How Positioning Your Home Will Get You Top Dollar On Your Sale

Did you know that you don’t get the most money for your home sale by pricing it high?  In this video, I’m going to show you the importance of market time and positioning when selling your property for top dollar. I’ll show you what a marketing strategy should look like and how it will get your house sold for the maximum profit.

Positioning Your Home

One of the most common questions I get when listing a property is about testing the market at a higher price. Pricing above market value can actually hurt you. If you want to sell it for top dollar, pricing it insanely high is not how you do it. Rather, you do it by positioning it strategically.

But what's positioning? When we sell a house, we need to properly position it to the most ideal buyer for your home. There are several ways to do this. For example, when you go to a store and buy something off of the shelf, you take into account the packaging, pricing, and current sale offer. It's no different in real estate. People who are shopping for a home are going to do the same thing.

The key is emotionally connecting your home to an ideal buyer and then simultaneously creating urgency around it.

Pricing It Right

The most important part of marketing your home for sale is the way you price it. We call this price positioning. Your pricing is very strategic and part of your marketing plan. Pricing your home right will eliminate accumulating too much market time and inviting lowball offers.

When a new home comes on the market, it gets a ton of interest. Because of this, your best chance at selling it is going to be those first two weeks. Many buyers don't want to miss out, and this buzz creates an urgency amongst buyers because they know that new listings get a lot of traction. If it's a good deal, it's going to go fast.

This is why it's important to price your home correctly from the beginning. When you do, you take advantage of the early buzz a new listing generates. People tend to want things they can't have, and it's no different in real estate. Have you ever wanted something more because it was no longer available? As your listing sits on the market, buyers begin to assume they have more negotiating room. After 30 days of being on the market, they will try to negotiate with you.

Let's flip the script a little bit. Which house would you be more likely to negotiate on if you were a buyer? The one that’s been listed for six months, or the one that just hit the market? It's for reasons like this that pricing your house too high at the beginning can hurt you in the long run. My best advice is to price it accordingly from the beginning. Remember, we don't create the market, but we can adjust to it.

Search Parameters

Another thing you need to know about pricing is how people search for properties online—and there is a science to it. Price is the number one criteria buyers search for online. Prices tend to be grouped in $25,000 to $50,000 increments. For example, people search up to $100,000, $125,000, $150,000 and so on. You want to take this into consideration when determining your initial list price.

Is it worth listing a house at $304,900 or $299,900? Probably $299,900 because there will be more buyers searching up to $300,000. You’ll thus get more attention on that price point. If I had my choice, I would list it at an even $300,000 because then you get the best of both worlds. You get people searching up to $300,000 and those that start their search at $300,000. Every time a price change occurs and your list price changes in a $25,000 increment, you will target a new pool of potential buyers who previously were not seeing your property.

Listing Description

The second way to position your house for sale is in its description. Who does your home appeal to and who is the most ideal buyer for it? The words that you use to market a property are essential. It's important that you speak directly to its most ideal buyer.

For example, if you're selling an investment property, the remarks should be focused on numbers, cash on cash return, net operating income, gross operating income, and cap rates. If you're selling a single-family home, your remarks will be focused on school districts, granite countertops, local parks, and lifestyle. You want to speak directly to your ideal buyer.

Strategic Marketing

The third way to position your house for sale is in its marketing. You want to advertise your home in places where your ideal buyer is going to hang out. An aggressive agent will chase your buyers versus just placing a sign in the yard, putting it on the MLS, and praying that an offer comes in. With websites and social media, you can zero in and market towards the people who are really interested in your home.

Your agent should actively be promoting your property on social media and going directly after your ideal buyer versus waiting around for them to come to you.

Getting Top Dollar On Your Home Sale

I hope this showed you the importance of positioning your house for sale. As you can see, marketing plays a key role in getting top dollar for your home if that's your goal. If you're interested in learning more details, I can answer any further questions you may have. I help people just like you sell their properties every day, and I would be happy to assist you.

So if you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to reach out to me and I’ll be happy to connect. Don't forget to also subscribe to my channel so you never miss an episode of my show, all about the northern Illinois area in and around Rockford and South Central Wisconsin in and around Janesville, Beloit, and Lake Geneva. Stay tuned to see what I feature next!