How to price your home:

When you get ready to put your home on the market, a couple of things usually happen.  You find out how much your neighbor's home sold for and use that for comparison, even if that home has features that differ from your own.  Some of us look at the price we originally paid and add a random appreciation figure to come up with a price.

Pricing a home is really based on market value.  What is market value?  It is the price that the Buyer is willing to pay.

Here are some suggestions to help figure out how much your home is worth:

1. Put your personal point of view aside.   Buyers don't generally care about how much the home means to you, how much you have invested in painting or landscaping or how much cash you need to walk away with.  They DO care about how your home stacks up against other comparable homes in the area and in getting the most house value for THEIR investment.

2. See for yourself what other homes in your neighborhood are selling for (or have sold for).   Educate yourself and try to make an impartial evaluation as to how those homes compare with yours in terms of condition, location and features.  If all the asking prices were approximately the same, would you buy YOUR home or someone else's?

3. Consider the condition of your real estate market.   What are the real estate trends in your area?  Here in the North Metro Atlanta area we are and have been in a Buyer's market.  Do you see prices moving up?  Does there seem to be an overabundance of homes for sale (buyer's market).  Are homes in your neighborhood selling quickly or are they staying on the market for longer periods of time? 

4. Think about what incentives you can offer the buyer to put YOUR home at its stronger advantage.  Sometimes the bottom-line (price) is not the only way that you can attract a buyer.  In the North Metro Atlanta area we are in the unique position of having many families relocating in and out of the area.  Can you be flexible in your closing date?  Can you see yourself offering a Home Warranty for the Buyer to help level the playing field with new construction?  The more flexible you can be, the better chance you have of pricing your home and getting ready to hire that moving truck!

Don't forget, the best place to get house selling assistance is with a licensed REALTOR(r)!