Price Your Home to Sell: How to Avoid the No. 1 Mistake Sellers Make! by Heather Bragg

Pricing a home for sale is an art and a science. For years, the school of thought was to put your home on the market at a high price, because offers usually come in at least 10 percent lower. But this approach is outdated. Buyers want value – their No. 1 fear is over-paying for a home.

Pricing a home 15 percent higher than “market” causes you to reach only 10 percent of your possible buyers. When you price your home at market value, it will appeal to 60 percent of buyers. How do you know what the value of your home is? Fair market value is determined by several things, chief among them being comparables – similar homes that have sold or are for sale in the area.

So don’t tap into buyers’ fears by overpricing your property. After all, it’s better to get 10 offers – and be able to pick the best one – than never get an offer at all.