By Joni Ribera, Let’s Talk Real Estate

If you are looking to sell your house this year, the most important thing you can do is to price your home to sell — or you will continue to own it.

Contrary to popular belief, when selling your home, its value is determined by one thing and one thing only: What a qualified buyer is willing to pay for it. No more and no less. A home without a buyer has no value in the marketplace.

Sure, it might have a value to you the seller, and it might have a value to your banker, and to your insurance agent, and to your appraiser. But none of these people are buyers.

So here is the secret to pricing your home to sell. It’s not what you think the home is worth that matter, it’s what a reasonable buyer will think your home is worth that will ultimately determine if your home will sell.

When there is an overabundance of homes in the marketplace, the key to get your house sold is “price and condition.”

In this market, the best way to get your house sold quickly is to price your home in the bottom third of all the houses on the market that compare to yours — and to be in the best condition.

Setting your price at the top of the market will just help the lower-priced homes sell more quickly.

Many homeowners will attempt to put the responsibility of getting both top dollar and fast sale on the back of their hired gun, the real estate agent. The result can be summed up in one word: Frustration.

Why? Because no matter how much a seller yells, screams and kicks a real estate agent, they don’t do miracles.

This is why successful sellers understand that while a real estate agent’s job is to provide marketing, expert advice and negotiating services, in the end they don’t own the property. They don’t make the final decisions on pricing. The seller does, and ultimately the seller’s asking price will in large part determine how slowly or quickly the home will sell.

Successful sellers have learned that to price their home accurately means they need to think like a buyer, they need to get inside a buyer’s skin and look at the world through a buyer’s eyes.

Buyers are very sophisticated today, using the Internet to research homes for an average of 90 days before they even look inside a house.

They will look at an average of nine homes over eight weeks with the assistance of a real estate professional.

By the end of their journey, like many buyers, they become so knowledgeable about the market that by the last showing they are able to guess, with reasonable accuracy, a home’s listing price.

I have a great video on home pricing that I would be happy to share. We can make arrangements for you to view it.

Contact Federal Way real estate agent Joni Ribera at

(253) 632-5779 or jribera@windermere.com. Also visit www.JoniRibera.com.