Today we are going to bust some hard to hear myths wide open! You may have heard some of these before, or maybe you haven’t. But some sellers actually believe these myths and it couldn’t be further from the truth. Let’s get started!

This myth can be the most dangerous of them all. An uneducated seller can result in disaster. Sellers do not determine the price of the home, nor does their agent. The market determines your price.

You won’t be able to sell your house for $700k if the market is telling you it’s only worth $300k. Most of the time it’s not that drastic of a difference though.

It’s the agents job to show you every comparable home that is active, pending and sold in the area. From there, you both will review the data and develop best pricing strategies.

Over pricing a home does not result in higher offers. All this will do is make your listing stale and buyers will pass on it.

The best way I can explain this to a seller is like this: Put yourself in a buyers shoes for a moment, if you see 2 identical houses and one is priced at 300k and the other at 350k, which one would you make an offer on? More than likely the lower priced one.

When you over price your house, every day you are not under contract the DOM (days on market) metric continues to tick upwards. And if you linger around the market long enough, buyers will begin to think no one wants your house for some reason.

This myth goes hand in hand with the previous one. When you price high you are taking a chance of never selling and the listing becoming stale.

When it comes to real estate, you don’t price high to negotiate down. Price it to invite competition and multiple offers and the price will rise naturally on its own.

Not true! Quick offers means it was priced just right. And maybe you will find yourself in a multiple offer situation driving up the price even more.

When you first initially meet with your agent, whether it’s us or someone else, you will review important data points and metrics to determine how long on average it should take to go under contract with a buyer.

If you use the correct pricing strategies it could happen sooner rather than later. Of course market conditions will make a huge difference in timing as well.

I want to get one thing straight before we talk about this myth. Open houses are a great way to increase traffic, online and offline.

If you haven’t had enough showings to provide substantial feedback, then having an open house can help with that. At the very least we will have some data to work with before we make any drastic decisions like price reductions or improvements.

However, don’t expect to find a buyer during an open house. According to a recent study performed by the National Association of Realtors, only 7% of all home buyers nationwide found their home because of an open house. It does happen, but I wouldn’t expect it. Hopefully that makes sense!

Never rely on home valuations you see online. Especially those big box companies like Zillow for example. In short, they are not accurate at all. It can give you a rough idea, but never expect the numbers you see to become reality. For better or worse.

A prime example, we had a client in Alvin who thought she could only sell for a certain number. After performing a thorough analysis, we sold her property for $47,000 more than what Zillow’s estimate showed her. Keep in mind, this could have been the exact opposite as well. Can’t beat real time data!

Don’t go spending your money on a remodel just yet! Some renovations or improvements will yield a better ROI (return on investment) than others.

Before you make any drastic decisions on what to do, talk with your agent first. They will be able to guide you the best way possible, and provide you with tips on how to stretch your dollar.

This is debatable. It really depends on your goals and the time you have. While summer is considered prime buying and selling season, here’s something to think about. Everyone and their mother is selling their house too!

The most inventory available is typically during the summer time because everyone has the same thought process. Which in turn makes it more competitive for you. Competition wise, the winter or spring is usually the best time to sell.

Not all real estate agents are equal! Make sure you do your due diligence on the person you are trusting to handle one of your biggest assets. Check out the video and article we did covering how to find the perfect real estate agent in Houston to sell your house. You can also download a list of interview questions here.