5 Ways to Maximize Your Selling Price

Thinking of selling your Madison home or condo? It's a seller's market this year and prices are rising. With lower inventories and increased demand, many Madison area sellers are learning they can win back much of their equity that was lost during the real estate downturn.

So how can you knock your sale out of the park? Below are 5 ways you can maximize your selling price in this year's market. The first two tips focus on market analysis. The last three tips involve specific marketing strategies.

5 Tips for Selling at a High Market Price

1. Know the months of inventory in your neighborhood. Your listing agent can assist you with this when he performs your market analysis for you. Neighborhoods with low months of inventory are prime locations for price appreciation. If you live in an area where the demand is very high for a limited supply of homes, talk to your agent about how you can leverage this market dynamic and push the envelope with your pricing. 
2. Know the inventory of pending sales in your neighborhood. Once again your agent can assist you with this exercise. Pending sales represent the listings which have received accepted offers but have not yet closed. This group of listings provides the most current view of the market. At what price did each of the homes on this list receive its accepted offer? How long was each property listed before its offer was accepted? The answers to these questions will provide a good view of the market momentum in your neighborhood. If the momentum in your area is strong, you and your agent may decide to price your home on the leading edge of the market. 
3. List your home within the next two weeks. Why? Year in and year out, the month with the largest number of accepted offers in Madison is the month of May. Right now, with buyer activity about to peak, the laws of supply and demand favor sellers. If you list your home soon, you'll be listing your home at a time when the most Madison buyers are actively searching for and writing offers on homes. 
4. Maximize the visual appeal of your listing. In this day and age almost every buyer's first introduction to a listing is online. Work with a Realtor whose marketing includes professional staging, professional photos, and professional video. Gorgeous pictures and videos elicit strong responses from buyers. They generate a ton of showings, and they motivate buyers to act decisively.
5. Go live with your listing on a Thursday and aggressively advertise your open house for the upcoming weekend. This puts all buyers on notice that your home is about to be toured by many other competing buyers. It creates a sense of urgency for the buyer who can't stand the thought of losing her dream home to someone else.

Need advice on how to sell your Madison WI home quickly and at a high market price? Contact us online or call us at 608-852-7071 for your complimentary home selling evaluation.