#2 PRICING STRATEGY
Your next objective should be to determine the best possible selling price for your house. You will need to take into account the state of the local market, the condition of your home, and sales of comparable homes in your neighborhood. It is often hard to maintain an non-biased view of your property, so you will want to gather the necessary information in the most objective way possible. If you want a truly objective opinion about the price of your home you could have an appraisal done. This will need to be paid for up front, in cash, and may cost between three and five hundred dollars.
Be reasonable about the price you set. You will always be better off setting a fair market value price than setting your price high expecting that someone will come along and be willing to pay it. If your home stays on the market too long because it is overpriced potential buyers may think that something is wrong with it and you may end up selling it for less than what you could have gotten if you had started out with a realistic asking price.
Your agent can save you time and money by educating you on how to set the asking price for your home. He or she will create a comparative market analysis by taking into consideration the type of market you are in and recent sales of comparable properties. Your agent will then guide you to the best fair market price that will help sell your house within the desired time frame. Usually, real estate agents have a better sense of market value than anyone else- including appraisers!
10 Steps to Selling Your House
1- Needs Analysis
2- Pricing Strategy
3- Property Preparation
4- Marketing Strategy
5- Receiving an Offer
6- Negotiating to Sell
7- Sell
8- Pre-close Preparation
9- Closing
10- Post-Closing