Sellers and Pricing

Another great article from The Apple Peeled

The pricing quandary:What’s a seller to do?

by MCINTOSH on NOVEMBER 4, 2011

There’s a bit of a dilemma that sellers face when pricing their properties.


On one hand, they’re told to price to sell and be competitive in the market place.


On another hand, when they do so, buyers balk at paying the asking price, regardless of where it’s set.


Buyers often want the sellers to be more realistic but will rarely adjust their bidding strategies accordingly.


For all you buyers: the asking price should largely be irrelevant to you. Why? Because, as we’ve written before, you should do your due diligence and get a sense of what the apartment is worth and what you’re willing to pay BEFORE you make an offer. Only thus can you gage how well priced the property is and whether the asking price is merited. The asking price is merely a starting point for conveying a seller’s thinking.


The purpose of pricing low is to generate the volume of buyers and subsequent interest that would render the property sold for the highest price in the shortest period of time. Should you therefore find yourself in a bidding war (after all, this is the strategy of savvy sellers who underprice properties), then at least you already know how high a price you would be willing to pay.