I recently came across a property that hit my price range in my email from the listing agent. It had been priced at $800,000 and now was down to $675,000. I had already purchased a parcel to build a home, but in retrospect, this would have been perfect for what we wanted to do with the property. I let the listing agent know that loved the property, regretted missing it and that I would love to help market it, even though it was listed outside of our office. We need more inventory as a majority of what we had to market was now pending or sold.
Pricing is not a black and white process. If you had 3 different appraisals, you would get 3 different appraised values. If you speak to 3 Realtors, you will get 3 different prices. A lot of times sellers price their own property based on what the neighbors priced their home, regardless if it's pending or sold. Neighbors like to help price homes and drive up the price of their own home. Realtors like to price homes to sell. Another factor is the time of the year. If you are first out of the gate in the Spring and you have time to wait, you can price higher than the data shows that comparable homes are selling. Homes that have been on the market through the winter are priced lower if the seller is motivated or it has gone through multiple price reductions since the Fall. We have specific times we would recommend buying real estate and selling to get the closest to 100% of list price. This is the time of year we see the most price reductions.
In addition, the Zestimate on Zillow is another unfactual accounting as we are a non-disclosure state. Zillow only receives our list prices, not sold prices. They use what they can to send you value ranges based on limited data. Realtors and appraisers use MLS sold data which is later checked by a third party for accuracy. If you are contemplating selling your home, contact us a month or so ahead so that your advisor can offer you this data, suggestions for making your home more saleable and to schedule professional photography at the best times, even before it goes on the market. We schedule our photography when flowers are blooming in some areas and while the snow is falling in other areas. It also gives you time to declutter, stage, pack, paint and fix the things you don't even notice anymore because you have lived with them so long. Trust your EV advisors to take care of everything from a to z.
Written by Courtney King, licensed advisor since 1994
Posted by PollyAnna Snyder on
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