Real Estate News

Strategies for Selling in this Market – Part 1

We all know that there is a lot of inventory on the market now (especially in Fairfield County, CT) and not nearly as many buyers out there as there had been in previous years (a lot of credit has been compromised and jobs lost just to name a few contributing factors).

If you want to sell your home in today’s market there are a few things a seller needs to be cognizant of.  First, ask your Realtor to tell you how many homes are in the price range you feel your home fits in (ie $500,000-$600,000). There are usually certain price points that have a greater number of active homes on the market than others.  If your home fits in this category it will be in your best interest to price your home strategically to sell and certainly not above where it should be right from the start.  You want buyers to purchase your property vs. your competition and see the value immediately for a quick sale and possibly even create a bidding war (I’ve seen this happen quite a bit in this market – end result is you may get even more than you originally wanted).  If you price it above where it should be and the market declines, your end result will be more of a loss then if you were to price it right from the beginning.  I’ve seen listings in towns from Greenwich to Fairfield where the owner placed the house on the market for more than their Realtor advised them to and over time it became stale on the market, there were a lot less showings and by the time they considered a price decrease they were already behind the eight ball.  In many instances I’ve seen this end up in a short sale situation because sellers wanted more and ended up losing their home to the bank.