That's not much of an incentive to fight for "top dollar" for your home. It's much easier and safer for them to price your house for less than it's worth in order to make sure it gets sold and ensure they make a commission.
The bottom line, although real estate agents do work on commission it's really not in their best interest to fight for "top-dollar."
Pricing Your Home Too High
Although you want to sell your house for as much money as possible, setting an unrealistically high listing price is likely to take money out of your pocket in the long run. And just because a real estate agent tells you they can get you a certain price for your house (no matter how good it sounds to you)...beware.
There is an all too common, but little talked about practice in the real estate industry. It's called "buying the listing." Essentially what it means is that some agents will try to "buy your listing" by telling you what you want to hear - that your home is worth much more than the other real estate agents have told you.
They do this knowing that your house won't sell for such an inflated price, but they tell you this anyway in order to get you to sign an exclusive listing agreement with them (rather than with their competitors). Once they have you "locked-in," soon after they'll begin trying to talk you into lowering your asking price (because they know your house won't sell for the inflated amount they convinced you it was worth).
And while it may not seem to be a big deal to "start high" and then work your way lower if no one makes an offer...experience has shown that houses that are overpriced from the outset usually end up selling for less than they would have if had they been priced accurately and competitively from the beginning.
This is simply because an overpriced home does not attract buyers. And a house that sits on the market too long becomes "stigmatized" and becomes much harder to sell. It's human nature really, the longer a house sits unsold, the more people begin to think that there's something wrong with it. The end result is that you have to keep lowering your price until it's viewed as a bargain and can finally attract buyers.
The Value of a Home Appraisal
Pricing your home accurately and competitively, relative to other comparable homes in your market, is the key to selling your home for as much as possible, as quickly as possible.
And to accomplish that, you need an expert opinion from an unbiased source. That's where we come in - we can provide you with a pre-listing appraisal so that you can make an informed decision about how to price your home correctly, so you can maximize profit and minimize it's time on the market.
Call us today at (516) 642-4369 to speak to one of our experienced, licensed appraisers. We'll be happy to answer all of your questions and schedule an appointment time that is convenient for you.
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