How should sellers find the values of their properties and set asking prices?

The seller’s asking price is one step in the sell-buy process that either encourages or discourages buyers from submitting a purchase-offer contract. This article discusses how sellers approach the questions of determining their property’s value and setting an asking price. The next article will discuss how seller’s view asking price tactically.

I’ve found sellers, including myself, setting an asking price for real estate by fixing its value in one of at least several ways.

Seat of the pants. Sellers normally know more about the property they’re selling than any other party. Over time, sellers get a price-feel for how their places compare with others in terms of assets and liabilities. When it comes time to sell, many sellers integrate the information they’ve acquired over the years and intuit their way to a price.

Need. When the economy is lousy, some sellers find themselves pinched for cash and forced to sell real estate. Where the property is secured by a mortgage, the sale price is hoped to be sufficient to pay off the debt, transaction costs, taxes on gain and meet as much of the crisis need as possible. In the best circumstances, the seller will have some profit left; in the worst, sale of the real estate will leave him short of meeting his cash needs. Read more

Three cheap ways for land sellers to improve their marketing

The devaluation in real-estate values that began in metropolitan areas in 2007 with over-valued residential properties is starting to roll into the country. Sales seem to be slowing.

Sellers lower their asking prices to move their properties in a market that’s turned against them.

A cut in price will have more impact on buyers if it’s packaged with three trust-building gestures that position them to make a deal.

1. Provide complete property information.

I advise sellers to put together a packet that includes the following: Read more