP SELLING AGENTS WILL NOT SHOW YOUR HOME IF BOTH THE KEY AND ACCESS ARE NOT READILY AVAILABLE. THEY DO NOT HAVE TIME TO RUN AROUND TOWN ALL DAY PICKING UP AND DROPPING OFF KEYS. THEY WANT TO SELL HOMES!

The greatest way to show a house is to make sure the buyer's agent has a key or have your listing agent attend the showing and opens and prepares your home prior to the showing! Show all rooms bright.

When your home is being shown, please do the following:

Show all rooms bright... especially on dull days.
Keep all lights on.. even increase the wattage in the darker hallways.
Keep all drapes and shutters open unless it makes the room's temperature uncomfortable.
Spit and polish.
Shine those counters and appliances and vacuum those carpets
Make it easy to view all areas.
Keep all doors unlocked to the garden and patio areas.
Keep all doors unlocked to the garden and patio areas.
Show maximum room and function.
Move furniture away from doorways towards the outside walls.
Move furniture away from doorways towards the outside walls.
Take extra furniture out of crowded rooms.
- These actions will make each reorganized room look larger and have more functional space.
Clear the counters as much as possible.
- It is amazing but I have actual seen clients look at a large counter cluttered with kitchen appliances only to say there would be no room for their microwave not recognizing that this home already has a microwave that will be taken away when the home is sold.
Give the clients privacy
- Take a short walk with your children and pets.
- Let the buyer be at ease and let the agents do their job.
Repair your home to prime condition before selling.
- PAINT IS YOUR BEST IMPROVEMENT INVESTMENT FOR GETTING A GREATER RETURN ON YOUR MONEY.
- Paint makes the whole house smell clean and neat.
  If your house has chipped paint,exposed wood, or the paint looks faded, it is time to repaint. If your carpet is worn, dirty, outdated, or an unusual color, you may need to seriously consider replacing it.
- Many houses do not sell because of this problem. Don't think that buyers have more money than you have to replace carpet.
  They will just budget twice the cost and deduct off the sale price or they simply buy elsewhere.
Front Yard presentations - keep your front yard neat and tidy.
- FIRST IMPRESSIONS WILL MAKE OR BREAK YOUR SALE. YOUR FRONT YARD IMMEDIATELY REFLECTS THE INSIDE CONDITION OF YOUR HOME.
- Think of your first date. Did your spouse look pretty sharp or did they look like they just got up after a long Saturday night! The fact is that some homes are past over just by the fact theat the client says it doesn't look sharp enough, look right, feel right. Trim the shrubs and trees so the house can be seen from the street.
Have the grass mowed, trimmed and edged. Walkways should be swept, or power washed clean.
- Flowerbeds can be spruced up and extra inseason flowers added. Hide the garbage cans and close the garage doors. Remove the extra parked cars making way for the client to park in the prime spot. Pay your kids not to play street hockey in the front driveway.
- Where possible I usually like to freshly sprinkle the lawn on a hot day so that the evaporations cool the clients as they walk in. This all adds to curb appeal.

Remember! If a buyer doesn't like the outside, they may not even stop to see the inside.

Want to know more or have a question? Contact me!