![House Price House Price](/files_content/64/20200831.jpg)
Sometimes it is tempting for a seller to want to round up their list price.
The seller says (or thinks)...
"We think the house is worth $240K? And you're saying we should list it for $245K or $249K? I'm optimistic -- I think someone is going to be willing to pay $250K, so let's list it for $260K! A buyer can always make an offer!"
That's all well and fine and good -- and somewhat logical -- unless every buyer that comes to see the house in the first three weeks really thinks it is worth $240K.
Then, when leaving the house priced at $260K, if they are willing to pay $240K, they are likely thinking they'd need to offer $220K in order to negotiate you down to the value of $240K.
And they almost certainly won't make the offer.
If a house priced at $260K has been on the market for a few days, most buyers aren't going to make an offer of $220K. They might think it is a waste of their time. They might not want to insult the seller. Regardless of the reason, you are not likely to have $220K offers on a $260K listing within the first few weeks.
Thus, the buyer who excitedly came to see your $260K house, and then concluded that it is probably worth $240K (where we started this conversation) is likely to conclude that they should just wait a month or so and see if you eventually reduce the price to $250K -- and then they might consider an offer.
But by the time you reduce the price to $250K, you are bound to get significantly less buyer/market attention with that price reduction since it is no longer a new listing. And some of the originally interested buyers will have found something else to buy. And there will be much less urgency for any buyer to make a decision about an offer.
So -- beware of rounding up on your list price too far above what we have concluded is your home's value in the current market. It's easy to talk yourself into it -- and it's likely you'll regret it later.