Daily Real Estate News  |  March 11, 2009

Pricing Disagreement: What Is a Home Worth?

Homebuyers and the real estate professionals they choose to sell their homes don't always agree over what the property is worth, and many buyers think both of them are setting prices too high, according to a survey by HomeGain.com Inc.

The survey found that 63 percent of home owners believe the price their practitioner recommended is too low. About 45 percent of sellers think prices should be 20 percent to 30 percent higher, while 14 percent believe their home should be priced a whopping 30 percent higher.

Meanwhile, 21 percent of home buyers say the homes they are considering are overpriced by up to 10 percent; 32 percent say prices are 10 percent to 20 percent too high; and 6 percent say homes are more than 21 percent over priced. Only 18 percent believe homes are priced fairly.

“Home owners know that prices have fallen, but that somehow doesn’t apply to them because they have ‘upgraded vinyl’” or something, Pamela Frey-Primiani of Keller Williams Realty in Sicklerville, N.J., says. “Sellers have got to be realistic in their expectations. An overpriced home in these times does nothing — no showings, no offers, just whining from sellers that it’s all someone else’s fault that the home hasn’t sold.”

Source: HomeGain.com Inc. (03/05/2009)