Heard back from agent and kinda bummed

[sailorgray]

We heard back from the agent who came to our home on Friday. She said she would list it as pretty much what we paid for it 5 years ago. She did say that she lists to sell and doesn't like to overprice houses and have them sit there. I guess I was hoping that it would be maybe $10k over what we paid.  At this rate, half of any money we'd pocket would go into closing costs :/

We aren't rushing to move or anything, but since we did put some money into the house over the years (new brick walkway and new siding), I was hoping we'd be a little ahead. I know, in this market, we should be happy to get that much. She did keep saying that there is no inventory in our town and we would have no trouble selling.

One question for your ladies - do you think it's better to price a house low from the start or do you think it's okay to start a little high?  I have no idea. I have heard both sides the past few days. I was told that REA who price low do it because the house will sell right away and there is really no difference in commission for them personally if a house sells at $340k compared to $320k. They just want the house sold.  What do you all think?

P.S. I know that a mortgage company would not let you overpay for a house.

[Deleted]

I think it depends on how soon you need or want it to sell. If you already have another home or are relocating it is beneficial to price low. If you aren't in any hurry it would probably be best to price more in line with with the market.

[julygal]

I agree with PP that the lower price makes sense if you need to move quickly, but if you can afford to wait for higher price. For example, THs in my neighborhood under $200K go under contract in days. THs over $200K sit for a minimum of 4 months. Can you talk to other realtors and get more of a feel of what others think the market is doing in your area?

[niknik]

In our area, if a house is overpriced, people tend to look at it and wait till the price comes down. If a house is priced at market value or slightly above, it will be the one that gets the offer because we have no inventory here and houses that are priced at what they are worth go quickly especially while rates are still low. We made a full price offer on the home we wanted because it would have sold hours after we bought it had we not.

It also depends on your price point and how much you want to give up in realtor fees.

[april37]

We sold our home two years ago and listed it for what we paid 7 years earlier. We had also put a ton of money into it (new drive way, siding, roof, hot water heater, bathroom gut & remodel, etc). I was almost sick about our list price but we HAD to sell (we were already moved out of state). Our home sold in less than two weeks. It was a relief not to have it sit on the market & drain our bank account.

Like the others have said, so much depends upon the market in your area and how badly you want to sell. Make sure you look at what others homes have recently sold for - NOT what other homes are currently listed at.  Your realtor is right.... overpriced houses will just sit on the market.  Just make sure you price it according to your housing market.  If she's saying there is no inventory in your town, you may be able to start off with a price that reflects that.

[sailorgray]

Thanks so much everyone! We are in no rush to sell and really have no reason to move. Things are getting small with two kids and their hoarding issues We just weren't going to rule it out. My H is pretty okay with what she said. Oh, and when I say overprice, I mean like 10k more and see what would happen. I have seen places that are so overpriced it is just ridiculous.

[SusanBAnthony]

I would price it higher. It doesn't hurt, and you can always drop the price later. Just be prepared for lower offers.

[thatgirl2478]

Just my 2 cents - but if you don't have to list it and can't afford a bigger place without selling it for more money - I wouldn't list it higher.

When you list high and get no bites, the house builds up days on market (DOM) the higher the DOM number, the more reason potential buyers have to low ball you. Additionally, if you list it now, and take it off the market if it doesn't sell, you'll see that previous listing on the MLS (it shows up on zillow & realtor.com). That's another reason for potential buyers to low ball you.

I wouldn't list it unless you're SERIOUS about moving. At that point, depending on your market, I would price it to sell reasonably quickly.

[sratsey]

Feb 4, 2013 22:51:50 GMT -5 thatgirl2478 said:

I wouldn't list it unless you're SERIOUS about moving. At that point, depending on your market, I would price it to sell reasonably quickly.

This is my thought as well.  A higher listing price will get a lot of lookers and watchers.
List when you're ready for what you're willing to take.

This probably won't make you feel better, but we ended up selling for $50K less than what we paid 8 years later.  So if you worked in how much we invested into our home, we pretty much came out on the short end.  We were fortunate in that we had built up a good amount of equity in our house and we absolutely made it up on the buy.

[sailorgray]

Thanks so much for the replies, guys!! We are probably going to wait at least a year to list. To be honest,I love our house and its location. I love looking on realtor.com and Zillow and always take note of the DOM (long time = bargain...jk) and all of that good stuff, so I wouldn't list a house unless we wanted to seriously sell it. Thanks again!