Please don’t get caught in what should be called ‘Delay Damage’. The longer your property is on the market for sale, the lower the price you will get. Buyers think alike.
If a property has been for sale for more than a month, the buyers are going to have one of two thoughts about it: first there is something wrong with it.
Or second, the price is too high.
The worst thing you can do if you’re selling in a depressed market is to “chase the market down”.
That’s what happens when you finally lower your price only to find the market has already fallen below that price.
Then you lower again – after a while – and……too late! The market drop has beaten you to it and you’ve missed out again.
You’re slashing thousands off your own price because you are chasing the market down.
Don’t chase a market. Catch a market, or more correctly – don’t chase a buyer. Catch them.
That’s right, instead of lowering the asking price after the market has fallen which almost certainly means you will be chasing it down, set a better than realistic asking price in the beginning. Catch the buyers with a true and honest price – your lowest price – to start.
So know your absolute rock bottom to find the best buyer, before you begin. To catch the market (instead of chasing it), promote your rock bottom price with the words “or offers above”.
This signifies that your price is so good and so attractive that a lower offer is unthinkable. You have been realistic with your catch price and you now ask the buyers to be realistic with the most they are prepared to pay you.
An agent who is a skilled negotiator will ensure that you get the best market price anyway.
In a depressed market such as today’s market, it’s the price, always the price. Set one that is going to catch the buyers. You’re in competition with a stack of other sellers – make sure that your property is attractive, and to be attractive, it means you have to set the right price right now.
Get the best price and get out of the market – fast.
Re-printed by permission - Neil Jenman author of ‘Real Estate Mistakes’ and ‘Don’t Sign Anything’.
Images from Microsoft Office