PRICING YOUR HOUSE TO SELL!

Ok, you have decided that you either need to or want to sell your home. Now comes the all important decision, how much should I list it for?

There are many items that go into this.

The first thing you need to do is become educated on how to value your home.

• What did you pay for your home and how long ago?


• What physical improvements have been done to the home? (Remodeled the Kitchen, a bathroom, added a pool or spa. Were permits taken for additions?)


• What amenities does your home have? (Pool, built ins, tile floors and counters, granite counters, wood or laminate floors, upgraded carpet and pad, etc.)


• How many and type of rooms? (Number of bedrooms, family room, bonus room)


• What condition is your home? (Model home, well lived in, rental, or somewhere in between.)


• What is the bottom dollar that you will need to come to an agreement to sell?

Now that was easy. Now comes some real work.

Researching what homes have been selling for in relation to their listing prices which are similar in size, age, amenities, condition and area. Not what they are being listing for.

• For this you can contact Fresno County and get a report from them on what homes have sold for per the tax rolls.


• Or you can use a listing agent who can go to the Multiple Listing Service and can obtain a current report on what houses have listed for, how long they were on the market, and what they sold for.


• This report will also show some, but not all of the amenities that these houses included.

You and your agent can then do comparison ‘shopping’ to determine what you should list your house for in order to sell.

In a good market, prior to 2007, houses sold fairly close to what they were listed for. However, when you saw a house on the market for 120 or more days it was either in bad shape or was priced too high.

In today’s market 120 days and even one year are not uncommon.

You have to decide what is motivating you to sell your home. If time is on your side, you can afford to price it on the high side. If however, you want or need to sell quickly you need to decide how low you can price your home in order to attract buyers in a buyers market.

Pricing and incentives is the key to selling a house. What else can you offer to the buyer? In this market you will need to provide some sort of incentive.

• Paying for some of their closing costs,


• Providing a home warranty,


• Buying them a new plasma television after escrow closes.


• Include your side by side refrigerator, the pool table, the surround sound, etc.

This is only the beginning, but you are now well educated and can make your selling experience from a position of knowledge and experience.