Setting the right price for your home is one of the most important things you can do when listing a property. After all, you don’t want to leave money on the table, but pricing it too high can mean that it doesn’t get any traffic and sits on the market for months.
Unfortunately, pricing your home correctly isn’t as easy as it might seem. This is one reason so many sellers opt to work with real estate agents, as they offer professional expertise to help with pricing. Whether or not you’re working with an agent, it’s a good idea to go through the pricing process on your own to get a sense for how much your home is worth.
Here are some tips to help you do that and to make it easier to figure out how much you should ask for your Birmingham property.
Look at Comparable Sales
The best place to start when pricing your house is by looking at comparable sales in your area. The key when doing this is focusing on properties that are as similar to your property as possible. Specifically, you want to focus on:
- Location: prices can vary substantially from one area to another. As a result, when looking at comparable sales, focus on those that are in the same neighborhood as yours. The closer the better.
- Size: it’s important to look at home sales with similar square footage and with the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
- Home type: single-family homes sell for more than multi-family units and new construction generally gets more than older homes so focus on home sales that involve the same type of home as yours.
Finally, when looking at comparable sales, pay attention to when the sale took place. Market conditions can change quickly, so it’s important to focus on the most recent sales available.
Evaluate Your Home’s Condition
Once you’ve looked at comparable sales, you should have a price range for your home. To zero in on the right number, it’s necessary to look more specifically at your home’s condition. After all, no two homes are exactly the same. When evaluating your home’s condition, consider necessary repairs and updates.
Buyers are willing to pay a premium to get a home that is well maintained and updated. At the same time, they expect a discount for homes in need of substantial repairs and upgrades. When thinking through your home’s condition, think about any major repairs that you’ve made – for example, a new HVAC system or a new roof. Also, think through any major projects that you’re not planning to do before listing.
If your home is in good condition and updated, you can consider pricing it in the top of the range for homes of your size and type in the area. If it’s in need of major work, you should either plan to complete that work before listing or plan to price it at the bottom of the price range.
Understand Local Market Conditions
Beyond just looking at comparable sales, it’s important for sellers to understand local market conditions. Demand changes often in response to everything from seasonal changes to global economic shifts to changes in lumber prices.
The market has been particularly volatile over the last year, so it’s more important than ever to pay attention to local conditions like how much inventory is on the market, how high demand is, whether the local economy is growing and whether the local population is growing.
All of these things can impact the price of homes, so it’s important to understand Birmingham’s real estate market before listing your home.
Check Your Work
Once you’ve come up with a price for your home, it’s a good idea to check your work. You can use online tools like Zillow’s Zestimate to make sure you’re in the right range. Additionally, look at current listings, expired listings, and stale listings to make sure you’re priced competitively. Finally, remember that once you list the house, if you’re not getting showings or interest, don’t be afraid to lower the price. The worst thing you can do is overprice the property and simply let it sit on the market.
Alternatives to Listing Your Property
Pricing a property correctly is part science and part art, as there are a number of ever-changing factors to consider. For sellers that want to avoid the stress that comes from pricing and listing their homes, the good news is that there are alternatives.
Home Buyers Birmingham buys houses as-is in any condition. Our team will evaluate your home and make a fair cash offer. Once you accept the offer, we can close in as little as a week. It’s a good way to avoid the work, time, and resources that come with a traditional listing. Contact us today to get your cash offer.
Home Buyers Birmingham
1821 11th Avenue South Suite #55331
Birmingham, Alabama 35205
