Home Pricing Strategies

These days, homeowners trying to part with their South Florida homes have to grapple with a considerably harder home selling situation.  In addition to spending money on potential repairs or improvements, one of the toughest hurdles is the asking price.  Instead of being able to simply do an evaluation of surrounding homes and set a competitive value, sellers need to sit down and play with the digits.

Use careful pricing. Retailers have a tendency of advertising something for $299.99 when the item in question is worth $300.  That small difference actually convinces a buyer that the price is a lot cheaper since they’ll read the number two instead of a three.  That same strategy could be used for pricing a home.  Why not ask for $299,999 instead of $300,000?  It’s subtle but research shows it works.

Inflate the price. There’s a mutual benefit in choosing to ask for an amount beyond what’s acceptable, the primary one being that buyers have plenty of room to negotiate with a seller and therefore feel like they’re receiving a substantial discount.  But of course, this strategy also comes with the assumption that the property actually merits a higher price, otherwise buyers will be turned off.

Be specific. The same way that a lower digit is interpreted as a lower price, naming a specific figure like $396,989 as opposed to something like $400,000 gives the impression of a bargain.  The even figure does emphasize quality so ultimately, it’s up to the seller to decide what “message” they wish to communicate to buyers in terms of how they go about pricing.

Remove the need for complex mathematics. Buyers already have tons of calculations to do what with closing costs and additional fees.  Since one of the key strategies to selling today is maintaining a potentially variable price, don’t lower it to something that forces prospective buyers to solve difficult equations in order to figure out how much the home dropped in terms of percentage.