In the Springfield housing market, price is king. For the longest time you have heard that the most important thing in real estate is location, location, location. This is not true anymore, in today’s Springfield, MO market it is all about price, price, price. Location still plays a big factor, but today, in Springfield’s market price is king. For a free, no hassle home evaluation go to HERE!
When it’s time to sell your home, pricing your home competitively is the most important thing to get right from the beginning. We all know that prices rose dramatically in the first half of the last decade, then came crashing down after 2007. Given that, it can be difficult for a seller to reconcile the amount they probably paid with the amount buyers are willing to pay today. What you owe on a house has nothing to do with its current value. Pricing your home right from the start is crucial, no matter what kind of market a seller deals with.
Selling a home can be difficult, but it does not have to be impossible. In fact, it can be relatively “easy” if common mistakes are avoided. The mistake that is made most by seller’s, relates to the pricing of their home. The pricing of a home normally determines whether a home will be sold relatively quickly or if it will linger on the market for a long period of time.
If a home is overpriced, it doesn’t matter if a seller hires the best real estate agent in their local market who also has the best marketing plan, it will not sell! Pricing does the majority of the marketing of a home, studies have shown as much as 80-90%. The value of your home is only as much as someone is willing to pay for it, not what you bought it for or how much money you spent renovating the home.
One of the great evolutions in real estate over the last decade is the power of the Internet, and more than 90 percent of homebuyers begin their search there. I think that’s great, and buyers are more empowered than ever with loads of information. These well informed buyers know the difference between a well priced home and one that is overpriced.
Unfortunately, pricing a home at the correct price is a bit of a science. Unfortunately it is not as simple as listing a home for its assessed value, or for what Zillow’s “Zestimates” say a home is worth. Home values are fluid and are subject to change from month to month and neighborhood to neighborhood. Real estate agents are experts in their local real estate market and can give you a very accurate idea of what buyers are willing to pay for your home right now. Assessed tax values are often inaccurate and based largely on square footage not the many other factors that go into determining a homes value. Zestimates are a cool tool, but not accurate in the Springfield housing market as we do not make home sales public information. Zillow uses a sophisticated algorithm to predict value, but without quality recent sold information or the ability to adjust for updates and quality it is wildly inaccurate. Real estate agents are local experts at pricing and marketing your home to facilitate a sale.
