Selling a Home in a Cooling Market
A drop-off in buyer demand and rising home inventories has made marketing a home more difficult. RealEstateJournal.com, The Wall Street Journal's guide to property, offers the following tips:
1. Size up the playing field. Study your local market and investigate other homes' listing prices compared to what buyers are actually paying.
2. Price competitively. Price a residence just below what the market will bear. If a home is overpriced, a buyer will dismiss it and move on to the next one.
3. Do your legwork. Use aggressive marketing.
4. Don't delay. Point out to a seller that even if an offer isn’t all he had hoped, taking it instead of waiting for a better deal can save money in the long run.
5. Negotiate. Recommend that sellers offer concessions to potential buyers, such as making minor fixes. Small expenditures speed a sale and, ultimately, preserve price gains.
1. Size up the playing field. Study your local market and investigate other homes' listing prices compared to what buyers are actually paying.
2. Price competitively. Price a residence just below what the market will bear. If a home is overpriced, a buyer will dismiss it and move on to the next one.
3. Do your legwork. Use aggressive marketing.
4. Don't delay. Point out to a seller that even if an offer isn’t all he had hoped, taking it instead of waiting for a better deal can save money in the long run.
5. Negotiate. Recommend that sellers offer concessions to potential buyers, such as making minor fixes. Small expenditures speed a sale and, ultimately, preserve price gains.