“We can always go down, but we can’t go up.”

If you’re selling your home this statement has probably crossed your lips at least once. But when it comes to setting a pricing strategy for your home, is it a good idea to start high and work your way down, especially in a market flooded with inventory? Probably not, as most experts would advise that the best way to increase your odds of a successful sale is to price your home at fair market value. But, as logical as this advice sounds, for many sellers it is still tempting to tack a few percentage points onto the price to “leave room to negotiate”. To avoid this temptation, let’s take a look at the seven deadly sins of overpricing:

Appraisal problems
Even if you do find a buyer willing to pay an inflated price, the fact is over 90% of buyers use some kind of financing to pay for their home purchase. If your home won’t appraise for the purchase price the sale will likely fail.

No showings
Today’s sophisticated home buyers are well educated about the real estate market. If your home is overpriced they won’t bother looking at it, let alone make you an offer.

Branding problems
When a new listing hits the market, every agent quickly checks the property out to see if it’s a good fit for their clients. If your home is branded as “overpriced”, reigniting interest may take drastic measures.

Selling the competition
Overpricing helps your competition. How? You make their lower prices seem like bargains. Nothing is worse than watching your neighbors put up a sold sign.

Stagnation
The longer your home sits on the market, the more likely it is to become stigmatized or stale. Have you ever seen a property that seems to be perpetually for sale? Do you ever wonder – What’s wrong with that house?

Tougher negotiations
Buyers who do view your home may negotiate harder because the home has been on the market for a longer period of time and because it is overpriced compared to the competition.

Lost opportunities
You will lose a percentage of buyers who are outside of your price point. These are buyers who are looking in the price range that the home will eventually sell for but don’t see the home because the price is above their pre-set budget.

One popular myth is that a great marketing plan will overcome a pricing problem. Nope – spending a zillion dollars on advertising, internet ads, and television spots won’t motivate buyers to pay you more than the home is worth. Another myth is the assumption that a buyer will see your home, fall in love, and write you a check so the competition doesn’t matter. Wrong. Buyers don’t look at homes in isolation. Most look at 10-15 homes before making a buying decision. Because of this, setting a competitive price relative to the competition is an essential component to a successful marketing strategy.

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  Home Security Check

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In today’s world, the internet is everything when selling a home.  In 2010, it’s amazing to see these agents that want a 6% commission to sell a home and they won’t take the time or make the investment to really showcase a home with the proper amount or quality of photos.

At Homegate – we pride ourselves on our photography and virtual tours. All of our listings are showcase listings on Realtor.com and premier listings on Zillow.com – What does this mean for a home seller? It means a home seller will have up to 25 premium photos on these and many other sites as well as an interactive virtual tour.  All of our photos are taken with professional photographic equipment including a premium wide-angle lens so we can capture the whole room in a single image with the crispness and quality every home should have.

Case in point – There’s quite the estate home in Milwaukee for sale right now.  At $5.5 Million – you’d think they’d have a few more pictures.  When I tried to take a look – all I could find is 4 pictures.  I wouldn’t be too happy if I was a home seller and agreed to sign over a commission check of $330,000 when consumers looking at homes will only see 4 pictures.

Here’s the listing:

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/800-West-Bradley-Road_Village-Of-River-Hills_WI_53217_M82284-82224

We bring this up because we found a great article as to exactly how and why having good, professional photos can not only help get your home sold in a tough market – but also get you a better offer too.  Thanks to the Wall Street Journal and Yahoo! Real Estate for the following article:

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/in-real-estate-a-picture-is-worth-1000-or-more.html