How to price a property for sale

is going to be on the market.

It goes without overstating that the seller and agent benefit the most when a property is purchased at a higher value than it is worth, but realistically speaking, it is ultimately the buyers who determine the value of the properties on the market.
This becomes the main reason why the crux of a property sale is its price because the seller wants to benefit as much as they can from the sale while the buyer will most certainly want to pay the least amount possible for the highest return in value.

It is always prudent to start by getting an independent valuation from an agent who will not be involved in the sell.
The reason I state this is that the agent is not motivated to overprice, in the hope of being awarded with the mandate to sale.

When a seller hears that their property might fetch more than they anticipated, there is naturally a feeling of excitement and an inclination to assume that the agent will achieve that price without considering extrogenous factors like prevailing market trends and the liquidity crunch.

So in reality how can one have a general idea of how much the property will fetch on the open market, a sure start will be a thorough assessment of similar property prices within the same catchment and their duration on the open market.

Why I mention the duration of the property on the market will help one assess if that particular property is overpriced and reasons behind the overpricing. It will be foolhardy to follow hot on the heels of one who has overpriced, because the result will only yield two very unsellable properties on the market.

There is a natural bias that overwhelms the seller of a property in relation to the true value of the property they intend to sell.
Unless the sale of the property is encouraged by the buyer, sentimental value cannot be converted to monetary value whatsoever, the fact that one married and bore all their children on the property that is intended for sale does not add an extra US$30 000 to the sale price.

When it comes to determining the actual value of the property, an unattached third party objective assessment should be made, that is why I always encourage a professional and categorically state that friends do not qualify as a third party valuators.

The price of a property is inversely related to the demand on the market and it is demand not time that actually sell properties.
If one increases the price the demand lowers and if one lowers the price, the demand increases.

It is important to realise that properties are normally not bought on whim; most buyers assess the options available way before they view the property through advertisements or other media. The price of the property is also inversely related to the interest that will be created in the person of the potential buyer.

If the property is overpriced, chances are the potential buyer will just ignore the property and the seller loses at the first hurdle. If the potential buyer does view the property, at the back of their mind they will be comparing with other properties they would have seen previously that where either priced higher or lower.

To those sellers who are normally unyielding to reason and intrinsically believe that their properties are worth far more than they are, there is a chance that some agents will use that particular property as prone to sell their other similar properties that are rightly priced.

This is highly detrimental to the seller. Firstly, the property will end up becoming stale on the market raising suspicions of possible problems with the property. Secondly, that it also drives the seller on the desperate side forcing them to end up agreeing to a price that would not have been conceivable had the property been rightly priced from the beginning.

It is wise to remember that a realistic price will certainly assure one of a sale in the shortest possible time.
The property is not intended to eliminate all the financial problems that one may face; however, it can certainly reduce them up to its value.