The sale of a house is one of the biggest and most important transactions an individual can go through in all of their lifetimes. However, many people tend to mess up the sale right from the beginning by overpricing their property. This is why getting in touch with a real estate professional is a smart move to make right from the start.
Following are some of how overpricing your property can ruin your deal.
Search Results
In the current times of the internet, everything is done online. Whether someone's looking for a home in Druid Hills, Vinings, or Decatur, the internet is the place where every search begins. During these searches, they will also include filters or look at specific sites that give them a clear pricing range.
If you set a price higher than it should be, likely, your home won't even show up on the search results of people who could afford your house. It will show up in the bottom portion of the search results of people who are looking for more expensive homes (better location, amenities, fixtures & features). To this group of buyers, it then becomes apparent that the property is overpriced, which results in it sitting on the market for extended periods.
Credibility
Just like sellers are well researched and thoughtful about the process, so are the buyers. They are about to make maybe the largest purchase of their lifetime. Hence, they will have an idea or an estimate of what the houses might be worth in the neighborhood of their interested, for e.g. Druid Hills, Brookhaven Georgia, or anywhere. With a price set too high, you're alienating your target market and letting real estate professionals know that you haven’t researched enough and hence are not credible.
Old and Stale
Remember, the first 7 days are the most crucial days for the sale of a house in the real estate Atlanta market. The first 7 days is when you will get the most traffic & interest in the property. Once you set a price too high in these initial days, you will either not get offers or you will get lower offers. However, the trouble starts once the 7 days are over and the number of potential buyers reduces. Now sellers try to reduce the price to generate more interest in the property. However, the longer the property is out there, typically, the less interested people are because they assume their must be something wrong or it would have sold. This is sometimes called “chasing the market”. In such cases, you might end up selling for less than the property is actually worth, because you are desperate. Be ready to accept a low-ball offer because that's what you get when setting a price too high.
Appraisal
Maybe you're pretty lucky, and you end up finding someone who agrees to your unreasonably high price. This is not where it ends though. A huge majority of buyers finance the purchase of a home. They typically finance through a bank or a credit union. The appraisal is the process of the bank ensuring that this asset is worth their risk in loaning money for the purchase. The appraiser works for the bank or credit union. If your buyer goes through the appraisal process and your house doesn’t appraise for the value that you are asking for it, then that buyer must either come up with the extra funds or walk away from the deal. FHA loans require their own appraisal and that appraisal stays on record for months. If your house doesn’t appraise for the value that you’ve listed it at and another buyer comes along within that FHA appraisal period, they’re going to use that same appraised value.
No Sale
What's the worst that can happen from overpricing your property? Well, it won't sell! This is why it is suggested that all sellers get in touch with professional real estate agents such as Donald Creagh. Such agents have extensive knowledge of the field can help you save a lot of time and effort by pricing your home appropriately right from the start.
