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Price It Right From The Beginning

“Wishin’ and hopin’ and ‘ thinkin’ and prayin,'”  the first line of a  Burt Bacharach tune sung by Dusty Springfield and by numerous other artists gives some pertinent advice on how not to find love.  This simple advice is also the cornerstone of how not to sell a property.  If you want to sell your home for the most money in the least amount of time you must price it right from the beginning.  Pricing a home right from the beginning, at or slightly below market, quickly produces multiple offers along with the prospect of a bidding war:  Now isn’t that exactly what every seller should want?

With house prices increasing at various rates across the country, some sellers may think they can list their homes at a higher price and adjust if necessary. That would not be a good strategy. This is a post KeepingCurrentMatters ran several years ago by Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D. — Florida International University (FIU) and Editor of the Journal of Housing Research. To view other research from FIU, visit https://realestate.fiu.edu/.

The Research

Are there any negative effects of changing the listing price of a property?  This question haunts Brokers/Agents as well as sellers of property every day. At present, there does not seem to be a consensus answer to this question within the professional real estate community. Fortunately, this question was scientifically investigated by John R. Knight. Unfortunately, few know the results of Professor Knight’s research.

In Knight’s research, the impact of changing a property’s listing price is investigated. Additionally, the types of property that are most likely to experience a price change are also estimated. The findings from this research indicate that, on average, properties which experience a listing price change take longer to sell and suffer a price discount greater than similar properties.

Furthermore, bigger price changes are found to experience even longer marketing times and greater price discounts. Finally, as for which properties are most likely to experience a price change, Knight finds that the greater the initial markup; the higher the likelihood that any given property will experience a listing price change.

Implications for Practice

Sellers, as well as listing agents, should be aware of the critical necessity of pricing it right from the beginning.  Sellers wanting to over list will ultimately take longer to sell and will sell their property for less, on average, according to Knight. Brokers/Agents’ desire to take a listing and get the price right later will ultimately lead to their working harder according to Knight, and they are not doing their sellers any favors. Thus, an initial and detailed analysis of the proper price is much more critical than many originally thought.

Interestingly, I have found in my own research that the direction (up or down) of the listing price change does not matter. A listing price increase and decrease both leads to similar results found in Knight’s work – longer marketing times and lower prices.

Therefore, price it right from the beginning.  It is always best for the seller.