The first two weeks are the whole ballgame
New listings are pushed to every buyer with a saved search and every agent watching the neighbourhood. That burst of attention does not repeat. If the price filters you out of the searches your real buyers are running, you have lost them before the first showing.
Days on market becomes the story
Buyers read a high day count as a signal that something is wrong. Offers on stale listings come in lower than they would have on day three, and negotiating leverage moves to the buyer. Price reductions rarely recover the original number.
- Reductions usually arrive too late and too small
- A relisting resets the count but not buyer memory
- Appraisals can undercut an inflated agreed price on financed deals
You end up marketing your competition
An overpriced home makes the correctly priced house down the street look like a bargain. Buyers tour yours, then buy theirs. You paid the staging and showing cost for someone else's sale.
Price to the comparables, not to the wish
Recent sold prices within the same pocket, same property type, and similar condition are the only meaningful evidence. Active listings tell you what your competition is asking, not what buyers will pay. If nothing comparable has sold recently, widen the geography before you widen the price.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I just reduce the price later?
- You can, but reductions typically recover only part of the momentum. The offers that arrive after a long listing period are usually lower than a correctly priced launch would have produced.
- Does a low list price mean I get less?
- Not necessarily. In a market with buyer demand, a competitive price attracts multiple parties and the market sets the number.