Winter Springs, FL

OK, you ask what does “”Chasing the market mean”?    When you list your home for sale your agent has an informed educated value of the property, they are watching the trends, knows what the neighborhood values are doing.  The seller has more of a emotional value placed on the home. Everyone is proud of their home or at least should be.  Its not unusual to hear a seller say ” I have the nicest home on the block, my yard is always in perfect condition, we recently painted, etc etc etc.  This is all well and good but is it adding true value to your home?

When you decide to sell, first talk to an agent that is a “Realtor” not all agents are.  You and your Realtor should have an understanding of what the true market value of the property is.  To chase the market means to lower you price on a weekly or monthly bases until you find a price that the market will bear.  Understand that buyers know how many time you have lowered your price, their agent will tell them, and figure that if you lowered it once, or twice then you are probably willing to lower it again. 

  Another draw back is the buyers are going to think one of two things, either your getting desperate or there is something wrong.  If this is the case then expect an offer to reflect that.  This is going to possibly cause hard feeling between you and your agent and the other people involved. 

You should discuss with your agent a marketing and pricing strategy so you’re not chasing the market.  This will benefit you not only in the amount of showings but when it comes to negotiating offers.  Remember buyers are more educated in what the market is doing and 95% of the time are not walking into any deal blindly.

Bottom line is listen to what your agent is telling you and if you hear “We’ll try that for awhile and see what happens and then we will consider lowering the price in a couple of weeks” BEWARE!  You have just “Chased the Market”.  Become an educated seller!