Home / Chicago Home Sellers / Chicago home tips / My Neighbor’s House Sold In a Week - They Must Have Underpriced It
While having a casual conversation with a friend recently, he mentioned that the house on his street sold in less than a week. I said, “Wow that’s great to hear!” Unexpectedly, my friend blurted out, “Yeah, they definitely underpriced it if it sold that fast.” Below is a summary of my response…
In a market where overall home inventory is high (6+ months), pricing your home correctly is critical to getting it sold for the most value possible. And while you can control the listing price, there are other external factors that you cannot control. Sometimes these work to your advantage and other times to your disadvantage.
Assuming the sellers did not underprice their home, below is a simple explanation for why the home sold within one week and worked to the sellers’ advantage.
The buyers had been searching for months and knew of every home on the market. They were ready to make a decision and felt it was the home for them.
In this instance, the sellers did not underprice their home. They did, however, consult with their Realtor and decide to price their home correctly from the start. By doing so, they attracted the buyers that were truly looking for the right home for the right value (in their price point). Had the sellers decided to list at a higher number and eventually drop the price, these particular buyers may have missed viewing the home altogether.
Price correctly and sell your home for the most value possible. Also, be sure to stay up-to-date with the most recent comparable sales (when you are already on the market) and review your price accordingly.
March 15th, 2010 at 4:02 pm
A quick sale also saves them a lot of money and opportunity cost as well… as mentioned in the post about 5k now vs 5k later. Unless you’re talking about a massive (like 50k) difference, it’s worth saving all the time and headaches and making a quick sale.
Another thing to note is that in a market like this it’s entirely possible that you’ll save just as much on the home you buy to replace it. So you can still come out even/ahead on both transactions even if you’re not satisfied with what the market tells you is your sale price.