The Psychology of Pricing a Home

I find it interesting to see how agents/sellers price their homes. Sometimes you see round numbers ($500,000)and sometimes you see very random prices ($487,512).

We see many houses ending in digits around ,999...such as $429,999 or $549,900. I guess the thought is to be just under a "round Number" so that you show up in someone's search.

Then there are those that are just under the "9"'s...I guess to take it one more step and be below the prices in the "9"s.

One thing I don't get is when you see a listing for $402,000 or for $301,000. Why would you be barely over a round number? Maybe the goal here is to be the lowest price in a range of searches.

We know that buyers give us ranges. "I want to be between $400 and $450" or "Let's see what's for sale in the $200 to $300 range."

I find that buyers who give me a large range (Such as 200 to 300) that they quickly realize that there is huge difference in houses that are $200K and $300K. They quickly gravitate to the higher end, if they can afford it.

I have NEVER seen an article on this. If you have any thoughts...please share them.

Thanks!!