How to Price Your Home to Sell Quickly: 8 Tips For a Fast Offer

2. Research housing conditions that impact your home’s market value

While an AVM estimate can provide a useful guide when determining your home’s value, there are important local and national trends to consider, as well:

Inventory levels

The number of available homes in your area could play a big role in the selling price of your house — especially if you’re determined to move quickly. When inventory levels are low, buyers face much more competition in the market and are eager to pay more for their next home. For instance, according to a report from NAR in 2023, 58% of real estate professionals said most of their clients submitted offers above the asking price.

According to Chester Ardolino, a top real estate agent in Springfield, Massachusetts, who sells homes more than 73% quicker than the average Springfield agent, the booming market back then led some agents to refer to these last few years as the “name your price market.”

Home price movement

One important indicator of the real estate market is yearly home price gains. If homes are gaining value at a pace above 2%-3% year over year, that’s considered to be a hot market. If you’re seeing that pace start to slow, you’ll want to consider pricing the house more aggressively to sell fast.

Mortgage rates

The lower the interest rates, the more willing many consumers are to buy a home and the greater their ability to make a competitive offer. But when interest rates spike — as in 2023, when they hit 8% — the market begins to slow, and offer amounts become more conservative.

Comparable properties

Looking at the selling prices of similar homes in your neighborhood can be a great way of gauging how to price your home to sell quickly. When looking for comparable properties, referred to as “comps,” make sure you’re comparing apples to apples by looking for homes with similar square footage and upgrades. So if a recently sold home has a newly renovated kitchen and bathroom, and yours doesn’t, it’s safe to assume your house will ultimately sell for less (everything else being equal).

Seasonality

Although seasonality has gone out the window in the last few years, it has historically played an important role in the real estate market. It is likely that this seasonality could return as the real estate market begins to stabilize, with spring and summer once again becoming the “hot” times of year to buy a home.

Between the beginning of a new school year, winter holidays, and less-than-ideal weather conditions in many markets, fall and winter are traditionally less desirable times to move. If you must sell your house during these months, and you sense the market starting to cool, you’ll want to consider your pricing strategy to ensure you’re appealing to those buyers who are looking.

Check out HomeLight’s Best Time to Sell Calculator. This free tool uses housing market data for your area to help determine the best and worst months to sell your home.

3. Undercut by 5% to 10% and try to spark a bidding war

Although many sellers feel anxious about underpricing their homes, the tactic can sometimes work in the seller’s favor, says Trice Massey, a top-selling agent in Kansas City, Missouri, who works with 82% more single-family homes than the average area agent. Not only can an artificially low price encourage multiple offers, but it can lead to a quick (and profitable) sale.

Ardolino agrees. “I think creating a scenario where buyers are bidding against each other and creating a higher selling price is ideal for the seller.”

Massey suggests sellers set the list price at about 5%-10% below the calculated market value. “When we do this kind of sale, many sellers have a fear that they’re leaving money on the table,” says Massey. “However, they typically get multiple offers.”

When determining this number, make sure to factor in the cost of any needed repairs. For example, if the estimated value of your home is $300,000, but it needs $32,000 in repairs, then $268,000 would be the starting point for your calculation.

$300,000 (house value) – $32,000 (repairs) = $268,000

To create a competitive bid situation, you’d then take up to 10% off of that total to get your list price. In this case, if we went for a full 10% price reduction, we’d be shaving $26,800 off the price. This would bring the final list price to $241,200.

$268,000 x 10% = $26,800 price reduction 

4. Price your home for the online search tools

When buyers look at house listings online, they often do so with very specific price range parameters. So, if they know they don’t want to spend more than $300,000 on a new home, then they might only look at homes below that amount. After all, why be tempted by homes that are out of reach?

This is important to keep in mind, as you could be missing out on a lot of potential buyers by pricing your home just above that limit. By sticking to the tried-and-true method of “charm pricing” and using a listing price like $299,999, you’ll likely show up in more search results while also giving the illusion of a lower price.

