Be sure you don’t “miss the market”

From the Daily Record:

To sell house, price it right

“Do you know how many four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, two-car garage Colonials are for sale just in Parsippany right now?” asked Nancy Doyne, an agent at Weichert, Realtors corporate headquarters in Morris Plains.

Her answer: 17.

Her point: If you want to sell your house in today’s market, whatever kind of house it is, you will have plenty of stiff competition. So, get your house to stand out from the crowd.

And a crowd it is. Almost twice as many houses are on the market in the Morris County area now as two years ago: 16,000 versus 8,000.

Agents in general agree: At a time when lots of houses are still overpriced, putting a reasonable price on a house shifts the odds decisively in your favor.

Doyne mentions research indicating that homeowners get the highest prices for their homes if they sell within 40 days, not later.
…
“Houses in Morris County are selling,” says George Szatkowski, an agent at RE/MAX Properties Unlimited in Rockaway.

But he means mainly those houses that are reasonably priced, where the seller has relied on the professional judgment of an agent and checked what other houses have been selling for.

“Price a house where it belongs,” he counsels. If you overprice a $350,000 to 400,000 house by several thousand dollars, “You may miss the market.”

These days, smart buyers know as much as sellers, and they have a good idea of what a house is worth, he warns. “As it is, there are a lot of overpriced houses in Morris County.”
…
Agreeing that a reasonable price is No. 1 is Esperanza Porras, an agent at Coldwell Banker in Morristown.

“Set the right price on a house from the beginning,” she urges. “Try to sell it immediately.”

Don’t leave a lot of room supposedly for negotiating; otherwise, someone may buy a house very similar to yours if the price is lower only because of less negotiating room.
…
Large, too, emphasizes the need to set a sensible price on a house.

“Price a house aggressively,” he urges. “Buyers are looking at lots and lots of houses these days.”

Recently, one of his agents showed 40 to 50 houses to just one buyer in a week or so.