In today's real estate market it is essential to keep in mind that the value of your home is NOT:

• What you put into it
• What you need out of it
• What it appraised for during refinancing
• What your neighbors home sold for 6 month's ago

The fact of the matter is this: The market value of your  home is what a buyer is willing to pay based on today's market, available financing and our current economic condition!  It's really that simple!  Failure to understand this basic concept could end up costing you tens of thousands of dollars!

Take for example the seller's on Lee Drive-They originally listed their home with agent #1 (a knowledgeable and well respected area agent) last December for $840,000 (the seller's price of course) then reduced it to $799,000.  Agent #1 brought them an offer of $749,000 and they turned it down!  A few months later along comes yours truly and I list the home for $785,000 with the agreement that if we didn't get any offers in the first couple of weeks we would reduce the price.  In spite of the fact that I hired a professional cleaning crew, photographer and floor plan designer and heavily marketed the home as well as had several open houses we still did not get any offers.  The seller's did not hold up their end of the bargain when it came time to reduce the price so when my listing expired I recommended they call another agent.  They tried to sell for sale by owner for a short period of time before agent #3 came along (another well respected agent/team).  Agent #3 lists for $749,000 and nothing happens UNTIL they reduce the price to $699,000 and WHA-LA it's now in escrow!  So just to recap their original list price was $840,000 and final was $699,000 a difference of $141,000 over a 10-month period.  During that period this home (NOT the seller's primary residence) had expenses pool service, yard service, property taxes, insurance, utilities and of course the payment and interest!  Let's not forget the $749,000 offer that agent #1 brought them.  The difference between the current list price and the previous offer is $50,000.  It's hard to say exactly how much this overpricing mistake actually cost the sellers but we know it was at least $50,000 which is a lot of money in my book! As agent #1 so eloquently put it  "We, as agents, can not force the market to pay more than the home is worth."

Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise.

Cato the Elder, from Plutarch, Lives
Roman orator & politician (234 BC - 149 BC)