Should you be suspicious when an agent says, “They’ll get you more for your house than comparable sales support because of their ‘Unique Marketing Plan’?”

One of the biggest mistakes anyone can make is to overprice real estate when it first comes on the market. You have one day to make a great first impression when your property is featured as a “New Listing” in the MLS (Multiple Listing Service). If the property is priced higher than “comps” (comparable sales of other, similar properties around your area) you must make sure appraisers will back up your price with a similar appraised value.

The lender uses the appraised value in the approval process for the buyer’s loan. This makes the house virtually un-sellable if priced over comparable sales in your neighborhood.
Also, most buyers, whether financing or paying in cash, ask their agent for comparable sales data prior to writing an offer on a property.

After your over-priced house doesn’t sell, you will need to drop the price, putting the property into a category of “Reduced Price” properties. Now you have to get the attention of all those agents who ignored your property when it first came on the market because they didn’t think they could get it appraised high enough for the lender.

You’ve lost weeks, maybe months, and you may have lost a group of buyers that purchased other well-priced homes.

You can never overcome a lousy first impression!

Since all buyers will need to get an appraisal for the lender, at Capital 1 Realty we work with you to help you price your property properly based on comparable sales in your neighborhood.

Ultimately, price is what sells a home!