How do I price my home to sell?

The comparable sales are the evidence. The homes most like yours that sold recently in the surrounding area, adjusted for the things that matter, condition, updates, lot and size, show the price a real buyer has already paid. A list price does not create the market; it announces it. The seller simply chooses which announcement to make: at the band, below it, or above it.

The first two weeks are a finite amount of energy. The new listing appears in the buyers' alerts, gets seen by the neighborhood agents and is visited in a burst. A price the market recognizes converts that attention into questions and offers; a price above the band holds the same property while the novelty fades, and the days on market start announcing themselves to every later search. The strongest part of the marketing is the price the listing carries in that window.

Offers follow attention, and attention follows price. A listing with several sets of visitors in the first ten days lets the seller choose among terms; a listing that has been sitting negotiates from the days on market, and the eventual price reduction buys none of the attention back. The market reads the first price first.

The agent's price and the appraised value are different instruments. The agent quotes the market, what the comparable sales say a prepared buyer will pay. The appraiser gives the lender an independent figure that the mortgage is sized to. When the appraisal lands below the contract, the buyer adds cash or the price is renegotiated, so a price built on the true comparable is the cheapest insurance against the appraisal gap.

Georgia has the data to price against. The corridor's sold record runs through the regional listing services, NAMAR, FMLS and GAMLS, and the county records, so a price built on recent sales in the immediate community is the same record the appraiser and the buyer's agent will read. The history is public, and the list price is a statement about it.

The seller's disclosure is part of the price. Georgia sellers complete a property condition disclosure, and the buyer inspects within the due diligence period, so the asking number has to survive the report. A home priced and described honestly brings buyers at the realistic level; a price that outruns condition returns to the table in the inspection and walkthrough negotiations.

In Georgia the offer is more than the price. The purchase agreement carries the due diligence fee and period, the closing date and the financing contingency, and the net the seller keeps depends on that assembly. Pricing to sell includes the terms, so the sale is planned as the price, the days and the closing date together.

Find the true comparable sales, the homes in the same neighborhood that sold recently, and note how many days each held on the market. The days on market are the record of whether the price was fair or not.

Price with the condition in the picture. The condition appears again in the inspection, the appraisal and the walkthrough, so a price that ignores it is a price that meets the negotiations again.

Decide the timing on purpose. A sale with a fixed date, the school year, the job move, the closing target, is properly priced at or below the center of the band, and the first weeks are marketed for the offers.

Ask the agent for the pricing in writing: the comparable sales, the adjustments and the recent market activity. The evidence is the deliverable, and the number is its summary.