Selling Your Home

How do I set the right price for my home?

By Steve Lockhart

The short answer

The question sellers usually ask is, what is the highest price I can ask? The better question is, what price brings the strongest offers from real buyers?

Full answer

The question sellers usually ask is, what is the highest price I can ask? The better question is, what price brings the strongest offers from real buyers? Most buyers search within set price ranges, so one wrong number can put your home completely above where they are looking. An overpriced home tends to sit, and a home that sits begins attracting lower offers as the days on market grow into a red flag. For well-priced home, list draws the most interest in the first weeks, when a listing is freshest. I build the number from the strongest sold comparisons, the active competition in your neighborhood and the condition and features that support it. Then we compare it with what you want to keep from the sale. If the honest price does not meet your goals, we talk about the other options: waiting, renting, renovating first, or a different approach. Price is a strategy decision made from data, not a feeling.

Go a little deeper

Frequently asked

Questions sellers often follow up on

Should I price a little high and leave room to negotiate?

Usually not. Buyers compare against the same sold data you do, and a price above the market shrinks your pool of showings and invites low offers. It is almost always easier to come down from a well-priced home than to recover after weeks of sitting.

Why does the first week or two matter so much?

A new listing gets the most attention from active buyers and agents, and that concentrated attention is when offers happen. Once a home has been on the market for weeks, new buyers start to wonder why, and their offers get more careful.

Should I ask what my neighbor is asking?

An asking price is not a sold price. Only closed sales, homes where buyers wrote contracts and finished, set value. We do look at active asking prices because they are your competition, but the closed sales stay on top.

The Lockhart Method

Your Home | My Strategy | Proven Results

My strategy: price for the strongest position, then protect it. We set the number the market supports, create the launch window when the listing is newest, and react quickly if feedback says the market wants a different conversation.

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