In a Buyers Market, as we have now, the most important aspect of marketing your property is pricing it right. If the asking price of a property increases beyond fair market value, the pool of potential buyers decreases dramatically, and it just sits on the market, overlooked and under loved.
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Overpricing your property may actually help sell another property more quickly than yours, because your price will make theirs look good.
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Overpricing will cause some potential buyers to think your property is out of their price range, thus reducing viable interests.
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Overpricing results in fewer showings because both buyers and their agents quickly determine that the asking price is out of step with the market values.
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Overpricing has a dampening effect on potential buyers who resist making even "low-ball" offers when they sense that negotiation would begin from an unrealistic starting point.
Pricing a property at market value increases the number of showings to qualified buyers with real interest. Despite the large inventory of properties now available on the Coast, we still find that when properties are priced appropriately to meet the market where it actually is, rather than where we wish it were, we can sell properties quickly and even generate multiple offers.
In a high inventory market like this one, all the advertising and fancy brochures in the world will not overcome the stullifying effect of a property with an unrealistic asking price. Objective analysis of recently sold comparables combined with your listing agent's intimate knowledge of the features of those sold properties and present market trends, will be an efficient guide to identifying optimal pricing.
Aside from getting the price right, there are several straightforward steps to maximize the effectiveness of marketing efforts for your property.
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Clean it up.
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Clear out clutter and excess furnishings.
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Remove personal items and mementos.
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Remove anything dead or bedraggled.
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Remove overgrown vegetation and other items obscuring views.
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Strongly consider professional staging, which tends to more than pay for itself, as it consistently adds perceived value and increases sales prices.
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