Selling a home is mostly a pricing exercise. Presentation, marketing and timing all matter, and none of them can rescue a house that is priced above what the market will pay. Getting the number right at the start is worth more than everything else on this page combined.
Price It Correctly From Day One
The tempting strategy is to start high, “to leave room for negotiation,” and reduce later if nothing happens. It reliably works badly, for a reason worth understanding.
A listing gets its most attention in its first couple of weeks, when it is new to everyone watching that area. Price it above the market and those buyers filter it out of their search entirely — they never see it, so they never come. By the time you reduce, the attention is spent, and the listing carries a growing “days on market” figure that buyers read as a sign something is wrong. Overpriced homes tend to sit while correctly priced comparable homes sell, and they frequently end up selling for less than they would have with an accurate price at the start.
Set the price from recent sold comparables, not from what you paid, what you owe, what you need for your next house, or what a neighbor claims they were offered. See how to tell what a house is really worth.
Selling in a Buyer’s Market
When there are more homes for sale than buyers, you are competing directly with every similar listing. Accurate pricing matters even more, and so does everything that makes your home the easiest choice on a buyer’s shortlist.
- Be genuinely competitive on price against the specific homes a buyer is comparing you with, not against the market in general.
- Present it better than they do. In a slow market condition and presentation decide between similar houses. See how to prepare your home to sell.
- Offer terms, not just price. A contribution toward closing costs, a home warranty, or flexibility on the closing date can be worth more to a buyer than an equivalent price cut, and can cost you less.
- Be easy to view. Restrictive showing times lose sales in a market where buyers have alternatives.
- Deal with known defects before they surface in the buyer’s inspection and become a renegotiation. See should you get a home inspection before you sell?
If you must reduce, do it decisively and early. A series of small cuts trailing the market keeps a listing permanently slightly too expensive, which is the worst place to be.
Buying and Selling at the Same Time
Most sellers are also buyers, which raises the question everyone struggles with: which do you do first? There is no universally right answer, only the one that fits your finances and your tolerance for risk.
Selling first means you know exactly how much equity you have and when you must move. You can make an offer without a sale contingency, which is far stronger, and you are not carrying two mortgages. The cost is that you may need temporary accommodation and two moves, and you may feel rushed into a purchase.
Buying first means you move once, into a home you chose without time pressure. The cost is real financial exposure: if your current home takes longer to sell than expected, you are paying for both. Making an offer contingent on selling your existing home protects you, but sellers dislike such offers and in a competitive market it may cost you the house.
The deciding factor is usually the market you are in. In a seller’s market, your home should sell quickly, so selling first carries less risk of being stuck — but finding your next home is the hard part, which argues for lining that up. In a buyer’s market, your home may take months to sell, so buying first is the more dangerous order. See how the housing market works.
Whichever you choose, work out in advance what happens if it goes wrong. Could you carry both payments for three months? Is bridge financing available to you, and at what cost? Would family help at a pinch? Knowing the answer before you commit is what turns a crisis into an inconvenience.
Before You List
- Work out your net proceeds: sale price minus loan payoff, commission, transfer taxes, any repair credits and your own closing costs. That figure, not the sale price, is what funds your next move.
- Interview more than one agent and compare their evidence, not their enthusiasm. See how to choose a real estate agent.
- Understand what you are signing — see real estate listing agreements.
- Find out what you must disclose. See seller disclosure.
- Check whether you will owe tax on the gain. Many sellers owe nothing, but the rules have conditions — see capital gains when selling a home.