Laurie Scalf

It's important to carefully look at your neighborhood activity, before deciding on a price for your house.

What you paid for the house + improvements you have made to the house DOES NOT EQUAL the selling price of your house.

You should seek out a Competitive Market Analysis (otherwise known as a CMA) of your area, take a look at active, expired, pending and sold listings.

The active listings are obviously your competition.

Take a look at the expired listings and be sure you don't follow their lead on price, since you actually want to sell your house, instead of it expiring.

The sold listings is where you should focus when setting your price. List your home no more than 4% higher than the reality you see in this section and you will get an offer far sooner than the average days on the market.

The other option is to price it higher, then lower it in a few months to get the same amount you could have sold it for in the beginning. Only after it's on the market for a long time, buyers try to come down harder on the older listings.

The more similar the homes are in an area, the more consistent the selling price will be.

Take a look at price per square foot. This will help you get to your price in an area where homes are not as consistent.

Hope this helps!

WHAT'S UP WITH THE REAL ESTATE MARKET? Lack of confidence is really what we are talking about here. Reality is that the price of homes has declined. Long-term investments have their ups and downs and real estate is, after all, a long term investment.

NOT IN THE NEWS - If you look at the market over the past decades and decades, real estate increases over time.. no matter what the market is in the short run.

The media version of the real estate market and mortgage lending, for that matter, does nothing to help build it up. Another example of how Bad News is King in the media. Wouldn't you love to see a local highlight each night on how many homes have sold? Now that would be news that this country could use.

It's funny to me.. Real Estate ON SALE NOW... ATTENTION BUYERS! But somehow it gets turned around! If the plasma TV you have been wanting to buy drops in price, should the headlines read.. Economic Crisis? The economy is falling apart! Just an observation that everything has it's ups and downs and real estate is no different.

Everyone who has their home listed at an amount that is unrealistic for the market is making matters worse. If the overpriced homes were not on the market, the saturation problem would be lessened. After all, the majority of the sellers on the market are going to buy a home to move into.

It's the simple law of supply and demand... and right now supply is over demand by 9 to 11 months!

EDUCATION - If you price your house in line with the market and you buy a home that is in line with the market.. any dollars that you feel you've given up on the sale of your home, you are very likely to make up on the purchase on your next home. So pricing it right, in the first place is a win-win situation for you, making a buyer's or seller's market less relevant to the big picture than most people think.

In time confidence in real estate will be restored.

Dream Media - Wouldn't it be great if the media removed the negative spin on the real estate market?

For example:

They could help by talking about how the first-time buyers (or buyers who have not owned a home for the past 3 years) can benefit with the $7500 tax credit through June of 2009. This should be getting buyers excited.

They should talk about how this is the time to buy and let's predict the News of the future. In 2018, a newscaster interviews a real estate investor, who bought properties up during the down market, back in 2008 and now is a ga-zillionaire! Then the news will be that people wish they has bought more!

I guess my point here is that it's all in the attitude and a POSITIVE ATTITUDE and some POSITIVE NEWS would be great!

Real Estate values have been falling in much of the US. The pace of new homes is down, as well, with many on the market for months.

There are strategies that can help you sell your home - For a fair price - even in this market.

First of all, you might have to be very aggressive, especially if your local market has tons of homes for sale.

** DON'T START WITH A HIGH PRICE - Asking price is the single most important reason that a house does not sell. In this buyer's market, it is a mistake to set a high price and assume that you can lower it later or lower it in negotiations. Local Real Estate Agents pay the most attention to homes when they are new on the market. These days, agents may not even show your home if it is overpriced.

If you start too high, then lower your price, agents will have newer listings to show. The buyers who do see your home will view your price cut as a sign of desperation and bid low.

WHAT is the CORRECT PRICE? The correct price in this market is toward the low end of the range of prices being asked on comparable homes currently for sale in your neighborhood.

Pricing your home as a bit of a bargain ensures that as many potential buyers as possible will view your home. This is vitally important when the number of sellers outnumber buyers.

KEEP an EYE ON COMPARABLE LISTINGS every two to four weeks if your home has not sold. If local prices are falling, you may have to lower your price to remain competitive. When you do a price drop, make it large enough that the new price is VERY competitive with comparable home or even "The Best Deal."

IMPORTANT- The sale price of neighbors homes for a year or two ago should not even enter your thinking when you set your asking price. It was a very different market then and those prices are not even relevant today.

NOTE - If your home is not attracting many showings, the price is probably the problem. If it is attracting showings but not offers, the home itself is most likely to blame.

Fix it up first - "Fixer Uppers" tend to be ignored in a slow market because buyers can find good deals without doing any work. If your home needs repairs, get the work done before putting it on the market.

Pay attention to Curb Appeal - Buyers have a lot of choices and if your home doesn't look attractive from the street, they will drive past without even stopping. Replace damaged screens, tidy up the lawn and landscaping, pressure wash the sidewalk and mulch around trees and flower beds. If necessary, touch up paint, particularly the front door and trim. Upgrade outdoor lighting fixtures, doorknobs and your doorbell switch or knocker. These small details can evoke an emotional reaction in a home shopper that can lead to a sale.

Freshen up Inside - a fresh coat of paint can go a long way. It also pays to have a professional cleaner to remove years of grime from your kitchen and bathrooms. Your home should sparkle. Smell Matters!! It is extremely difficult to sell a home that reeks of cigarette smoke or pet and cooking odors. Perfuming the home doesn't fool anyone.

Advertise special features of the home. French doors, original woodwork, etc. And be descriptive, rather than writing "inground pool," write "inground pool with stone deck and waterfall."

Help with closing costs - buyers who are short on cash may have trouble paying upfront mortgage expenses. Offer to pay a portion of these costs, and buyers have a reason to choose your home.

Pay for buy downs. Many lenders will lower interest rates by 1/8 to 1/4 percentage point in exchange for an up-front payment. The payment is usually 1% or 2% of the loan amount.

Include details of your incentives in your MLS listing, newspaper ad, flyer's and on your website.

You can also offer real estate agents a bonus, which could be an extra 1% of the purchase price, on top of their usual commission, at closing if they find you a buyer. Mention this only in the MLS listing.

Lastly - Don't Overnegotiate- If a potential buyer's first offer is reasonable, consider accepting it, rather than making a higher counter offer. Buyers have so many homes to choose from today that they sometimes move on to other homes, rather than make a second offer when sellers don't accept their initial bids. If you do not need to sell quickly or your home is having lots of showings, counter, but if you need to sell fast and the initial offer is reasonable, do not risk losing the sale over a small amount of money.