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 12/07/09 the Sylvia Hinson RePage is ranked at 1,793 with 95 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 Saraland, AL

Latitude: 30.825186 -- Longitude: -88.091932

Other Area Cities: Mobile Prichard Chickasaw Saraland

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

To see random photos for other cities Click Here.

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

Saraland is served by the Mobile County Public School System [2] [3]. In June 2006, Saraland voted for its own city school system. Saraland officials expect to have the new school system in operation by 2009 [4]. In September 2006 officials planned to have a superintendent by November 2006 [5]. The city is served by Saraland Elementary School and Adams Middle School, both of which are within the city. The city is served by Satsuma High School in nearby Satsuma and Vigor High School in nearby Prichard. Private schools within Saraland include Shiloh Christian School and First Baptist North Mobile Christian School. Saraland is located at 30°49'31?N, 88°5'31?W (30.825186, -88.091932)GR1. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 57.0 km² (22.0 mi²). 56.7 km² (21.9 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.50%) is water. -- Source: Wikipedia.com

Alabama 2000 Census Population Profile Map

	Saraland	Alabama	United States
Population	12,288	4,447,100	281,421,906
Median age	37.3	35.8	35.3
Median age for Male	36.1	34.4	34
Median age for Female	38.5	37.2	36.5
Households	4,810	1,737,080	105,480,101
Household population	12,282	4,332,380	273,643,273
Average household size	2.55	2.49	2.59
Families	3,604	1,215,968	71,787,347
Average family size	2.97	3.01	3.14
Housing units	5,138	1,963,711	115,904,641
Occupied units	4,810	1,737,080	105,480,101
Vacant units	328	226,631	10,424,540

Visit US Census