Even in a buyer’s market a house that is appropriately priced will sell. Set a price that is within the fair market value of your home. A buyer’s market is no time for a greedy seller, especially if you need to sell due to a job transfer or other situation where your home must be sold in a limited time. Your professional real estate broker or agent can help you in setting the price by getting information on comparable homes in your area that have sold within the last couple of months, by obtaining appraisals or inspections, and by applying his or her experience and knowledge of the real estate market conditions.
When setting your selling price, try looking at your home the same way you evaluate any property on the market. The more you can separate your emotional attachment from the house, the more objectively you can set a price that a buyer will consider fair.
Another thing a seller can do in a buyer’s market is to very carefully evaluate every offer from potential buyers, even the first one. In a real estate market that is favorable to the seller, many sellers will view a first offer that is close to the listed price as an indication that the house is not priced high enough and will not accept that offer. If the seller does that in a buyer’s market, the seller may find him or herself waiting for a long period of time for another offer.
In a buyer’s market, expect that the buyers are intelligent and they have done their homework on the real estate market, the neighborhood, and the fair market price of a home. When the seller has priced his or her home appropriately in a buyer’s market, it is not unusual that the very first offer is close to the selling price.
