At any time of year, an effective pricing strategy can be the difference between a home that sells quickly at a desired price and one that languishes on the market for months. There’s no time when this is more apparent than at the end of the year, as holidays and family gatherings overtake the urgency of finding and moving into a new home.
Although your sellers have already made a great decision by choosing to hire a real estate agent (which can add about $34,000 more to their final sale price), what year-end pricing strategies can you use to position your listings for maximum appeal? Here are 11 ways to boost your chances of a happy new year with home sales that don’t slump at the calendar’s turn.
The first and best way to maximize the appeal of your home listings is to stick with a tool you already know: the comparative market analysis (CMA). It’s pretty standard advice, but it can be easy to overlook as you rush to clear inventory at the end of the year. This quick-and-dirty look at what nearby homes are listed for (and selling at) can give you a starting point for discussions.
2. Use pricing psychology
Retail pricing psychology states that consumers love prices ending in a nine or a five; this is not necessarily true in real estate. Round numbers sometimes move buyers more than a price that resembles a (metaphorical) fire sale.
On the other hand, some buyers like the look of the smaller number; this is why the “just below” strategy is effective (as in, a property is “just below” $300,000 when the price is $299,999). The best way to determine the psychological pricing strategy that works in your area is to look at both the offering and closing prices of homes that have sold recently.
3. Price for search
Tailor your pricing to search values. Many buyers pick a round number and set this as a hard ceiling for any automated alerts or manual searching. Keeping your client’s property below common levels can ensure…