Selling your Greenwich house for the best price involves a certain amount of effective strategy and luck– and how much of each varies, not the least of which is how many buyers for a home like your clients happen to be in the market at the same time. The “luck” portion is more likely when you’ve set out the welcome mat for it. In addition to strategic home preparation and a solid marketing launch and ongoing program, selling your Greenwich house for the best price also has to do with where that price starts out: that is, the asking price.
Once you have a clear idea of the professional opinion of its market value—that is, a price that aligns with the latest comparable sales data for similar Greenwich homes—you have three strategies:
1. Price To The Current Market– You can set an asking price as close as possible to what the comps suggest. After all, it’s reasonable and defensible—and lenders are likely to agree if a home loan becomes a contingency in the final sale. A possible downside is that it will be more difficult to stand out from the crowd since many comparable properties may be priced at the same level. It can also prove necessary to compromise with buyers who assume any asking price is an opening bargain position.
2. Price Above The Market-Some sellers look at the comparatives but feel that their property stands out in some way and deserves a premium. Occasionally, this is true. But most of the time, it is tough for a seller to be objective and see what today’s buyer is seeing and valuing. Setting a bit of an aspirational price has a downside though–if a sale fails to materialize in a reasonable timeframe, lowering the asking price later can be costly: those reductions (especially multiple reductions) are like properties that linger on the market for a long time: they suggest that something is wrong (even if the only problem was the asking price).
3. Price Below Rival Properties-The strategy here is clear enough: the expectation that serious house hunters will become interested. Very interested. Fascinated, in fact—especially if in a price range where supply is tight. The most serious prospects—the ones who know the market—will be expected to hurry to beat the others to your door. In the best case, this can result in a bidding war, resulting in higher-than-asking offers.
In the past four months, I have implemented all of the above pricing strategies with the strongest results being pricing below rivals. That approach netted owners 5 offers within 2 weeks and a sale 22% above the list price. Now that’s results!
