Sell that house: Seven steps to success

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Good morning. Redfin got a fair amount of publicity this week (‘Today’ show, etc.) with its list of ‘Seven tactics for selling your home,’ so I figure it’s worth a link. There are a million of these ‘how to sell your house’ lists, but this one bills itself as the result of real research, or as Redfin says, ‘the best academic research and our own analyses of listing databases and website traffic.’

Tactic number one seems the most important. Read it slowly and carefully if you are thinking of listing a house for sale:

‘Don’t overprice your property: Once a property fails to sell at its debut price, the time it spends on the market can encourage buyers to become more aggressive in negotiating. Price reductions can further encourage aggressive bargaining.’

Here’s one more tactic: Avoid prices that end in numbers like 55,000 or 80,000. Round to the nearest $25,000: ‘The real estate sites used by home buyers typically filter price in $25,000 or $50,000 increments, so a home selling for $350,000 is likely to be seen significantly more than a home selling for $355,00 because the $355,00 home will be excluded by buyers who set $350,000 as their maximum price.’

Your thoughts? Insights? Email story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Photo Credit: Reuters