Is Price Everything When Selling Your House?

If you're in the market to sell your home then, of course, like pretty much everyone else, you'll want to get the very best price for it. But if you're selling your home yourself, can you put a high price on it and still move it? And what about if market is soft, or there's lots of competition, or if your home is in need of some serious T.L.C.?

And then there's the trade off between selling your house at a good price and selling it quick. You can't have both – or can you?

There are lots of ways to maximise the price of your property without affecting the length of time it's on the market. In fact, done and positioned well, you can achieve both.

It goes without saying (but I will anyway!) that, in some cases, you should do the best to make your property as marketable as possible – but that doesn't necessarily mean bringing it up to 100% nor does it mean spending a stack of money on it.

But note I said "some cases". Not all. In fact, for some houses this isn't a pre-requisite at all. The reason is that you they may just have some other unique, compelling features that make them stand out. And that's the key.

I know what you're thinking – there's nothing unique about my house …or is there?

So let's talk about what we mean by unique.

The secret is being unique about what you have to offer. And that's not just from a "street appeal" or internal decoration perspective.

Every property has some point of uniqueness. The common ones are location, design and appearance. But there's a stack of others too. Even the worst house in the street might have a unique appeal – and it might have absolutely nothing to do with the way it looks.

The concept here is based in general business strategy. When people in business go to a consultant they are often told to come up what's commonly known as a U.S.P or "Unique Selling Proposition". Something that they can say about their product or service that they can "own" – that can be unique to them.

It might be the appearance of what they sell (if it's a physical product, of course) – but it might just as easily be something else less visible but even more valuable.

Let's have a look at some of the more common ones.

Performance guarantees are common USPs for some businesses. Remember the Dominoes Pizza "get it in 30 minutes or it's free" guarantee. That was some they said about their product that nobody else did – their USP.

Then there's Federal Express. For a long while, their slogan was "absolutely, positively overnight" and guaranteed their performance.

But can you guarantee the performance of your house? You might think not, but think about it for a minute. What sort of warranties could you give?

Then there are other businesses whose USPs have nothing to do with performance.

Car Dealerships offer finance deals – terms that make buying the car easy because buyers don't have to have the whole lot of cash in one hit.

Retailers offer "buy one, get one free" deal. Now, of course, you wouldn't do this with a house (or would you?? In fact, some people do and do it very successfully) but think about how this general concept could be adapted to selling your house.

There are a whole host of ways businesses differential themselves
o Price


o Quality


o Time


o Value


o Performance


o Style


o Service

Any, all or any combination could form the basis of a USP.

In the business of selling houses, the same applies.

What about quality? What about extras? What about the method of purchase?

Are you thinking? Are you starting to say "hmmmmm"?

What could it be that buyers might want – even more than the look of the house itself, that would be valuable to them?

Remember, most people look at the basics in a house. They look at the layout, the general style, the location – but all with a view to what their end goal is for buying a house. And most of them will want to put their own stamp on it anyway.

Which brings us to the buyers themselves. Beware of the "Curse of Assumption". Don't fall into the trap of thinking you know what they want.

Because just as you have one or more of many reasons to sell, there are lots of different types of buyers out there who have different reasons to buy.

Investors will have different needs to home-buyers and developers have their own set of reasons (and requirements) themselves.

Who is your market? And what could you offer that would make your property unique in the market and super-desirable to them?

Which brings us to the subject of price.

Assuming you can find out what is compelling your buyer and what they want, do that you think that, if you could provide it, especially if "it" is something that no-one else is providing (or even just saying they provide", could you charge a good price – perhaps even a premium. You betcha you can!

What could you be telling your potential buyers, that perhaps other vendors are not? What could you be doing that other vendors haven't even thought of?

And how could this make your property stand out from the crowd – and make an irresistible buy for someone looking for exactly what you have to offer?