Seller’s Advice – Pricing Strategies for Selling Your Home

For most Canadians, their home is their most important asset. As the population continues to climb and home inventory continues to shrink, the GTA is becoming an even stronger seller’s market. However, it’s important to remember that just because other homes are selling for a higher than average price in your neighbourhood, you’re not guaranteed to hit a home run when you choose to sell. When you’re selling your home, a well thought out and reasonable pricing strategy will help you attract the right buyers, and the right prices.

1. Pricing Smarter to Make a Crowd

Most buyers aren’t comfortable when they are the only ones interested in a property. When you price your house strategically – not too low –  you have the opportunity to draw in a crowd of interested buyers. Once the buyer’s notice your house has generated a lot of interest, they are more likely to increase their offer. This strategy is more effective and helps Sellers sell their homes more quickly but not compromise on sale price.

2. A Listing Price Optimizable for Search

Buyers searching for the ideal home will also have their own price range in mind. They may enter the market with the desire of not spending more than $700K for example. When they search through listings online, they may be able to filter out any properties that are over their budget. This could lead to a lot more eyes becoming diverted from your listing. Pricing just over a 50K or 100K plateau could have you missing out on a group of potential buyers. Considering that 82% of homebuyers consider online as a helpful tool in buying a home, it can be wise to consider a search-friendly list price.

3. Psychological Pricing

Psychological pricing plays a common role in real estate listings. The base theory, of course being that ninety cents can seem cheaper than one dollar to the consumer. In the real estate world, different prices can be interpreted many different ways.

Take these numbers for example:

$789,000 vs. $769,999

The brain can be easily convinced that the number on the left is cheaper – even though it is nearly nineteen thousand dollars more expensive. This list of featured homes in the GTA will prove that home listings ending in “999” are not common. Rather, listings ending in “900” or “000” are more widely used.

$700,000 vs. $699,900

While they are only $100 apart, both these prices give off very different signals. Pricing at $699,900 can affect the buyer at a subconscious level, telling them that they are getting a good bargain. $700,000, however, has the potential of landing more eyes in search engines as we previously discussed. Both prices have their advantages.

$734,777

Sometimes homeowners will carefully calculate a perfect number in their heads. The listing can show they are confident in their selling price, however, a listing price such as this tells buyers that you are not willing to do much negotiating. It could also forecast a long and arduous time for buyers attempting to negotiate. Getting too creative with a listing price has more of a potential to ward off potential buyers.

4. Finding the right comparables

It’s easy to look at what your friends house sold for in another neighbourhood, or look at featured homes in your neighbourhood and get ideas of how high your house should go for. However, it’s important to keep in mind that each house is unique. Each has their own character, are fitted with different appliances, and may have been sold in a time where houses were fetching many different prices.

It’s also easy to lose sight of what houses you’re competing with. A listing for a Paris home is also competing against homes in Brantford, somewhat Cambridge or kitchener, and so on. The agent you choose to sell with should know what your home would compare with homes from all the different homes in neighbourhoods across the Greater Brantford Area.

5. Preparing for Any Scenario

.Many sellers can get the idea that the love and care they have put into their home should fetch them well more than the average market price. They very well could depend on which upgrades you have done. However, often listings that are priced more than 10% of the average market price are looked over, and will inevitably be forced to scale back in price. It’s important to manage expectations and prepare for any scenarios that may come.

A good real estate agent will offer their advice and predict a solid range of prices your house should go for. It’s their job to attract the best offers for you, and that comes with experience in knowing the housing market through and through. They know that settling on a listing price is never usually indicative of the selling or final listing price for that matter.