Setting Prices In Slow Markets

From the Wall Street Journal Online:

Sellers Find It Difficult to Set A Price in a Volatile Market

A year or two ago, pricing a house was simple. Sellers only had to look at what their neighbors were charging, add 10% and wait for the bidding wars to begin.

Now that the market has grown uncertain, homeowners are at more of a loss when deciding what price tag to put on their property. So in an attempt to attract buyers, some sellers are experimenting with non-traditional strategies for setting prices. Approaches include starting high and cutting the figure every few weeks, dropping the price to a different bracket to attract new shoppers or giving a range of numbers rather than one set figure.

Home-sellers are trying these strategies as real-estate markets across the country continue to send mixed signals. Listings are on the rise -- they are triple last year's levels in parts of Southeastern Florida and five times higher in Phoenix. In Washington, D.C., home builders are dumping inventory and undercutting existing home prices by offering rebates on closing costs or outright discounts. Overall, home prices are growing at the slowest pace in two years, though they were still up 12.5% in the first quarter from a year earlier, as measured by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. In some affluent places, like Palm Springs, Calif., and Palm Beach County, Fla., single-family home prices have flattened or declined.
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When times are slow, most agents recommend setting a price that's just at or 5% below the market. Yet not everyone takes that advice. Below, a sampling of four unusual pricing strategies.
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Two weeks ago, Rita and Daniel Davis put their three-bedroom Craftsman bungalow in Minneapolis on the market for $284,900.

A week later, the price tag was $279,900.

Cutting the price is common practice -- just not so quickly. In Minneapolis, sellers generally wait 30 to 45 days before making a reduction, says Mary Leizinger, a real-estate agent who is working with the couple. The fast drop wasn't due to unfamiliarity with the market. Before they listed their house, the couple had visited seven others for sale nearby. They discovered that many were similar to theirs, and worse, there was something for sale on every block. By cutting their price within days, the couple hopes to send a message that they're flexible. "We're between a rock and a hard place," says Ms. Davis, a businesswoman.
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In February, Jonathan Hinkle, a telecommunications account manager, put his five-bedroom home in Lansdowne, Va., on the market for $1.35 million. He purposely set it high and cut the number by $50,000 a few weeks later -- and continued dropping it by $50,000 every few weeks until it reached $1.05 million. Mr. Hinkle, who bought the house two years ago, says that's close to the lowest price at which he can afford to sell.
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Cincinnati professor John Bryan tried to price his home carefully. He surfed through local listings online and then waited until May, when real-estate sales are traditionally strongest, to put it on the market. (He bought a new five-bedroom home in January, a slow month for sales.) He finally set the price at $324,000.

He received one contract, for $307,000, but that fell through. He has just lowered the price to $299,900, even though he may lose money on the deal after closing costs and commissions. (He bought at $250,000 in 1998 and added $56,000 in renovations, including a new kitchen, air-conditioning system and landscaping.) He hopes the new price will bring his listing to the attention of a new group of Internet shoppers. Mr. Bryan says he is disappointed that he had to drop the price so low, but he thought it was the best solution. "I'm trying to break a psychological barrier," he says.