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!

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Local Information for Brentwood, TN

Latitude: 35.998194 -- Longitude: -86.792619

Other Area Cities: Brentwood Belle Meade Franklin Nashville Forest Hills

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Brentwood is a city in Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. The Deerwood Arboretum and Nature Area has a full observation deck, outdoor covered classrooms, and an amphitheatre, the Arboretum. It contains man-made lakes and indigenous wildlife. Granny White Park is a 32 acre park with several sporting facilities including tennis courts, softball/baseball fields, and basketball courts, and picnic pavilions, and is located near Brentwood Middle School. Brentwood is Tennessee's best educated city, proportionately, with 69.4% of adult residents (25 and older) holding an associate degree or higher, and 64.7% of adults possessing a baccalaureate degree or higher. Brentwood is the home of former NASCAR driver Casey Atwood, current Tennessee Titans quarterback Kerry Collins, and several musicians, including country stars Trisha Yearwood, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Dolly Parton, George Jones, Little Jimmy Dickens, Jack White and Alan Jackson. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Tennessee 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Brentwood	Tennessee	United States
Population	23,445	5,689,283	281,421,906
Median age	40.8	35.9	35.3
Median age for Male	40.8	34.5	34
Median age for Female	40.8	37.2	36.5
Households	7,693	2,232,905	105,480,101
Household population	23,199	5,541,337	273,643,273
Average household size	3.02	2.48	2.59
Families	6,812	1,547,835	71,787,347
Average family size	3.24	2.99	3.14
Housing units	7,889	2,439,443	115,904,641
Occupied units	7,693	2,232,905	105,480,101
Vacant units	196	206,538	10,424,540

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