Selling Your Olympia WA Home – How to Determine the Best List Price

Determining the listing price of your home does not come from a computer algorithm.

You decide your list price and I offer guidance. Here are the steps I take to determine the best list price:

Analyzing Market Data

When analyzing how your home fits into the local Olympia area market, I look at three factors that affect the value of your property:

As I look at Market Conditions and The Competition, I take a closer look at the following classes of comparable properties:

• Recently Sold
• Currently for Sale
• Failed to Sell
• Pending Sales

I look for clues to learn more about these sales, or the sales that failed, and why. This can give me more information to determine your likely sales price.

Buyers Compare Homes

Comparison shoppers will not pay more for a property than they could pay for a similar one. And as buyers tour homes that most likely have similar features, locations, and amenities, they become market experts quickly.

Plus, now more than ever, buyers have access to a tremendous amount of information about properties, the history of sales, and if your home is priced right for the market.

“I want to add a buffer so that I can negotiate down.”

This is a common response from sellers who want to price above the market conditions. 

Here’s why this strategy is problematic in real estate:

One, unlike selling a car or a TV, you don’t negotiate with the buyer.  I negotiate for you with the buyer’s Broker.

Two, the buyer’s Broker knows the market, knows the value of homes, and studies the market. That’s their job. If they see a home that is over-priced, they will either ignore it or worse, use your listing to make another listing look better for their buyer.

The Benefits of Pricing “Right”

Pricing at a realistic market value generates more interest and buzz, which leads to better quality offers earlier in the process. 

Buyers search based on how much they can afford.

An overpriced property is not wanted by those who can afford it, and it is not seen by those who want it.

We have tracked list-to-sales prices in Thurston County over the last several years, in buyer markets and seller markets. Here are the latest numbers:

Sellers that did not have to do a price reduction sold their homes on average in 5 days and sold for over their list price.

Sellers that did need to do a price reduction in order to attract an offer sat on the market over 10 times longer than their priced-right competitors and ended up receiving less.

When I work with buyers, typically the first question they ask about a listing is how long it has been on the market. If it has been on the market for a while, then they feel the sellers are desperate and the buyers can come in with a low-ball offer. The next question from buyers is why hasn’t it sold? Is there something wrong with the house? This is not the ideal situation for a seller, and this is why pricing right is so important.

Stats compiled by Francine Viola from information and statistics derived from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service for Thurston County home sales, excluding new construction, distressed sales, and manufactured homes between December 2019 to May 2020.

Your Pricing Strategy

Each seller is unique and has different needs when selling their home. 

For many sellers, balancing time on market and net price are two major factors for deciding upon a list price. We will discuss all of your options so you can decide what works best for you.

FAQs from Sellers

If your home sold in a day, was it under-priced?

Conclusion

Please know that you do not need to negotiate your list price with me. My goals are for you to understand the market as a whole and how it affects your property so you can be empowered and confident, and determine the best list price.