A question I am often asked is, “If my house sells within the first few days, could I have gotten more for my house if the asking price was higher?”.  The answer is maybe, but it’s not unlikely. Let me explain.

Within the first 10 to 14 days on the market, every buyer who is interested in your home, at your location and at your price, will come by and visit your home and if interested, will put in an offer. But, if your house has not sold within that time period, the market is telling you that your home, at your location and at your price, has no interested buyer. After this time period, only new buyers that come on the market that are interested in your home, will come by and see it. This is why the number of showings drops off dramatically after 14 days. It’s much like placing an ad in the local newspaper when you try to sell a piece of furniture or a used bike, etc. After the first 2 days of the paper hitting the streets, the number of phone calls you get drop off dramatically. That’s because here is no one left that is interested.

Getting back to the original question, if your house sells within the first few days, it’s because the price was right and it attracted at least one buyer. But if you had raised the asking price, most likely this buyer would have walked away from your home because there was no value to him/her. And if you decided to play the waiting game to see if new buyers coming on the market are interested, the question it would raise is, “Why would they be interested in a home where all the previous other buyers were not”?

There is a line in our industry that says, “Often the best deal is the first one you get”. Another line in our industry says “If a house is not sold, it isn’t worth the asking price”. Our job, both you and me, is to sell your home at the highest possible price and in the shortest time possible. To do that, we must make it very attractive for many buyers. And to do that, we must provide them with VALUE. This means your home must show well and it must be priced competitively. Otherwise it will just sit there and become stale.

Do You Know What Your House Is Worth?

As usual, if anytime you would like a free home market evaluation, just call me. It would be my pleasure to provide this service to you.