Modesto is a great place to live, but it’s just as difficult as anywhere to sell a house. If you’re looking into putting your home on the market soon, you’ll want to understand how to price it- but overpricing your house can be just as bad as underpricing it. How do you keep your house within a buyer’s budget?

The Perils of Overpricing

Before we get into the depths of how exactly to avoid overpricing your home, it’s important to understand why you don’t want to overprice your home. An overpriced home can scare away a lot of buyers and will keep your house on the market for longer than really necessary. Moreover, if you stick with that price for too long, it may tell potential buyers that you’re not willing to negotiate- further driving off people who would have paid good money for your home. Eventually, it can be difficult to draw in new buyers, even if you re-price your home at a better rate. A history stays, even if the potential buyers do not.

Tips and Tricks

The best way to start your home-selling process is to get an appraisal. If your idea of how much your home is worth and a listing broker’s idea of how much your home is worth don’t quite coincide, it might be in your best interest to hire an appraiser. This will tell you, in plain English, exactly how much money your home is worth- and what it’s worth selling at.

If you’re not looking to spend $300 to $400 bucks on an appraisal, though, it’s also a fair idea to look at what homes similar to yours are priced as. After all, that’s what the buyer is going to be looking at, and that’s the prices your home is going to need to compete against. Looking at listings similar to yours will also tell you how long to expect your home to be on the market, and how much to eventually expect you might get from the home.