You need to buy a new mattress. You find one you like in a used furniture store for $399 and the same one on Craigslist in roughly the same condition for $400. Without giving it much thought, you probably gravitate to the $399 option, simply by the more inexpensive perception. This sales practice has long been in use and continues to influence consumers to this day.
Now you want to sell your house. When you’re agonizing over the price tag you are going to put on your home (and we all do), employ this same tactic and others that we’re listing today. Here are 6 tips for pricing your home to sell.
- Keep it real
With such a big asset, you want to make sure you get a fair value for your house. However, the temptation to set a high price tag so that you can deal down to your “real” asking price can resign your listing to obscurity. Starting high to protect your selling price often leads to houses sitting on the market.
- Price reductions
This is always a painful one, because what seller wants to drop their price? Reductions don’t have to be discouraging. If your listing has had a reasonable number of views but no takers, a minor reduction could be the incentive to turn those viewers into buyers. Start with a small reduction so you don’t feel like you’re losing anything because you can always drop a little more at a time if necessary. Just because a home has been on the market doesn’t mean it is undesirable
- Follow the “99” rule
This point is as simple as the name. Think of how 99% (that was intended) of retail merchandise is priced and follow suit.
- Keep your price simple
Because we know pricing things with the “99” rule is effective, we may be tempted to take it a step further and devise a sum like 488,999, but experts say these types of prices don’t help your odds of selling. When pricing your listing, resist the urge to get creative and keep it simple.
- Keep Internet searches in mind
In the opening, we urged the use of the ninety-nine rule, meaning to opt for a number just under the rounded version. Here this tactic is more important than just a psychological tool to appear cheaper. If someone were to set their home at 515k, a potential buyer searching a price range of 350k-500k wouldn’t find it. Chances are, if a buyer is willing to go to 500k they would likely pitch in a few extra thousand for a home they liked if they saw it in the search.
- Know your minimum
This doesn’t have to be written in stone, but consider some low numbers for your listing that you could live with. Write out these hypothetical prices on a piece of paper to help visualize how you would feel if you receive these offers. Determine how much you are willing to let the house go for in the event you get a lower offer but are eager to sell.