Thinking about selling your house can be daunting. I like to say it’s a complex and infrequently conducted transaction! What separates a great listing team from others is the ability to provide advice, guidance, and excellence with each step of the process. In Part II of this series, we’ll discuss pricing.
I’m sometimes envious of my colleagues who sell a lot of newer homes. Pricing homes in neighborhoods where only three models were built only three years ago is pretty easy! However, at Jill Giese & Associates, we sell a lot of older homes in older neighborhoods. 
While we love the character, history, and uniqueness of older homes, pricing them isn’t the easiest! You can’t just look at the last few homes that sold and figure out the average price per square foot and multiply it by your square footage. For one thing, your listed square footage may not even be correct! Homes older than just a few years have to be evaluated using multiple methods. Pricing, by my definition, is determined by evaluating four things: data, history, experience, and gut.
Looking at data is the first way to look at price.
What is happening with the market in our area? Is it a buyer’s market or a seller’s market? How is buyer activity in your home’s area? What is the percentage of total homes that have a pending contract?
We’ll get your home professionally measured so we have accurate information about its size.
What have other homes of similar size and amenities sold for in the last 90-180 days and how fast did they sell? How similar are those homes to yours? What are the active homes with which your house is competing?
The next thing to evaluate when determining price is history.
If you recently had your house listed with another agent and it didn’t sell, then that is a piece of history we can evaluate when pricing your house. Are there things we think we could do better in preparing and marketing your house? If so, that may have affected buyers’ interest in the house and the price might be fine. If those things were fine, then price was likely the key factor that caused it not to sell. Often we don’t have recent history to draw upon.
The third thing we draw on is our experience.
After 17 years working with both sellers and buyers, I know how buyers respond to particular things about homes. Unusual layouts, small living spaces, little or no yard, lots of different flooring, dark rooms, busy streets, poor condition, large deferred-maintenance items — these are all things that can lower the price of a home. Two houses can have the exact same square footage and be $200k different in price! A great listing agent knows how to evaluate both the pluses and minuses of your house.
And finally, there is gut.
When we’ve done everything we can to get your house in its perfect condition, I draw on the above three factors combined with current buyer activity, the active competition, how well the house photographed, and frankly what ‘feels’ right and discuss all this with you and together we determine a price we think will cause the house to sell for the most money possible.
Whether you are planning to sell in the next couple of months or next year, we can ensure your house is priced to maximize your return.
Give us a call at (208) 327-2127 and stay tuned for Part III where we talk about promoting your house!
