Price it right the 1st time: First Week Crucial for Listings…

Online brokerage redfin recently completed a study showing that more than 50% of all listings placed on the market in 2009 failed to sell by August 2010. “The week that a listing goes on the market, we estimate that it gets nearly four times more visits on real estate websites than it does a month later, which is the earliest that most sellers will consider a price reduction.”

Redfin’s statistics on listing views show a steady decline after the first week, with small spikes in traffic seen after 30 and 60 days, when bargain hunters start looking for desperate sellers.

New Zealand’s realestate.co.nz has a similar story to tell…it studies show that a quarter of listing views during a property’s first two months online take place in the first seven days.

Many sellers believe that they should “try a higher price” at the outset of a listing (“we can always come down”) …this can be very detrimental to obtaining the best offer in a reasonable timeframe. If a home is placed on the market at an initial price that buyers determine is not in line with similar offerings…they may not even schedule a viewing of the home. After a home has been on the market for 30-60 days…the bargain-hunting buyers come out.

The banks are leading the way with a very successful sales strategy on their foreclosed properties: They price their homes below what is on the market…that way they generate a lot of initial interest, multiple offers and normally a final sales price ABOVE the initial asking price all in a very short timeframe.

Sellers must thoroughly discuss with their agent his or her pricing and marketing strategies. And sellers must also be certain that their agent has a full understanding of the macro and micro factors of the housing market. Never, ever, select an agent because they were the ones who told you the highest listing price…in the business we call this “buying a listing”.

Feel free to give me a call if you’d like to discuss anything in the above post…561-602-1258

Thanks for reading,

Steve