How to Price Your Home for Sale

Price is the one decision that controls everything else: how many buyers see the listing, how long it sits, and what you finally net. Here's how to approach it without guessing.

Start with the live competition

A comparative market analysis looks at three things:

1. What's for sale right now — your direct competition. Buyers compare your home against these first. Browse the search page filtered to your area and price band to see exactly who you're up against.
2. What has actually sold — the only prices that count. Sold data lives with your REALTOR® and on your local board's system; active listings alone can't tell you what a buyer will pay.
3. What hasn't sold — expired and terminated listings are the cautionary tales: homes the market rejected, usually on price.

Adjust for the differences that matter: condition and updates, lot, parking, and location down to the street.

Respect the first two weeks

The freshest buyer attention lands when a listing is new — the first showings, the first saved searches, the first weekend. Pricing above the market to "leave room to negotiate" spends that window on buyers who never click through. A home that sits accumulates days on market, and buyers read a long listing history as a signal to lowball.

Watch the signals

• Plenty of showings, no offers → the price is at the edge; buyers see value but not a deal.
• Few showings → you're above the buyer pool's search ceiling. No amount of staging fixes a filter cutoff.
• Offers that come in far below → the market is telling you where it thinks you are.

When (and how) to cut

If you cut, cut with intent: one meaningful move back into the active search range beats a series of small $5,000 trims that reset the "days on market" conversation each time. Re-price when the facts change — a competing listing sells, a new development opens nearby, or your listing ages past the point where the market stopped watching.

The honest math

Overpricing doesn't cost nothing: an extra month on market usually nets you less than pricing it right on day one would have. The market votes with showings in week one and with offers in week two.

Curious where your home sits in today's inventory? See what's active now → or request a free home valuation →