I thought I would write a quick article on how we sold this home. To give you some background, the Toronto housing market in November 2022 is challenging.
Interest rate hikes - meant to bring inflation back to 2% - have cooled the market, and prices have dropped since spring. Consumer confidence is low. News articles predicting home prices will drop between 14 - 30% in the next year creating uncertainty.
The problem - "market value' pricing failed to move buyers off the fence
Many buyers dislike bidding wars, so you would think that pricing a home around market value would be effective. Unfortunately, this is not the case! Even with many showings and over 800 video views, this home didn't get any offers. Buyers were taking a wait and see attitude - with homes taking longer to sell there was no urgency.
What worked to move buyers into action?
Pricing at an 'uncomfortably' low price point to bring as many buyers as possible through the house in a week. We reviewed offers from buyers at a specific date & time. In a hot market like this spring, this is how most homes were sold. And it worked here. The difference? It requires a lower starting price than in the spring.
The result
Over 80 showings, 1000 views of the virtual video tour & 12 offers on offers night resulted in a successful sale (in the range of our original price, too!) The video is linked above.
What the sellers said in their 5 star review:
What sellers can learn from this:
- there are a lot of buyers looking for properties in the GTA as I write this
- many of those buyers are looking for properties in the $950,000 range (due to their financing approvals)
- exposure to as many buyers as possible is key: pricing properly, tons of marketing & a beautiful presentation are keys to the game
What buyers can learn from this:
- attractively presented homes are still selling in competition
- if you're pre-approved to $950 or less, you will be in competition
- reverse-engineer your search to find out what list price properties in your price range begins at and start there
- look at homes that have sold recently in your price range to see what they look like so you can double check you're realistic with your needs/wants
- work with a realtor who understands this
- work with a skilled negotiator who can establish trust & a collaborative relationship with the sellers realtor to get the job done
- try and focus your search on homes other buyers may have passed over, not ones that other buyers are attracted to!
