Karen,

We recommend rethinking your idea about "fair market value." In many of today's markets, because of decreasing home values, it is not easy to get a grasp of the current market value. Appraisals are valid in many cases for less than 2 months, foreclosures are creating the new market levels, and some homes are selling at a fraction of wht it cost to build them.

If you really want to "move a house." in today's market we suggest auditing the recebt foreclosure sales in your general vacinity. This may shed some light on what you are competing against.

Good luck

I also agree with all the previous responses. I am a Realtor in a very strong market right now, in fact we are facing a housing shortage. With that bit of info; I don't feel there is any circumstance where over pricing your home is going to sell your home. Either you want to stay or you want to sell. To put it simply; if there are 10 houses like yours on the market you don't want to be priced with the top you want to be at the bottom, especially if there is an abundance of competition. It is not beneficial to keep paying taxes, interest and insurance while you wait for the rest to sell. One of the biggest mistakes is to overprice your home. ex: buyers looking for a house priced at what your asking will come and look and not see what they expect and leave and the buyers who are looking for your house won't even walk through the door because its out of their price range . Then you can spend weeks or months lowering little by little until its priced right. At which point every potential buyer is going to know how long its been on the market and when they do arrive they will only be trying to find what's wrong and why no one else wants it. The lookers that thought it was overpriced already bought something else. Finally you get an offer and theres a good chance it's going to be low because the buyer will think they're doing you a favor since its been on the market so long. It's all about first impressions, and I'm talking way before curb appeal.
Hope this is helpfull in your decision on a price.

if you really want to move it you will have to be at or under market value. You will want a broker to do a brokers price oppinion showing what similar houses have sold for and are listed for so you can compare them to your house and use those numbers to set your price. good luck with your sale karen

Karen,

I've seen through your profile that you have asked a couple of other questions on Trulia. I think you have received some excellent advise from your questions.

Can you give us a little response every once and a while?

Karen
Why would ANYBODY pay OVER Fair Market Value (FMV). By definition market value is determined when a willing and knowledgeable buyer agrees to buy a property at a price satisfactory to a seller.

Assuming that you might be thinking of selling, I have a few suggestions:
If you are thinking of selling without professional representation, go ahead and interviews three Realtors. Compare their proposals. Then you make the call. 85% of sellers eventually list with a Realtor.

If you want to sell at top dollar, a couple of tips:
Another Realtor brings the buyer 90% of the time. So the Realtors know values of homes.
When a new home is listed we expect 10-12 showings or one offer in two weeks. If we don't get those results we adjust the price.
So an over-priced listing will only be shown for one reason - to help the buyer see the good deals and to help them buy one.
Homes that sell in the first 30 days sell closest to asking price. In my MLS that is 100% of asking price. At 120 days on market that drops to 93.6%...and that would be AFTER some price reductions.

A good Realtor will get you top dollar. I would be honored to refer you to a top Realtor in your area.

Given the state of our banking industry and the financial markets, I'd price it below the current market value to get it moved right away as the previous answers stated. The things that are selling are those that look like a 'deal'. It's not worth the roll of the dice to test things in this market. If you must sell, price low enough to look a 'great deal' for the consumers.

Remember, from a buyer's perspective, they're feeling extremely cautious. They see and hear the news and are continually trying to decide if this is the time to make the leap into the market and one of the criteria they are looking for is a good deal. They're not looking for 'fair market value'. They want a little protection from the potential of further declines in pricing.

Best of luck to you!

Karen,

I hate to sound to forward, but in today's market, depending on where you live, you may want to price your home slightly under the fair market value "to move it".

I have a saying right now that if you have a tremendous, top condition house then it should be priced within the average asking price. If it's an average condition home then it should be priced lower then any of the homes.

I find that many sellers understand that the market is going through some bad times right now, BUT when it comes time to price their home, they don't think the bad market pertains to their home. It Does!

Take my advise above and I wish you luck. You can also contact me direct if you have any more questions.

Hi Karen,

Though it may not be the answer that you're looking for...if you "really want to move a home" you should price it BELOW fair market value and "move it".

As far as the loss that you are taking, that all depends on how much you paid vs what you are able to sell for.

There's no such thing as "reasonable to ask"...there's no "right and wrong"....there's just "sold" and "not sold". If you ask too much, you'll find out rather quickly which of those two will fit your situation.

The risk that you take by pricing above market value is that the market throughout most of the country is still trending downward, and if you are not the next home to sell, yours will be worth less next month.

Think of it as a stock...if you have a stock that is trading for $100/share and you call your broker and say "i want $125/share for my stock" the broker is going to chuckle to themselves and politely explain that that's not how it works...same thing with real estate.

Market value is market value. It's not set by you, your realtor, or anybody else other than the buyer who is willing to put cash down on the table and slide it all over your way in exchange for your keys.

If there's anything else I can do, please feel free to visit me over at http://www.HernandoLuxuryHomes.com - I'm happy to help!

Thanks,

-Josh