For almost 4 years now, I have watched sellers chase the market down. When their agent talks them into a price reduction, it is too little, too late. Their price is always “just above market”.

Understanding the sellers thought process can sometimes be difficult. If you go back 3 or 4 years, the sellers were pricing to make a profit. They did that because that’s what they did on Hilton Head for over 20 years. Property always went up, and in the late 90’s and early 2000’s it went up at an astounding rate.

Times have changed. A year or 2 ago, sellers were looking at real estate magazines and at real estate websites. They compared their home to others listed for sale and came up with a price.  The problem with that is, they were comparing to “homes on the market” and not “sold” homes. In effect, they were hovering just above a saleable price.

And that brings us to today. And in today’s market, the buzz words are “Foreclosures’ and “Short Sales”. If you are a seller today, you have to compete with bank owned properties and sellers looking to ditch a property that they have no equity in. Since these bank owned properties carry the title of “Foreclosure” and “Short Sale”, the average Joe (or Joanne) has to price below these properties… often as much as 10 percent, just to attract attention.

So, if you are a seller, or just considering the sale of your home, remember to price it right from the start – don’t chase the market down. There is an old English proverb that says “No matter how far you have traveled down the wrong road, it is never too late to turn around”.