Priced To Sell

November 20, 2008

In today’s volatile market, buyers expect to get a great deal when then purchase a home. It’s almost as if they want to be rewarded for being brave and credit worthy. So how do you price your home so that it’s competitive enough to get buyers looking at it, but high enough to allow the negotiating room buyers need so they can assure themselves they purchased the home at a discount?

A while back I showed a home that had been reduced for a quick sale. It was a great deal. The buyer I was working with loved the house and made an offer (90% of list price) on the home. The offer was rejected. When I asked if the buyer would have been happy with the purchase price if the home had originally been listed higher and he’d offered the current list price. The buyer admitted that buying the home at a discount was more important than finding the right house at the right price. He absolutely could not pay full list price for the home, even though the list price was below comparable homes.

It’s difficult for sellers to understand that some of the appreciation they’ve experienced over the last few years has been wiped out. But if a seller has owned for more than about 8 years, he still should have built up enough equity to be able to price well, leave a little room for negotiation and walk away from the table with some profit. Compare profits to what your stock portfolio or retirement is worth, and sellers in most parts of the country are still OK. Yes, there are areas in the country where sellers are upside down in their mortgages, but how many of these sellers have owned for more than 8 years?

So if you’re a seller with enough equity to negotiate, do so with grace and gratitude. Hopefully, you’ll get just a good a deal when you go to buy your next home!

As of 11/28/09 the Bethany Culley RePage is ranked at 6,332 with 45 points.
The monthly top RePage owner will receive a cash prize. Help this agent by bookmarking this site and posting it to blogs and other Web pages and encourage others to visit.

Local Information for Jackson, MS

Latitude: 32.320445 -- Longitude: -90.204415

Other Area Cities: Jackson Brandon Madison Ridgeland Pearl

Enter our Photo Sweepstakes and Win $200 for your Jackson photos!

To see random photos for other cities Click Here.

Submit your photos of Jackson and become eligible to win $200. Click Here for details.

Jackson is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2000 census, the city's population was 184,256. As of July 1, 2005, the census estimates that the Jackson Metropolitan area (MSA), including its suburbs in Hinds, Rankin, Madison, Copiah, and Simpson counties, has a population of 522,580, more than one-sixth the population of the state. Jackson is one of the county seats of Hinds County; Raymond is the other county seat. Jackson is also a part of the Jackson - Yazoo City Combined Statistical Area (CSA). The city has self-styled itself as "The Best of the New South," and "The Bold New City." Frank Melton is the current mayor of Jackson. The city is home to the international headquarters of Phi Theta Kappa, an honor society for the students enrolled in two-year colleges. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Mississippi 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Jackson	Mississippi	United States
Population	184,256	2,844,658	281,421,906
Median age	31	33.8	35.3
Median age for Male	29.1	32.2	34
Median age for Female	32.8	35.3	36.5
Households	67,841	1,046,434	105,480,101
Household population	177,055	2,749,244	273,643,273
Average household size	2.61	2.63	2.59
Families	44,488	747,159	71,787,347
Average family size	3.24	3.14	3.14
Housing units	75,678	1,161,953	115,904,641
Occupied units	67,841	1,046,434	105,480,101
Vacant units	7,837	115,519	10,424,540

Visit US Census