How to Price a House to Sell

If you’re like many people, you want to know how to price a house to sell quickly – and without leaving money on the table. This guide explains how to price a house to sell, what you can do to ensure you’re asking the right amount, and what happens if you list your home at the wrong price.

How to Price a House to Sell

Your Naples REALTOR® will help you settle on the right price to ask when you’re selling your home. But the “magic number” doesn’t just come out of thin air – it’s actually the result of careful analysis. Your REALTOR will look at homes near yours that:

Have sold in the past few months
Were on the market but never sold
Are currently on the market

The homes your agent will evaluate are very similar to yours in size, location and amenities. The idea is to get a look at what buyers are willing to pay for homes like yours in the same geographical area. It wouldn’t make any sense for your agent to compare your house to homes in another neighborhood, or of another style, or of varying sizes – it only makes sense for your agent to compare your home to other, similar homes that are near yours. That’s because the bottom line is that your home is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay for it.

Your agent will provide you with a free comparative market analysis, or CMA, that uses properties that are:

Within a half-mile of your home (when available)
Have been listed within the past 3 months
Are about the same age as your home is
Have a square footage that’s within 10 percent of your home’s square footage

How to Price a Home to Sell - AJ Naples Realty

What About Online Pricing Tools?

Online pricing tools – or home-worth “estimates” from big-name real estate websites – are often off by as much as 18 percent. That 18 percent is a huge deal when you’re talking about real estate.

For example, an online estimate for a $500,000 home could be off by as much as $90,000 in either direction – and $410,000 and $590,000 is a huge range when it comes to real estate. You can see the difference by looking at listings on each end of the spectrum; the homes in the $590,000 range are generally larger and have more amenities than those on the low end.

You should always have a real person figure out how much your home is worth. Don’t rely on online pricing tools or estimates that don’t factor in the most current pricing trends, because you’ll miss the mark every time.

How to Price a House to Sell - AJ Naples Realty

What Happens if Your Home is Priced too High?

If you price your home too high, you’re going to miss a wide range of qualified buyers – and the worst part is that they’ll be comparing your home to other homes that are accurately priced. This is a two-part problem:

First, because most people start searching for homes online that fit within their budget, they’re not even going to see your house come up in results. If people have a budget no higher than $500,000, but your house is listed at $501,000, the algorithms that deliver search results will exclude your home from buyers’ lists. They’ll never even see your home’s listing!
Second, when your house is really worth $475,000 but it’s listed for $501,000, prospective buyers will see it alongside homes that are genuinely worth $501,000 (or more). They’ll compare your home’s size, features and location to homes in the $500,000 range and unfortunately, yours will come up short.

Can You List Your Home High and Cut the Price Later, if It Doesn’t Sell?

A lot of people make the mistake of listing a home high and cutting the price later. We don’t typically recommend that, because although about 60 percent of sellers make price adjustments, it’s always best to price it correctly right out of the gate. That’s because older listings aren’t as appealing to buyers – and seeing that a home’s price has been reduced may lead prospective buyers to believe that nobody’s interested in the house or that it’s “damaged goods.”

What Happens if Your Home is Priced too Low?

There’s something to be said for pricing a home under its market value. Sometimes it sparks a bidding war and the seller gets more than he or she asked for – and in many cases, it results in the home selling quickly (even within hours). However, in most scenarios, it results in the seller leaving money on the table.

You never want to leave money on the table; that’s cash that you could use for a down payment on your next home, that dream vacation you’ve always wanted to take, or your kids’ college funds.

Are You Selling a Home in Naples?

Selling your home is a big deal, so you need to work with a REALTOR who can get it right. We know how to market your home to all the right buyers, regardless of its price point. We’ll help you sell your home quickly and at the best possible price!

If you’re looking for a home for sale in Naples, we’re here to help. We specialize in luxury real estate and can show you any listing. In the meantime, please feel free to explore what’s available now:

You can also browse all Naples homes for sale.

How to Price a House to Sell