Timing and Mindset really are everything. Move over Tony Robbins.
I have done several appraisals this spring to help sellers decide whether 1) to reduce their asking price or 2) take what they considered low offers. Rarely am I asked to do pre-listing appraisals which could save sellers time, energy, and money. Recently, I appraised a beautifully restored house that had been on the market for many months and had received-what seemed to them-only low offers. The homeowners were confused and frustrated, and, at that point, they were committed to selling. With the information from the appraisal they understood the situation in their specific market much better and were able to look at the situation more realistically. This is what a good appraisal does. The homeowners thanked me for my “candor” and accepted an offer.
In my personal experience, selling a house depends upon both timing and mindset…When we sold our house we didn’t have much control over the timing so we, eventually, had to focus on mindset. By mindset I mean the emotional and financial price we were willing to pay to sell our house (no pun intended).
In August of 2007 we put our house on the market with the caveat that we would not sell if we did not get an offer close to our asking price…we were not really “committed sellers” at that point. Our asking price was on the higher end, but we had comparable sales that could justify it. However, it was the beginning of the decline and prices were decreasing and unstable. It was new territory for everyone. Our mindset did not help us. We were the homeowners, spoiled by the boom, thinking that things could be different for us…they were not. We took our house off the market after 6 months, having only received one very low offer.
With a changed mindset and no caveat, we put the house back on the market 6 months later with an 11% reduction in price. We accepted an offer-$10,000 lower than asking-two weeks later. So, we learned that selling a house is really a mindset, one in which we needed to be willing to base decisions in reality and facts, not in emotion and hopes. I feel like Joe Friday from Dragnet…”Just the facts, ma’am.” I don’t totally discount the emotional piece in the home-selling process…as we found out, hopes and emotions just need to be tempered by reality.
A pre-listing appraisal can help sellers base their decisions in the reality of their particular real estate market…when they are ready to face it. In most cases it would be helpful to get “the facts” at the beginning of the selling process. However, when you are the seller it is much easier to face reality in an up market…
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