AYN Advice

How To Price Your Home

When you decide to sell your home, one of the first decisions you will face is “How much should I ask”.

You want to price your home low enough to producer a quick, efficient sale, but still high enough get a reasonable return on what is probably your major investment. Therefore, it is essential to determine a fair market value.

“Fair market value” is defined as the price a willing buyer will pay to a willing seller without duress or pressure.

Like any other product, this value is based on supply and demand. However, no two homes are exactly alike. Factors such as community, location, age, condition, improvements, and design all have an impact on how much a home is worth. Since similar homes compete for the same buyers, you will have to make sure that your home is priced competitively.

The state of the market also affects value. If there are a lot of homes for sale, and just a few less interested in purchasing - a “buyers market” - prices tend to go down. You need to lower estimate of value in this kind or market. Iii a “sellers’ market”, there are many buyers and homes for sale. In this case, you can expect to receive a higher price for your home.

What you need now is solid, factual information that will allow you to judge the value more accurately.

Your best source for this kind or information is your RE/MAX real estate sales representative, who deals with buyers and sellers on a day-today basis.

Your REMAX representative has access to ‘EDGAR’ computer information on the homes in your community that have sold and that are currently listed for sale.

By entering the information about your home in our EDGAR computer i.e. location, size and special features, the REMAX representative can get a list of similar homes, complete with asking and selling prices. Then you can compare these homes with yours, discussing the differences and bow they will affect the value.

Location is the major factor affecting the value of Your home. Virtually everything else can be changed by the buyer, but the location is fixed.

Consider the age and condition or your home. Will the purchaser face hundred of dollars in repairs? Can you offer new heating, wiring, plumbing, and a sound roof.! How about walkways, driveway and porch? Some expenditure on maintenance may be worthwhile. You should discuss these issues with your sales representative.

Also take into account any improvement and renovations that have been made, and the true value they add to your home If you recently added a pool or renovated a bathroom or kitchen, you may not be able to automaticaly add the full cost on to the selling price of your home. A RE/MAX real estate professionnal can provide you with an objective assessment of the value any improvements you have added to your home.

Finally, you should consider the question of listing or asking price. Here, again, your agent’s experience will be useful. The difference between listing and selling prices can vary widely, because of market factors your representative will be familiar with, and as such your RE/MAX representative experience in such matters is of great value.