When It’s Time to Reduce Your Home’s Asking Price
1. Your home has been listed for a LONG time.
So, this one might seem fairly obvious, but you must take it with a grain of salt. Depending on your market, homes can sit on the MLS for long periods without selling.
In general though, if your home has been on the market for more than a couple months and you just aren’t getting any bites on that bait, it may be time to seriously consider lowering your asking price to start getting some nibbles on your hook.
If your property has been listed for a while AND you have encountered one or more of the following issues, lower it right now!
2. You have had a bunch of showings and no offers.
Are people visiting your house, but nobody is making any offers?
Although your asking price is just that—what you’re asking—the number will influence how people make offers. The general public isn’t interested in making “lowball” offers to people who are looking to sell their home.
So, if you are getting a bunch of showings but nobody is offering, consider lowering the asking price.
Related: 4 Tips to Set a Profitable Yet Competitive Home Asking Price
3. Your agent has suggested it to you—multiple times.
Was your agent recommending you list it at a lower number to begin with? Did a month or two go by with no offers, all while they were recommending to lower your price?
If you trust your agent to sell your home but aren’t heeding their advice regarding the selling price, then you might want to rethink your decision to hire them. Otherwise, change the way that you are thinking, and take their recommendation.
4. Buyers have told you the price is too high.
Many agents nowadays get feedback from each person who attends a showing of your home. This feedback can be about things as minor as whether or not they are interested in your home to as major as what they think of the condition and neighborhood.
A valuable piece of information—yet again, one to be taken with a grain of salt—is what the prospective buyer thought about the asking price after seeing your home.
If you are parading buyers through your house and many of them are coming back and telling you that your price is too high, it may be time to listen though.
5. The competition is selling for less.
This one should be pretty straightforward for any Realtor to see, but you as the seller should be paying attention, as well. If there are comparable homes in your area that are selling for less than what you are asking, why would someone want to buy yours at a higher price?
The answer… they won’t!
Related: 10 Tips for Negotiating Like a Pro
6. Only nicer houses are selling in your price range.
This is another telltale sign that you should lower your asking price. If there are houses in the area selling around your asking price, that can be a good thing. The problem arises when these houses are either much nicer (granite counters, nicer floors, etc.) or much larger.
If either of these cases are prevalent in your area, you need to strongly consider lowering the asking price of your home to attract buyers that otherwise would pass it by.
Get Your Home Sold!
Unfortunately, just because you are asking someone to pay a certain amount for your home, it does not mean that buyers out there are going to be willing to pay it. If you find yourself in any of these situations, then you should take a long, hard look at adjusting your asking price.
Of course, if you aren’t in a great hurry to get your home sold, and you think your asking price is fair, then just play the waiting game. The right buyer will hopefully come along. But the large number of homes listed for sale for over 180 days at any given time tells us that it is much wiser to just swallow your pride and lower that price.
Good luck selling!
Has your house been sitting on the market? For how long? Why do you think that’s the case?
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