How to Set Your Home’s List Price: 5 Factors that Matter Most
When you decide to sell your house, one of your first questions is likely “how much can I sell my house for?” If you’re like most home sellers, you probably plan on buying another home with the proceeds. Or, maybe you want to downsize and use the remaining cash for retirement.
By and large, your list price is determined by your local current real estate market conditions — what people are willing to pay for a home like yours. It’s extremely important to get the list price right from the first day your home goes on the market.
“The most important factor of getting that list price right is to get the most visibility to the right buyers the first time around,” says Megan Toll, a top agent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who works with 67% more single family homes than the average area agent.
Pricing your home too low means leaving money on the table, but pricing too high can mean your home sits on the market. High days on market matters for a listing because it can make future buyers worry that something must be wrong with your house if it’s been sitting unsold for too long.
Buyers commonly narrow their search based on price parameters, and if you price outside their budget, they won’t even see your home until you’ve had to reduce the price to fall into their range, Toll explains. By that point, they’ll know that it’s been sitting on the market and wonder if it has any flaws.
A good starting point to see what your home might be worth is with HomeLight’s Home Value Estimator. This online tool uses information from multiple sources to create a real-time home value estimate based on current market trends. While it can give you an initial idea of how your home’s value might have increased since you originally purchased it, it’s a good idea to meet with an experienced top agent to get the full picture.
When you work with your agent to set the list price, they’ll draw on their experience, market conditions, and the tips we explain in this post to help you get it right the first time.
