Pricing your Home for Sale

The price of your home must be right. Too low and you lose money. Too high and you lose buyers. That’s where the intimate local market knowledge and expertise of your Harcourts sales consultant comes in. Coupled with Harcourts’ advanced information technologies, this knowledge proves invaluable.

The price of success

The most difficult task for most sellers is determining the value of their home. Many different elements can combine to create unrealistic expectations – be it uninformed and optimistic opinions, the cost of improvements a seller hopes to recover, or the final amount needed to realise future plans.

The best method is to study the current real estate market facts and figures. Your Harcourts sales consultant will show you comparisons of similar homes in your area – those which have sold, those which have yet to sell and those which will represent your competition.

Quite simply, the current property market determines the value of your home. Buyers will see your home for what it is and, while they may still look, if the price is too high, they’ll pass on your property for one elsewhere. This is backed by research clearly showing that properties that sell quickest also sell closest to their initial asking price.

Time Limits

Buyer interest is greatest for your property within the second and third week of its entrance into the market. After this, interest falls away quite dramatically. To maximise this window of opportunity, your Harcourts sales consultant will design a marketing program that peaks during this prime period. Your property will have the highest profile during this vital time. If you have decided to market your property with a price, remember that it must be appraised correctly from the outset to benefit from this initial surge of interest.

A realistic return

It’s a fact that over-priced properties take longer to sell and do not attract the optimum number of prospective buyers, particularly during the prime selling period.

The longer properties sit on the market, the lower the price they achieve. After three or more months, this can often be 20-25% less. To ensure this doesn’t happen, your Harcourts sales consultant has all the relevant information necessary to help you price your property correctly for the best return.