Several times recently I’ve been in the position where I have either turned down listings or not “gotten” them because I’ve refused to list them too high. While we may be in a bizarre competitive ”Buyer’s market” in much of the Phoenix market right now, buyers still aren’t willing or able (we’ll talk about appraisals later) to pay too much for a house. Sometimes, I’ll if push comes to shove I’ll allow a seller to list the property higher than I think the market will allow for as long as we have an automatic price reduction in place. Now, all you purest REALTORS who are up in arms that I just said that, I do know that the first couple of weeks is when we’ll get the most showings and activity and I make sure a seller is fully aware of that. But if they still persist and I think more reason can be seen later I’ll allow for it.
So once the house is listed how do we tell if a house is over-priced?
That’s when I use what I call the Rule of Tens.
- If the house is on the market for 10 days with no calls or showings…it’s over-priced
- If the house has 10 showings and no offers…it’s over-priced
That’s it.
Plain and simple…my Rule of Tens.
On a totally personal note: 10 is my youngest daughter’s favorite number. Her name is KiersTEN and this year she’ll be 10…on 10/10/10.
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I use the same method with my clients in Dallas!
It’s very true. There are buyers out there. If your property isn’t attracting ANY of them, it’s overpriced. And, if you really want/need to sell, you must drop the price.
There is also the rule of three – there are three things that make a person buy a property:
Location – you can not change
Condition – you can possibly change depending on your finacial ability
Price – you can always change
Brilliant! I have done the same: not listing overpriced homes, or having preset price drops…however – I love your rule of ten. In my area (Middletown, DE) we find that homes almost always sell within 60 days of reaching their last list price – with the majority of those being under 30 days. My interpretation – if it’s on the market for 30+ days it’s time to lower the price – and not by a token amount.
Best!
Deb
Great post, Shar! Such an easy way to explain how critical the proper price is when selling your home. The Rule of 10’s almost sounds like a magical formula, but much more scientific – and undoubtedly more effective – than burying a statue of St Joseph in the backyard.
.-= Kristin LaVanway´s last blog ..Selling Real Estate on Overstock.com…What? =-.
Nicole & Deb, thanks for stopping by and sharing your experiences. It seems that the Rule of Tens or Threes or 30 Days applies anywhere. Obviously, it will flux some depending on the market but having benchmarks that sellers should be aware of and setting those expectations from the beginning definitely helps ensure that the sellers will have a better selling experience.