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 Orem, UT

Latitude: 40.298753 -- Longitude: -111.696486

Other Area Cities: Orem Springville Alpine American Fork Lehi Spanish Fork Provo Salem Pleasant Grove Mapleton

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Orem is an incorporated city in the north-central part of the state of Utah in Utah County. It is adjacent to Provo, Lindon, and Vineyard and is about 45 miles south of Salt Lake City. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 84,324. By 2005 its population had been estimated to increase to 89,713, making it the fifth largest city in the state. Utah Valley State College is located in Orem. The Orem Owlz of the minor league baseball Pioneer League play their home games at the college. Orem uses the moniker "Family City USA". The city, once known as Provo Bench, was named after Walter C. Orem, who operated a railroad line in the area in the early 1900's. Orem is located in the Alpine School District and is home to three high schools, three junior high schools, and 16 elementary schools. Utah Valley State College and Stevens-Henager College are also located in Orem. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Utah 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Orem	Utah	United States
Population	84,324	2,233,169	281,421,906
Median age	23.9	27.1	35.3
Median age for Male	23.7	26.7	34
Median age for Female	24.2	27.7	36.5
Households	23,382	701,281	105,480,101
Household population	83,573	2,192,689	273,643,273
Average household size	3.57	3.13	2.59
Families	19,085	535,294	71,787,347
Average family size	3.93	3.57	3.14
Housing units	24,166	768,594	115,904,641
Occupied units	23,382	701,281	105,480,101
Vacant units	784	67,313	10,424,540

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