To price or not to price?
That’s the question a lot of home sellers ask when thinking about what to print in advertisements for their homes.
Many sellers are skittish about publishing a price. But most realty specialists say it’s usually in their interest to do so.
“Buyers are savvy. If you leave the price out, there’s a suspicion that something is wrong. It’s a turnoff,” says David McIlvaine, an agent with the ERA Realty chain.
More serious prospects will call on your ad if the price of your house is present than absent, says Carolyn Janik, the author of real estate books. Contrary to popular belief, most buyers know their price range and whether they can afford your home, she contends.
“People who can afford a Ford won’t look at a Mercedes and vice versa,” Janik says.
To be sure, not every realty specialist agrees with Janik that home buyers know their financial limits. Some think buyers routinely underestimate how much they can buy-especially in the current environment of low mortgage rates. Put the price in your ad and some buyers may needlessly rule out your home, they say.
“With all the different kinds of financing today, the old rules about how expensive a house you can afford are out the window,” says Mary Bell Grempler, an executive with the Coldwell Banker chain.
Homeowners who relish their privacy prefer to leave the price tag off their house ads in hopes that neighbors won’t find out their business. But nosy neighbors need only call the real estate office to find out your price.
“The word gets out, believe me. Your neighbors down the street are the first to know what you’re asking,” says Janik, author of “How to Sell Your Home in the ’90s,” a Penguin paperback.
Other home sellers fear that if they advertise their price they’ll be humiliated later should they have to discount what they’re asking. But there’s no more shame for you to have to cut your price than for the seller of any other goods.
“Everybody cuts prices. The supermarket does it. The furniture store does it. Even car sellers do it,” Janik says.
A house without a price so irritates some buyers that they won’t follow through, even though the home in the picture looks appealing, she says.
“It’s like the jacket on the rack in the store that doesn’t have the price tag. A lot of people wouldn’t bother to take it to the cashier to find out how much it is,” points out Janik.
But even strong proponents of putting prices in advertising believe the practice shouldn’t be universal. In helping you decide whether to include the price information, realty specialists offer these pointers:
– Include price in ads for most property offered in the low- to mid-price ranges.
Some agents are convinced that curiosity will cause their phones to ring. Then if one property doesn’t suit the caller, the agent will offer another.
“It’s a sales technique to try to generate customers for all the houses an agent is offering,” McIlvaine says.
However, your concern is not the agent’s stable of properties but your own. And the danger of leaving the price out of your ad is that you’ll frustrate a perfectly legitimate buyer out of calling to inquire.
“Would you run a garage sale with a bunch of items and a sign saying, ‘Ask me how much they are’?” Janik asks.
In most cases, a low- to mid-range house that is realistically priced will benefit if the price is explicitly stated in the advertising, she says. Even if there is room for negotiation in the price, the owner needn’t worry about being specific.
“Everybody knows you negotiate in real estate. If you tell the price, the buyer will at least have a point at which to start negotiations,” Janik says.
– Realize that there are exceptions to the rule when it comes to price in advertising.
Do you own a luxury home within the top 5 percent of the price spectrum in your area?
Then leaving the price off your ads could “create an aura of exclusivity,” says ERA’s McIlvaine.
“It’s the old adage, `If you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it anyway,’ ” McIlvaine says.
It’s not only high-end properties that could fare better without advertising the price. Regardless of the range, an unusual home packed with features that don’t show well in a photo could fare better with clever advertising copy than explicit price information, according to McIlvaine. The idea here is to persuade a wary buyer to talk to the agent before reaching the mistaken conclusion that your house is overpriced.
– Remember that the homeowner has the final say on what goes into an ad for his house.
Most homeowners rely on their listing agent’s professional judgment to decide how an ad should be presented.
But there can be honest differences of opinion, even among realty professionals, on the issue of price in advertising. In the last analysis, Janik says, it’s the owner’s views that should prevail.
“Even if the agent doesn’t want to put in the price of a house, you can insist. It’s the agent’s job to carry out your wishes,” she says.
