One of the keys to successfully selling your home is to have small, hard-to-explain advantages over your competition. Many times, these advantages are one or two unique features, a bit more cleanliness, a slightly more attractive home-site, or just a tad more curb appeal.
Other times though, that advantage may be something mental, rather than physical. It may be a psychological advantage. Simply having more attractive photos of one property over another will drive more traffic to that home, thus giving it a much higher percentage of a successful sale. The photos may not have been any higher quality than the other home, but just showcased a more attractive view of the home, which appeals to the psychological, emotional side of the potential buyer.
What we must keep in mind though, is that buyers (over 80% begin their search online) look at two things first; Photos, and PRICE (not necessarily in that order). You’ll find that I write a lot about the art of pricing homes and how to get a pricing advantage:
- The home MUST be priced correctly (realistically). Nothing will kill the possibility of a sale faster than being overpriced.
- It must be priced in the right competitive position. Simply put, if your home is on the higher end of pricing for the neighborhood, it’s going to get shown less. You want to be in the lower half of all homes listed.
- Last is a point that I’ve just recently become aware of. It’s the psychology involved with the actual number of your sales price. This is the point I want to get into with this post.
I just read a Cornell University study on precise number pricing that I found very interesting. It hits on two things.
- First, what 3 numbers should be at the end of your sales price? Should you price your home at $479,000 or $479,525?
- Secondly, what are the best bracket prices to try to fit into? Is there an advantage to being priced at $424,500 versus $425,000?
While I’ve always been a firm believer in pricing just under the top of a price bracket, such as $424,500 to get the listing found in more searches, I’ve never come to a logical conclusion on the first point, but this study has me leaning toward it’s logic.
While it may seem kind of silly to get so caught up in something as trivial as the physical numbers, the fact is that our minds work in patterns, which this study works from. No matter how trite, these small unexplainable advantages are exactly what may help you get a buyer before the guy down the street.
About Ryan Hukill
