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Q: My Realtor is pushing me to lower the price on my house. When we first listed the house we thought we were being aggressive about price but now my Realtor says we’re priced too high. I was thinking we should stage it instead. Do you think that’s a good way to go?
A: Staging is great if you can afford to do it. Even just a little bit of staging can go a long way. But staging is not a substitute for lowering the price. If you house is priced too high, staging will not make the difference. More importantly, you mentioned you were aggressively priced when you first went on the market and now your Realtor says your price is too high. This is because, even though sales have picked up a bit, prices are continuing to drop. Buyers are very aggressive and they expect bargains. What you’re doing is called “chasing the market.” You started out at the right price and if you were lucky, your house would have sold right away. But, as with most houses, it stayed on the market long enough that the expected sales price for your house went down. The only real solution is to respond by lowering your price. If you want to really sell quickly, lower the price of your house just below where the most recent sales have been. Then your house will seem like a bargain compared to recent sales rather than expensive. Of course, there are other things you can do to help sell in addition to (not instead of) a price reduction, including staging, offering buyer or Realtor incentives and doing some minor updating on the house, if needed. Selling a house takes a multi-pronged approach, but price is at the center of it. Talia Freedman is a Realtor with Signature Southwest Properties.
— This article appeared on page 3 of the West Side Journal
