What Happens When You Overprice Your Home

by Crescent City Living

So, you think you want to push the envelope and overprice your home in the hopes that someone will “just make us an offer”?

There are a lot of reasons that this is a bad idea, and we’ve got a story to show you just how wrong it can go.

Meet Joanie and Roy. Very lovely couple. Very nice house in Mid City.

They called us after they had been on and off the market for almost 2 years with other agents. They ignored their agent’s advice and overpriced their home the entire time they were listed. Oh sure, they would make small price decreases every so often, but nothing that put it close to what other homes in their neighborhood were selling for.

By the time the price was in line with other houses in the neighborhood, they were pretty discouraged by the entire process, especially when the latest price change didn’t result in a flurry of new activity.

Why?

First of all, we agents have a handy dandy history button in the MLS. When we show a house, we generally check the history of the listing. Lo and behold, their history shows a pattern of going on and off the market, with price reductions in between. That’s a big red flag and begs the question “what’s wrong with this house?”.

Secondly, buyers in that neighborhood had long ago passed over their overpriced house and purchased something else.

In the end, they were stuck waiting. Waiting for new buyers to enter the market that haven’t seen their house sitting on a list month after month. Waiting for buyers that don’t think there must be something wrong with the house for it to go on and off of the market time and again.

Our advice

When we give price ranges to New Orleans home sellers, it’s based on what we’ve seen the market doing. Not how much they love their home. Not how much the house 2 streets over with 1,000 square feet more sold for. Not to test the waters in hopes of an offer. We offer prices that will result in a sale. If you’re going to hire a professional, be ready to listen carefully to their advice or run the risk of being that house in the neighborhood that hasn’t sold yet.