THE PRICE IS RIGHT by Darrin DeRoches September 24 - 30, 2009 I know I have written a little about this before, but properly pricing your property is crucial. This week I have a client looking for a property in his desired neighbourhood; the property he found was 20 grand over his comfort level but it’s close to work, and it’s funky, cool and near perfect. We decided to view the property even though it was a little pricey. The property was sold five years ago for near $150,000 and since the market has risen about $6,000 to $7,000 per year in that price point, the property should be priced about $185,000 to $190,000. Unfortunately, the property was priced at $210,000 at the start and then it was reduced to about $200,000. I figured it may have been updated or improved to a point that it would justify the price. In today’s real estate world, information is so readily available to everyone, we are able to see what the property sold for and at least ten pictures of a property to compare. When looking at the past sales and seeing a simple improvement and paint, the owner may have improved the property by $5,000. So going back to the original price plus the yearly increase and the little improvements, the property is still only worth $185,000 to $190,000. So then since we looked at the property and realized it is overpriced, a second viewing started to show what else is wrong with the property. All the small things, plus some large ones made my buyer second guess his decision. He absolutely loves the area and type of home, but the overpriced property is now showing all the imperfections. If this same property was priced properly from the beginning we would be approaching the property with the desire to win and get this house attitude. Instead we are now wondering what else is wrong with this property. This same property could have been priced right and created a buzz and maybe even created multiple offers. Instead, there are three interested buyers who are not willing to enter into a multiple offer situation, and who are now second guessing the property. A great home in a great area should sell fast! Overpriced homes just do not sell. The property is now looking at its second reduction and months have passed, and several potential buyers have also passed. The moral of the story – the price needs to be right! V [DARRIN DEROCHES] Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at mail@uniquerealty.ca