Latest News10 Ways to Tell If Your Home is OverpricedWednesday, 11 November 2020

Ten Signs Your Home is Priced Too High...

If you’re selling your home, you need to understand that pricing your home correctly from the beginning is absolutely critical. The most common reason a home doesn’t sell is because it is overpriced.

Overpricing a home can create damaging effects, period. The probability is that if you price your home too high in the beginning, you will likely end up with less money in your pocket, which is obviously not the goal when selling a home.

When selling your home, it’s absolutely critical you do not overprice it. If you happen to make the mistake of overpricing your home, it’s important that you identify this mistake right away and make a change immediately.

How does a Seller know if their home is overpriced? There are actually many tell tale signs to know if what you are asking does not meet market expectations. Below are the top 10 signs that your home is priced too high.

If you’re selling your home and have experienced any of the tell tale signs below, make sure you make an adjustment as soon as possible!

Your Home Is Priced Much Higher Than Your Neighbours

Generally speaking, in most neighbourhoods, home values will be relatively consistent and close. One tell tale sign to know that your home is overpriced is if your home is listed $200,000 to $300,000 higher than other homes for sale in your neighborhood.

While it’s not impossible that there can be almost identical homes that have a $300,000 value difference, Buyers tend to be 'on point'.  One of the most common methods that real estate agents will use to determine a homes value is by completing a comparative market analysis. A comparative market analysis, also known as a CMA, is best described as a detailed analysis of sold homes in the past 6 month time period in a given neighbourhood.

If your home is priced much higher than your neighbours, it’s very possible your real estate agent didn’t complete a detailed analysis of value. If a CMA wasn’t completed, this will not only lead to your home being overpriced, but also can create issues with bank appraisals.

You’ve Had Very Few Or No Showings
Excitement is a very common emotion that is experienced by a seller. Sellers are generally happy their home is listed for sale and being advertised all over the internet. Weeks pass by and there have been a couple or even worse, zero showings.

That excitement now turns to concern and frustration. If this sounds familiar, the likelihood that your home is overpriced is high. If your home has been listed for sale for a few weeks and you’ve had only a couple showings, you need adjust the price in the hopes to generate some activity and showings.

You Haven’t Received An Offer

In most real estate markets, if a home is priced correctly a homeowner should receive at least one offer within the first two to three weeks. If you haven’t received an offer after a couple of months, this is a great way to know your home is most likely overpriced.

If your local real estate market is currently in the midst a Sellers market, you should expect an offer on your home within the first couple days on the market, if it’s priced correctly.

Certainly there are types of properties that may take longer than a couple days or a month to receive an offer on but it is fairly rare. This exists typically when selling a luxury home or waterfront property.

You Hired The Agent Who Recommended A Much Higher Price

In any given real estate market, there can be hundreds to thousands of real estate agents. When you are interviewing prospective Agents to sell your home, it’s important that you know what questions you should ask during an interview.

One of the most important questions relates to the pricing. It’s critical you understand how the prospective real estate agent came up with the listing price of your home. If you interview 3 real estate agents and one of the real estate agents suggests a price that is $100,000 higher than the others, you need to know how they came up with that number.

There are many real estate agents who will 'buy a listing' by suggesting a list price much higher than the market value. If you made the mistake and hired the real estate agent who suggested a much higher listing price, it’s very likely your home is priced higher than it should be.

Neighbours Homes Are Selling & Yours Is Not

One of the most frustrating things for a Seller is when the neighbouring homes are Selling and theirs is not. If you’re Selling your home and this is happening, this is a sign that your home is priced too high.

A common statement from homeowners who are selling their home is, “My neighbours home just sold for $2,000,000 and mine is much nicer than theirs, why isn’t my home selling?”

One thing that many sellers fail to understand is that there are so many things that can influence the sale of a home. If this sounds familiar, a couple things to keep in mind when it comes to comparing your home to your neighbours include;

Was your neighbours home a different style of residence? Eg; Federation -vs- two-storey Brick Veneer
Was your neighbours home larger?
Did your neighbours home have high end upgrades and amenities? Eg; granite counters, building additions, etc…
Is the location of your home inferior or superior to your neighbours? Eg; corner block or noisy road
Were the mechanics of your neighbours home newer than yours? Eg; new roof, replaced windows, new decking etc…
Bottom line, if your homes are selling in your neighborhood and yours is not, it’s probably overpriced.

Open Houses Are DUDS

One decision that should be made by homeowners who are Selling their home is whether or not they want open houses.  Open houses provide potential buyers the opportunity to look at homes without feeling high pressure that some real estate agents may place on them.

If you believe that open houses are necessary to Sell your home, what does it mean when the open houses are DUDS? If your real estate agent markets the open house and not one person walks through the door during the 2 hour open house, then your price could be an issue.

Like most, buyers have busy schedules, but a Buyer will make the time to visit open houses if they are interested in a home. A Buyer will however not waste their time if they feel a home is overpriced.

Internet Traffic Is Very Low

The internet has changed the Real Estate industry significantly over the past 10-15 years. The majority of home buyers are beginning their home search online. When a buyer is interested in a home they see online, they will reach out to the real estate agent to schedule a viewing.

One way to know your home is overpriced is if there has been little to no internet traffic or property inquiries. An experienced real estate professional who has a strong understanding of how to market homes for sale online should be able to provide traffic statistics as well as property inquiries.

Inspection Feedback Indicates Your Home Is Overpriced

One of the biggest benefits to hiring a top real estate agent is they know the importance of receiving feedback on their listings. Feedback from other real estate agents as well as buyers who are viewing a property can be a huge help. If you’re not receiving feedback from showings, it maybe time to reconsider your choice of real estate agent.

Feedback is important because it allows a homeowner the chance to correct things a buyer may object to. For example, if a prospective buyer indicates the paint colors are too 'bright' it maybe time to consider repainting the room.

If the feedback from showings is that a home is overpriced, this gives a Seller the opportunity to make an adjustment to the price.

You’ve Received Low Ball Offers

Most overpriced homes will not receive any offers, however, it is possible. Homeowners who overprice their homes and still receive a couple of offers should feel somewhat fortunate.

It’s a good chance that if a home is overpriced, the offers received are 'low ball' offers. If a home is overpriced and offers are much less than the listing price, is it really fair to consider them 'low ball' offers?

If you’re Selling your home and have received several offers that you would consider 'low ball' offers, you may need to reconsider whether your price is appropriate.

Your Home Didn’t Sell & Expired

Possibly the most obvious way to know a home is priced wrong occurs when it doesn’t sell and expires. If a home doesn’t sell and becomes an expired listing after 6 months, it’s not because there are not ready, willing, and able buyers in your local market.

Instead of blaming it on the lack of buyers or the local real estate market (or your Agent), it’s important that a Seller looks in the mirror and realizes that their home was overpriced. Every home has a price tag that is accepted to home buyers. If a homes listing price is relatively close to the number a buyer considers fair, it will sell and not expire, period.

The Importance Of Pricing In Real Estate

The number one reason a home sells is because the price was right! Determining the list price of a home is such a critical piece of the home selling 'puzzle'.

If you put the correct price on a home, it will Sell in a relatively quick time frame. If you choose to overprice your home, it will either not sell, or will take several months to sell. If you choose to overprice your home, remember that you will likely receive less money for your home than if you were to correctly price it from the beginning!