It’s also important not to get too creative with the listing price, as it draws unnecessary attention to the price and the sellers. This means not pricing your house for something as specific as $321,777, for example.

5. Avoid overpricing at all costs

It can be tempting to price your house at the top of its range, or even a little over market value, in an effort to maximize the amount of money you make on the sale. However, you’ll likely be doing so at the expense of the competitive bid situation we outlined above — and you could end up jeopardizing your chances of a quick sale.

Remember: the more days your house sits on the market, the more ammo a buyer has to make lowball offers. Plus, you’ll be waiting longer before you can wrap up the sale of your home and move on to the next chapter of your life.

If you need to sell a house quickly, it pays to keep the price measured. “If you’re priced below market value, you should be getting offers within hours,” Massey says. This is especially common in a seller’s market.

6. Market your property right before a price reduction

Ardolino says they avoid price reductions whenever possible — even in the toughest markets. Instead, his team starts with the home’s marketing strategy.

As an example, Ardolino describes a time when he was representing a seller and the property went stale — it had been on the market for 36 days with no viable offers. Knowing there were a lot of people looking to move from the Southern Atlantic Coast to the Northeast, his team invested resources into marketing the property in that region — and ultimately found a seller. “We ended up finding a cash buyer who was relocating from Virginia,” he says. “He purchased the home nearly a week later.”

Ardolino also recognizes that this strategy doesn’t always work, and that sometimes a price reduction is necessary — especially when the seller is looking to offload the property quickly. “Once we’ve made a few attempts at redirecting the marketing, then at that point we’d want to go down about 3% on the list price.”

Massey does warn against using a price reduction in advertising (for example: “Priced to sell!” or “Was $900,000, now $825,000!”). Calling attention to the price cut in this way can scare away potential buyers.

“This is a no-no,” says Massey. “People will think there’s something wrong with your house.”

Another strategy to consider is reaching out to potential buyers that viewed the house and seemed interested but did not make an offer. Let them know there may be a price cut coming and see if they would like to make an offer before you adjust the price. Once the price has been lowered, listing websites will send out alerts to potential buyers, which may pique interest, too.

7. Consider how much a cash buyer would pay

If your primary goal is a quick sale, you can’t go wrong with cash.

Rather than waiting up to 43 days for a loan to process, a cash transaction can often process within weeks. These sales don’t require an appraisal, though in most cases, cash buyers will still require a standard home inspection.

Although many direct buyers will offer a discounted price as part of their negotiations, the increase in cash sales over the last few years means that it’s now possible to get a fast, cash deal without sacrificing price.

“We’re seeing a lot of cash buyers from traditional buyers who are either downsizing or relocating,” Ardolino says.

In addition, Ardolino and his team take advantage of social media and investor groups that are constantly on the lookout for properties they can purchase for cash.

Another option for a quick, no-obligation cash offer is HomeLight’s Simple Sale platform. With a large network of pre-approved cash buyers and investors, Simple Sale allows you to compare multiple offers on your home without any listings or showings. If you receive an offer you like, you can close in as few as 10 days.

8. Partner with a top agent who can keep the process moving

An experienced real estate agent is perhaps one of the most valuable tools you can have at your disposal when selling your home — especially when it comes to pricing your home to sell fast.

In addition to providing advice on property valuations and guiding the marketing strategy for your home, an experienced agent will streamline the closing process to ensure it goes as smoothly as possible.

For example, Ardolino and his team will get to work on creating a purchase and sale agreement immediately after his seller client accepts an offer. “Getting that purchase and sale out quickly is the most important part of keeping timelines tight,” he says.

Similarly, Massey maintains a staff and works with a title company to handle all clerical aspects of the transaction so she can focus on selling, negotiating, and representing the interests of her client. Having done this many times before, her staff is ready with the title work ahead of time.

If you need a top real estate agent to help you sell your home quickly, HomeLight’s Agent Match can help. Our free Agent Match tool analyzes over 27 million transactions and thousands of reviews to find an agent who is well-equipped to help you meet your real estate goals.

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