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Posted on: 28 July 2015

One of the tasks a real estate agent will help you with is selecting the right price to ask for your home. This will be one of the first steps you will need to accomplish when listing your home with a real estate company, and this is also one of the most important aspects of selling your house. Here are three things you should realize about the price tag you place on your home.

Why It's So Important

Most agents recommend finding the right selling price right away, because this will actually result in getting the best price for the house. If you are tempted to try to list it at a higher price simply to try to get more out of the house, your realtor might suggest rethinking your theory.

According to real estate statistics, when homeowners have to drop the listed price, it actually hurts their chances of selling the home for the best price. Homeowners that do this may end up receiving a lower price than they would have received if they had listed it at the right price right away.

Choosing the right listing price from the start is also important for other reasons. The primary reason is that it may limit the potential buyers that view the house. If your house should be listed for $195,000 and you choose to list it for $205,000, you may lose a lot of potential buyers. These buyers might be looking for homes under $200,000, and your home would not fit this criteria.

The Factors That Matter

As you discuss price with your agent, there are numerous factors that will play a role in the price he or she suggests to you. Here are some of these factors:

• The current housing market – The housing market has its ups and downs. When there is a shortage of homes for sale, prices of homes tend to increase. Real estate agents know the market well and can tell you what the market currently looks like. This is an important factor to consider when pricing your home.
• Similar homes – Real estate agents also understand comps, which is a term often used in appraisals. Comps are houses similar to yours that were recently sold. The agent will view recently sold houses to find out what they sold for, and this can help you know the price of yours.
• Key features of the house – If your house has unique or desirable features, it may help increase the price of the home. This could include a swimming pool, hot tub, geothermal heating system, solar heating system, or any type of energy-efficient upgrade.
• The appraisal – You could always hire an appraiser to get an accurate market price for the home. This is something that will be done when a person places an offer on the house, but you could do it ahead of time if you'd like.

Your agent will use these factors to help you find the right price.

Choosing The Exact Price

Finally, there will be one more decision to make relating to the price. Do you use a straight amount, or should you drop the amount by $1? For example, if the house should be listed right around $200,000, you could ask that amount or you could drop it to $199,999.

An advantage of asking $200,000 is that your house would show up if people were looking for a house in the price range of $150,000 to $200,000, and it would show up for people looking within the $200,000 to $250,000 price range.

Studies show that this is a positive benefit; however, the best method to use is still the $1 drop-down method. This method seems to be the best when it comes to selling a house faster and for the best price.

If you are getting ready to sell your house, you should talk to a firm today to find out what other realty services are available. Using a real estate agent may be the best way for you to sell your house quickly.