Home buyers may shop with their hearts but they buy with their wallets.  Pricing maybe the single most important element to have a successful home sale. After spending many hours studying the local area market, comparing it with the national market and reviewing recent sales data, I have come to understand that pricing a home is more of an art form than a science.

Seattle based Zillow uses computer  algorithms (science) as they “Zestimate” the value of over 100 million homes nationwide.  Zillow’s chief economist confesses that predicting with 100 percent certainty what a home will sell for in the open market is nearly impossible for computers and humans alike. This is why they have fine print that explains their rate of error. It is an error rate that can cost a home seller thousands of dollars. Zillow does not give a full picture of home prices in Festival. However, there is a method I use which can help home sellers and buyers.  It is the CMA or Comparative Market Analysis.

A CMA is an extremely helpful tool used to determine what the market is saying. The CMA is a side-by-side comparison report of homes currently for sale and homes that have SOLD in the same neighborhood. I will typically include new listings (for sale), pending sales (under contract), closed sales (solds) and expired listings (failed to sell). When it comes to pricing your home, there are lots of opinions but only one set of facts. Those facts are clearly spelled out in my CMA.

Some home sellers rely on less than accurate methods of pricing. There are two common mistakes made by many sellers in setting a sale price:

1. Amount paid to purchase the home + amount invested in improvements=sales price
2. A neighbor down the street says he/she got full asking price for a home just like ours.

A buyer doesn’t care how much you’ve paid or invested in the house. Smart buyers (usually represented by market-wise agents) will know what other homes in the area are selling for and they will use that information to determine the value of your home. Trust me, by the time a buyer looks at your home he/she has probably seen the other six homes similar to yours that are currently for sale. These smart buyers will be comparing your price and home improvements to all the others.

Next on our list of seller mistakes is neighborhood gossip. What others claim they get for the sale of their home is not a reliable form of information. Home sellers will usually not disclose if they’ve had to discount a home to make the sale. It’s an admission of failure.

The point is, when it comes to pricing your home to sell, use only facts.  This will give you a more accurate picture of the real estate market. A more accurate picture will enhance your chances of a successful sale in the shortest amount of time. Ask for your free copy pf my book The Ultimate Guide to Selling Your Home which is designed to help you sell for more money in less time.