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Is it too soon to drop price

Rob F.
12 years ago

Hi all:

We listed about a month ago. We listed at 700, as this is the price that our agent told us "we needed to be at in order to sell." Other agents that we interviewed suggested listing prices of 700 to 750. We wanted to be aggressive so we listed low. I realize that the last month has had a lot of spring break/holidays etc. We have had 6 or 7 showings and a agent open house. All positive with everyone saying house is priced right and will sell. We have had a family situation come up and we need to move a lot quicker than we normally would--so we would take less than before this came up. Can anyone suggest best way to jump start this process and get offers? Reduce price by substantial amount? If so, what would you suggest would get everyone's attentiona and perhaps get some of the people who have come through to make an offer; would this send a bad signal or would it send the right signal (i.e, we are motivated and willing to take substantially less to sell the house) or will it just invite low-ball offers off of the reduced asking price. Any other thoughts on how to spur this along? Thanks for your help.

Comments (8)

  • terezosa / terriks
    12 years ago

    Since you are currently at $700k I would drop to the next "break point" of $675k or even $650k.

  • LoveInTheHouse
    12 years ago

    I asked a similar question last month and I'm still unsure what to do so I'm glad you asked this. I have also gotten a lot of positive reactions and I even know they're not bullcrapping me and just being nice because we can tell who goes to our website--the ones who said they loved the place are still clicking on it and looking at it often. So it's been frustrating because no one has bought it yet. I've come to the conclusion that a lot of people would like to have it, but THEY are just not ready yet for one reason or another. So even though you and I might be priced right, and even underpriced a little, we're at the mercy of the other people and I think unless we really drop it to a discounted price which would inspire the real bargain hunters, it's just going to take a while. Curious to see what everyone else says.

  • kats_meow
    12 years ago

    We recently sold our house. We did reduce our price when we relisted. We reduced it to the top of the next search range bracket. We were a little worried about it that it would attract offers reduced way below the low asking price since with the lower price we didn't have a lot of leeway for further reduction. However, that did not happen. We did get an offer within a few days after relisting (we had 4 showings within a few days). It was not a lowball offer and we settled on a price that was close to our asking price.

  • maurenemm
    12 years ago

    If I remember correctly, our agent said that we would re-evaluate the list price after 3 weeks of it being on the market. So, I don't think it is too early to drop the price.

    How has the weather been in your area? I'm told the buyers really start coming out after the weather starts getting good. But, if you really need to sell, I don't think I'd hesitate to drop the price.

  • chrisk327
    12 years ago

    Reallly depends on many different things.

    in my area that would be close to the top end of the range that my town is in. All houses in that range (by me) seem to take longer to sell unless there is something about the house that is amazing.

    Basically there are only a handful of buyers in that range and they have their own timing, readiness etc to worry about and you have a hard to making them move.

    at the low to middle end of the market, you have a larger pool, who if you drop the price it can spur interest and action among some of the people.

    Also, this is my area, yours could be the same, or differnet.

  • kats_meow
    12 years ago

    FWIW, we were on the higher end range for our area and found that dropping the price did make an immediate difference (we were on the market 7 months without an offer last year and had a contract within a few days of relisting this year at a lower price). There are relatively fewer buyers in the higher ranges and they have lots to pick from but dropping price did help as it did still bring in more buyers.

  • sweeby
    12 years ago

    "We have had 6 or 7 showings and a agent open house. All positive with everyone saying house is priced right and will sell."

    Do you eBay? If you do, you'll know the mindset where you think At this price, it's a steal, and even though I don't absolutely LOVE it, it's such a great deal... and you buy it anyway? Versus the "I LOVE that widget, and I'll go up to $XYZ to get it" From the comments you've heard, it sounds like you're listed at a good price for the "I love it" crowd -- one that's very reasonable and presents no real objections, but not so low that the "I don't really love it, but..." crowd can't resist.

    How much of a discount would YOU demand to make you buy a house you liked but didn't LOVE? When you knew you were in a buyer's market with lots of supply (assuming this is the case in your area) and that this might be a once in a lifetime opportunity to get your dream house for a price you could afford? (Again, assuming that's the case.) For me, that discount would have to be really, really big.

    Rather than reducing the listing price, what about adding "Motivated Seller" to your listing (though that might imply pre-forclosure...) and offer a generous decorating allowance. To me, a $50,000 decorating allowance might be more appealing than a $50,000 price difference if I didn't like the kitchen or master bath but wouldn't normally change them...

  • arch123
    12 years ago

    Rather than reducing the listing price, what about adding "Motivated Seller" to your listing (though that might imply pre-forclosure...) and offer a generous decorating allowance.
    I have a question about this - If the appraisal comes in
    under the offer and you have to lower your price - how would this affect the generous allowance. Or would it?

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