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 Lafayette, LA

Latitude: 30.213901 -- Longitude: -92.029363

Other Area Cities: Crowley New Iberia Lafayette Breaux Bridge Abbeville Rayne

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Lafayette is a city on the Vermilion River in Lafayette Parish, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Lafayette is the parish seat. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 110,257; a 2004 census estimate put the metro area's population at 246,160. It is the fourth largest city in the state. The city was founded as Vermilionville in 1821 by a French-speaking Acadian named Jean Mouton. In 1884, it was renamed for the Marquis de Lafayette, who assisted the United States during its Revolutionary War. The city's economy was primarily based on agriculture until the 1940s, when the petroleum and natural gas industry became dominant. The city is also home to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, formerly University of Southwestern Louisiana. Lafayette has a strong tourism industry, attracted by the Cajun and Creole cultures of the surrounding region and hosts the annual Festival de Musique Acadienne, Festivals Acadiens, and the annual Festival International de Louisiane. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Louisiana 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Lafayette	Louisiana	United States
Population	110,257	4,468,976	281,421,906
Median age	33.1	34	35.3
Median age for Male	31.4	32.6	34
Median age for Female	34.8	35.3	36.5
Households	43,506	1,656,053	105,480,101
Household population	105,819	4,333,011	273,643,273
Average household size	2.43	2.62	2.59
Families	27,116	1,156,438	71,787,347
Average family size	3.07	3.16	3.14
Housing units	46,865	1,847,181	115,904,641
Occupied units	43,506	1,656,053	105,480,101
Vacant units	3,359	191,128	10,424,540

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