Today’s buyer is beginning their home search on the internet.  A buyer using a home search on the Internet typically selects a large price range, like $200,000 to $250,000.   The buyer usually selects a large geographic area, such as Montgomery, Chester and Delaware Counties,  and details like four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and two stories. The search then generates a list of all the homes in that price range and selected geographic areas.  They look through those properties, usually beginning at the lowest price range.  Although buyers may have a wide search on the internet, when they schedule an appointment with a Realtor they are much more specific in the requirements of their future home, including specific school districts and towns, such as Lower Merion High School, and Narberth or Bala Cynwyd.

Since most buyers begin their search on the internet, homes should be priced differently so that they are more appealing to online shoppers.  Since potential buyers typically search lower priced properties before higher priced properties, this is the first “showing” of the property.  If a seller insists on too high of a price, they may be losing out on potential buyers.  Many Realtors price a home based on the CMA (comparative market analysis), but, it does not reflect how people are searching on the internet. Cleveland based Realtor, Jackie Leavenworth, suggests looking at homes and their prices on the Internet through the buyers’ eyes. Then look at the property through the appraiser’s eyes with the CMA. “By putting the two thought processes together, we can properly position homes,” she said. “The bottom line is that when we just do a CMA, it’s pricing through an appraiser’s eyes, without regard to the buyer’s perception.

By showing sellers how this new pricing system works, Leavenworth said it helps sellers become more realistic about the market. “And that’s our ultimate goal, to bring sellers’ expectations closer to today’s reality,” she added. Many sellers are unrealistic about the price of their home because they need more money out of their home than the market will bear, which in turn, makes them sad and unrealistic.

Too many properties are overpriced in today’s market.  There is not a shortage of buyers, but there is a shortage of realistic sellers.  If a home is priced right, it will sell in any market, but it has to be priced for the current market.