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Selling a house involves much more than just putting up a “for sale” sign.
In addition to some key things to consider — like knowing market conditions, preparing your home for showings and deciding whether to work with a real estate agent — it’s important to get the right asking price, according to Joel Berner, a senior economist at Realtor.com.
Otherwise, your home is going to sit on the market for a long time, and eventually you will have to cut the price anyway, he said.
“Getting the price right to start is really important,” Berner said.
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Zillow’s home trend expert Amanda Pendleton agreed, and said that homes that are well priced and marketed tend to sell in a matter of weeks comparted with homes that miss on the right asking pricing. Those can linger on the market for two months or more, she said.
Here’s what to consider if you are looking to sell your home, according to experts.
What’s happening in the housing market
Home sale listings have been picking up this year. This can create a more competitive environment for home sellers as buyers will have more options to choose from, Berner said.
For the week ending March 1, new listings increased 0.1% compared to the week prior, growing for the eighth consecutive week, Realtor.com found. In February, for-sale inventory was up 27.5% from a year prior, per the site’s monthly housing report.
Meanwhile, sellers have been forced to drop home prices while homes sit on the market for longer. The average time a listing spends on the market is up to 66 days, five more days than last February and the highest since February 2020.
In February, Realtor.com’s monthly report indicated that 16.8% of listings had price reductions, a 2.2 percentage point increase compared to last year, and the highest February activity since 2021.
A January report from the National Association of Realtors indicated a decrease in homes sold above asking price (15% vs. 16% the previous month and year). Meanwhile, homes listed got an average of 2.6 offers from buyers, up from 2.1 a month before but flat from 2.7 a year ago.
It’s not the same seller’s market from the past few years, said Jessica Lautz, deputy chief economist at the National Association of Realtors.
How to get the price right
To get an accurate sense of your property’s value and determine a reasonable listing price, Berner urges home sellers to research recent sales of comparable homes, and focus on properties similar in size, amenities and condition.
To ensure you don’t undersell your home, determine how much equity you need from the sale to cover the down payment, closing costs and moving expenses for your next home, Berner said.
“If you’re really afraid of underselling and have the option to not list your home, then maybe that’s going to be the right option,” Berner said.
For a general idea of your home’s value, online home price estimators, also known as automated valuation models, can be helpful. Such tools use algorithms and publicly available data to estimate a property’s worth, according to Bankrate.
But keep in mind that the estimate might be helpful only for a ball-park figure, experts caution. AVMs rely on public records, and if they haven’t been updated yet, the data might not reflect renovations or changes to the home, Bankrate noted.
A professional home appraiser or a real estate agent will be able to come into your home and look at any upgrades that you’ve made and provide a more detailed evaluation, Lautz said.
“Hire an experienced local agent who’s going to know your neighborhood like the back of their hand,” Pendleton said.