4 Savvy Home Pricing Tricks

Selling your home in today’s market may not be as easy as you had hoped, but there are things you can do speed the process along and make buyers feel like they are getting a good deal. An experienced realtor can help with this, as they can inform you of what other properties in your area are selling for, and which price range will attract the most attention from prospective buyers. They may also recommend these four tricks.

1. Make it look like a deal.

People make assumptions within a fraction of a second, so you need to make your price look attractive right off the bat. For instance, you know that $1.99 looks better than $2.00, even though it’s only a penny less. So, think in these terms. Also, research has found that buyers perceive prices to be lower when numbers on the right are declining from lower numbers, such as 2 to 1 rather than 9 to 8.

2. List higher than what you’ll accept.

Buyers always feel like they’re getting a deal when they have some wiggle room. That said, always price your home higher than what you’ll actually accept. If you need some reference prices, share the price of competing homes in your area.

3. List at a precise number.

Another interesting part of the human brain is that we tend to associate exact prices as a bargain, whereas rounded numbers indicate quality. Selling your home at $395,530 rather than $396,000 can make it look like you’ve thought long and hard about what your home is worth and aren’t willing to negotiate much more. This trick can be helpful if you’re in a tough market with few bids.

4. Make lowered house prices obvious.

If you do have to lower your price, make sure that it’s easy for prospective buyers to compute. They will be more inclined to jump on the property because they may perceive it as being a bargain and think that others will be making a bid as well. You can specify the dollar discount or drop the price by $5,000 to $10,000, leaving the last three digits the same.