How to Sell a Home in Any Market

When learning how to sell a home in any market, especially a down market, it requires the home seller to stop thinking like a seller and start acting like a buyer.  I know it can be hard because they have certain expectations, needs and wants when selling. The reality is, though, a buyer simply doesn’t care what they expect, need or want.

In any event, the key to selling a home in any market is price and position.  Let’s say that Jack and Diane are looking to buy a home.  As of today we’ll say they looked at 37 properties in their target area with a price range between $250,000 and $300,000, give or take.

As expected, some of the homes were really nice and some, well, not so nice.

Just by default, out of the 37 homes, one property would be the best; one would be the worst and the remaining 35 fall somewhere between second and thirty sixth. 

Are you with me so far? Ok, great. Now, let me exaggerate here just for illustration purposes only.

Let’s pretend that one of the homes Jack and Diane looked at was only a single dollar; yes, only a single dollar. We’ll also pretend the house needs some work but it’s mostly cosmetic.  Well, no doubt, this home is the best positioned home on the market, even if it was in the worst shape of all 37.

So Jack and Diane give a full price offer of one dollar, the offer is accepted, and they now have a nice new home, completely paid for, in a neighborhood of homes priced around $250,000-$300,000.

I know this is an exaggeration but let’s continue.

What if the one dollar home was priced at a thousand dollars; a thousand times more than a dollar?  Right, Jack and Diane would have bought the house.

What if the home was priced at $100,000?  In a $250,000-$300,000 neighborhood you can bet they’d get full price in a split second.

Sure, a normal home seller wouldn’t sell their home for that low, I’ll agree. But the process is still the same. 

What if the home was priced at $200,000? While not as good as the one dollar deal, it’s still below neighborhood values.

If the one dollar house was priced at $250,000 all bets are off.  Out of the thirty seven other homes there very well could be a home better positioned. 

Maybe Jack and Diane thought another home priced at $260,000 was better positioned (even though it is priced higher) because it didn’t need any cosmetic work at all.  Everything is perfect the way it is.

The point being is, when a buyer looks at a home they are going to only make an offer on the house they feel is the best positioned compared to all other homes they’ve seen.

So how do you sell a home in any market? 

Simple.

Start thinking like a buyer and set appointments to look at all the homes you’re competing with. It shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes per home.  When you are completed with this step you simply compare your home to what you’ve seen and set the price that puts yourself in the number one position.

If your home sells in a few days then you know it was properly positioned. However, if another home you’re competing with sells first then you made a mistake.  For whatever reason, the buyer thought the other home was better positioned.

Once your home is the best positioned, in a buyer’s mind, it’ll be the next one to sell.

In summary, learning how to sell a home in any market is not difficult.  After all, no matter how bad things get homes still sell every day of the week.  By understanding things from a buyer’s point of view and understanding the concept of positioning, you’ll be sure to be the next home sold.