When Your Selling Price is too High, Beware!
Dropping
Your Price...Too Late
If you
start out with a high sales price, then drop it later -- your
house is "old news." You will never be able to recapture
that flurry of initial activity you would have had with a realistic
price. Your house could take longer to sell.
Even if you do successfully sell at an
above market price to an uninformed buyer, your buyer will need a mortgage. The mortgage
lender requires an appraisal. If comparable sales for the last six
months and current market conditions do not support your sales price,
the house won’t appraise. Your deal falls apart. Of course, you can
always attempt to renegotiate the price, but only if the
buyer is willing to listen.
Your
house could go "back on the market."
Once your home has fallen out of escrow
or sits on the market awhile, it is harder to get a good offer.
Potential buyers will think you might be getting desperate, so they
will make lower offers. By overpricing your home in the beginning, you
could actually end up settling for a lower price than you would have
normally received.
© 2000 by Terry Light and RealEstate ABC, revised 2004
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