Pricing Your Home and Negotiating Sales Offers

When you want to sell your home, it is important to determine the listing sales price of the property. Taking the time to do some research and set a fair market price will make it easy to negotiate sales offers later. 

However, it is worth remembering that buyers will ultimately decide what your house is worth. So, your best solution is to price your home to sell from a buyer’s perspective while following one of two different strategies, as follows:

1. Price your home slightly higher than comparable homes in your neighborhood using the highest cost per square foot.
2. Price your home lower than comparable homes in your local market.

Yet, before deciding which pricing strategy is perfect for selling your house, let’s look at some essential factors you need to consider to decide what your home is worth and how to price it accordingly. 

#1. Conduct some research on current market conditions.

To get an idea of the listing price for your house, you need to know what comparable sales prices and price ranges are in your neighborhood. There are several websites you can use to obtain this information for free. 

When conducting research, remember to pay attention to the starting point, square footage, cost per square foot, and the sale prices of sold homes. You also should consider the average number of days homes remain on the market to help you determine whether market conditions are a seller’s market or a buyer’s market. 

#2. Determine a starting point for your house. 

You should have discovered the low, average, and high cost per square foot for home sales in your area. Using the total square footage of your home, multiply it by the values for each one. Now, you will have a low starting point, an average starting price, and a high listing price for your house. 

#3. Apply strategic pricing to further determine what your home is worth.

Strategic pricing points have to do with how potential buyers perceive the price differences between similar homes in your area. For example, listing a house for sale for $399,999 often attracts more buyers than listing it for $419,999. While there’s only a $20,000 price difference, some buyers may perceive the higher listing price as too much.

#4. Consider how much work you want to do to sell your home. 

The next step is to decide how much time, effort, and money you want to put into selling your home. You have several options: 

• You could list the home as for sale by owner (FSBO).
• You could hire a real estate agent.
• You could sell the home to a cash investor.

Remember, each of these options will require you to do different things to prepare your home for sale. When you find an agent to act as your listing agent, you will have increased costs before you can even list the home. 

For example, your realtor will want you to make repairs, update maintenance, get a detailed inspection, and stage the home for viewings. You will also have to cover the cost of paying commissions to your real estate agent and the buyer’s agent.

On the other hand, if you list the home for sale by owner or sell it directly to a cash investor, you can decide to sell the home “as-is” and save yourself all the time, money, and effort using a realtor, making repairs, staging the house, etc.

However, finding potential buyers when listing the home yourself can also be equally challenging since you are responsible for all advertising. So, if you want to sell your home quickly and easily in “as-is” condition, your best option is, of course, to sell it to a cash investor. 

#5. Determine the market value range for your house. 

The next step in pricing your home is using another technique to determine its price. Start by deciding how much you would list the house. Then, ask yourself what you would accept as an offer if a buyer offered you cash for it right now. The cash offer would be the minimum amount you would be willing to accept. 

The two amounts will give you a value range you can use to negotiate the house’s final sales price. For example, you would list your home for $445,000 but would be willing to accept a cash offer of $375,000 for its as-is condition and a quick close. 

Pricing Your Home to Sell

Now that you have a better idea of your home’s value, you need to decide how to price it. Ideally, you want to choose a listing price that is somewhere between the lowest value and the highest value. This will give you some room to negotiate on the price once you start receiving offers. 

While it might be tempting to list your home for less than comparable homes in your area, this can also be a deterrent to potential buyers. They may think something is wrong with the house and not even want to consider your property. Conversely, listing the home at a higher price can equally deter potential buyers because it may be outside their price range. 

Negotiating Sales Offers

Regardless of how you decide to list and sell your home, you will likely get different offers from prospective buyers. When you get an offer, you need to determine whether you want to accept or reject the offer or submit a counteroffer to negotiate on the price. 

For example, you may have one offer that is the same or more than your original listing price. Yet, this buyer still has to obtain financing to purchase the home. On the other hand, you have an all-cash offer from another buyer that is below your asking price but more than the low end of the market value range you determined earlier. 

You could counter on the cash offer to see if you can get the cash buyer to increase their offer price. Alternatively, you could accept it and know that you will not encounter any problems or issues at closing like financing falling through at the last minute, since it is an all-cash offer. 

Selling to a Cash House Buyer 

When you want to sell your home “as-is” and do not want to hire a real estate agent, stage the house, or invest time and money making repairs, you can get a local, professional cash buyer by contacting 800CashToday.

Our service is free to use and connects you with an interested and professional local cash buyer in your area. When they make you an offer, you are free to accept, decline, or make a counteroffer. Once you accept an offer you like, you can take advantage of these great benefits:

• Up to a $10,000 cash advance on the sale before closing
• Quick escrow and closing when you need it
• Free local moving or long-distance moving credit
• Free credit repair service if you need it
• Choosing your own move-out date

Save time and money by pricing your home to sell to motivated cash buyers in your area today! Get started by listing your home through us now. If you have further questions, please feel free to call us at 1-800-CASH-TODAY.