Comments on: Real Estate Pricing Ending in 900 May or May Not Be a Good Idea

By: Brian Teyssier

Brian Teyssier — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 22:13:27 +0000

Bill,

When I first got into RE 6 years ago I saw an article in the paper that Cornell University did a study that showed people will pay MORE money for things priced with a combination of “7s”! If you go to my website, all of my listings are like that. I bring this up in all of my listing appointments & even show the sellers the MLS search results with mine in there standing out! Good blog, wished it wasn’t so “Mass” heavy in the verbiage but I understand!

By: Bill Gassett

Bill Gassett — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 20:06:01 +0000

Thanks Anna. There are times where ending a home list price at 900 makes sense and other times not so much. If you fall on the quarters it usually does not make sense because of the way home search sites work today.

By: Anna Glebova

Anna Glebova — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:32:54 +0000

Bill, came here via AR. excellent info in your post, that gets overlooked too often. Especially the “bottom price”. When buyers realize, that properties below certain price point will not be a good match, the bottom price is set. And this price is usually a round number! It’s more common to leave the far end open, or enter a 900 number – if the system lets you, because there are sites where you can’t enter your own numbers. Only predetermined 25 k increments.
So even if you broaden the search, like Liz in above comment, sellers offering their property at 249 900 will miss her search criteria…

By: Liz Bordden

Liz Bordden — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:54:31 +0000

If a buyer is searching for a home in the 300- 350,000. price, I always search from 250,000 to 370,000. especially if they pre-qual for a 350,000 mortgage. You may be viewing a home that the listing realtor could not get the seller to do fair market because of sentimental reasoning. After a while they begin to come back to earth and realize the property value for what it is.

By: Bill Gassett

Bill Gassett — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:19:01 +0000

Mary – I am not quite sure I understand your point about my article about pricing on the quarters. In the example I mentioned you would see the home because you were looking from 0 to $350,000. A buyer that was looking from $350k – $400k would not see the home in an MLS search if the home was priced at $349,900. The hundred dollar difference would have caused them to miss it in the search. This is why I said pricing it at $350,000 makes more sense than $349,900.

I disagree with you completely about sellers and banks controlling the market. Buyers control the market. A home is worth only what a buyer is willing to pay. If there are bidding wars going on then the homes are priced aggressively not the other way around?

Al – Thanks for the compliments on pricing on the quarters.

By: Al Raymondi

Al Raymondi — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:29:09 +0000

Good article Bill. I never thought about pricing on the quarters but it makes sense to get more hits on computer searches. Thanks for sharing the tip.

By: Mary

Mary — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:07:48 +0000

As a buyer, I don’t agree at all with what you are saying. If the top of my budget is 350k I look from 0-350k. You never know what diamond in the rough you might stumble upon that is priced significantly lower. As far as a seller countering from 99,900 to 99,000. The point is the seller’s behavior is insulting. I thought the sellers agent is supposed to guide him/her in the transaction. By jacking the price up, I think you are just playing head games. This is what it has come down to. I think one of the biggest problems with this market is that sellers and agents are not interested in buyer feedback in a Buyers Market. I have about half a dozen friends who are qualified buyers who are frustrated to no end with this market especially sellers agents and Banks who are not only controlling inventory but now pricepoints by creating artificial bidding wars.

By: Rosie O'Boyle

Rosie O'Boyle — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:03:09 +0000

Great article! I had a buyer make an offer on a house listed for $99,900. The seller countered at $99,000 — dropping the $900. The buyer laughed and walked away from that house. If the seller had listed the house at $100,000 and countered by a reduction of $1000 instead of the $900, the buyer may have remained interested. The perception the buyer had of the seller – all based on a measly $900 – was priceless!

By: Bill Gassett

Bill Gassett — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:35:00 +0000

Thanks Vickie! It makes far more sense to price a home on the “quarters” than to end the price with 900 or some other number.

By: Pricing a home to end with 900 May Not be a Good Idea! | Massachusetts Real Estate News and Views

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:51:36 +0000

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