Selling Your Los Angeles Home? How do You Set a Price?

You are thinking of selling your Los Angeles home and have an idea in your head of the price.  After all you paid a certain amount for it and should be making a profit on it, or at least getting your money back out.

And, this is how your see your home, after all it is your palace:  

You should get your money back and more, right?

Not necessarily.  If you bought at the height of the market, right now you would be selling at or near the bottom.  And even if you bought after prices dropped, they have been going down for the past 6 years.  It is unlikely that you are going to make a profit or break even.

Unfortunately, the only way you are going to sell your home for more than you bought it is if you put visible improvements into it such as upgraded bathrooms, kitchen, square footage, pool, etc.  But then you spent money to make those improvements and you may not see it all back.

Sellers are sellers and buyers are buyers and never the twain shall meet.  Buyers today are extremely sophisticated.  They know the value of a home and are rarely swayed by emotion.  They are not going to overpay and so setting the price for your Los Angeles home is extremely important.

This is how a buyer sees your home:

Unless your home is fully upgraded and turnkey, a buyer is going to count the money they are going to have to put into it and add it to the cost of buying the home.  They will have seen similar properties and know how yours compares to them.  The same goes for the appraiser.  If a buyer is getting a loan then an appraisal will be done to determine the value of the home.  Emotion is definitely not a part of this process, and if it doesn’t appraise for the price the buyer will not be getting the loan.

You cannot force the market.  Timing is everything.  If you don’t need to sell wait until you at least get your money back or make a little on it.  If you do need to sell your Los Angeles home price it right.  You will save a lot of time and aggravation and, with the low inventory and pent-up demand, you will sell it quickly.

If you are thinking of selling your Los Angeles home, your Realtor® will help you determine the right price.

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