The Price Ain't Right

From the Asbury Park Press:

Sales strategies

Before Brick resident Vicki Aebischer put her home in the Herbertsville section up for sale at the end of June, she tried to figure out how to price it.

She used the Internet to check prices for homes in her neighborhood. Aebischer also went to a few area open houses to help get a sense of the housing market in her community.

The price tag was set at $424,900 before it was raised to $439,900 after two real estate agents told Aebischer the price was too low. After she didn't get any offers, she dropped the price back to $424,900.

"The market is always fluctuating," said Aebischer, 39. She and her husband, David, are buying a house together, having married in March. "I think the house will go eventually."

When you're looking to sell your house in today's market, your price is where it all starts.

"Your price needs to be right," said Jeffrey G. Otteau, president of The Otteau Appraisal Group Inc. "In today's market, pricing right means pricing for less than your competition."
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"You have to look at what their competition is and how they want to position their home within that competition," said Banasiak, a broker associate at Weichert Realtors in Marlboro. "If a buyer can really look at two houses that are virtually the same and one is $10,000 or $15,000 cheaper, which one would you buy?"

Sellers have to be flexible in thinking what their home is worth.

"Just because a neighbor got X doesn't mean they're going to get X-plus today, they might get X-minus, which again doesn't mean that they will be losing money on the house," said Tom Stevens, president of the National Association of Realtors. "They will still realize a pretty hefty gain because they probably owned it for a couple of years and the appreciation the last few years has been higher than normal."
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It can be difficult. Brick resident Lisa Walsh checked the Web site Realtor.com and newspaper advertisements to help choose a price for her three-bedroom colonial-style home in Brick. She set the price at $349,900 in May, and has since cut it to $329,900.

"It is hard to compare within that area, because there are not many houses that are the same as it," Walsh said. "A lot of them are older. A lot of them are smaller. I think it is a really saleable house."
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"You have to make your home stand out," said Diane Turton, owner of Diane Turton, Realtors.
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"Put an apple pie in the oven. Have fresh flowers in the house as well," Turton said.