Avoid sale sabotage by setting your home's price right - Detroit Free Press

For many Michigan autoworkers, the question isn't an economic debate. He accepted an offer for $75,000 after the home was on the market for 18 days. It was listed for $79,500 last month at a Realtor's recommendation. Zoom"We wanted a price that would move it quick without giving it away," said Burns, a cost analyst at Ford. ZoomThe three-bedroom, 1 1/2-bath home with 1,400 square feet has a brick fireplace. MoreTom Burns knew it was time to sell his parents' Wyandotte home this fall. His dad had passed on years ago, and mom had moved to Oregon to live with his sister. And 18 days later, he had an offer for $75,000 that he accepted. Too low and it might spark a bidding war, but still end up netting less than you need to pay off your mortgage. After losing nearly 80% of value in the housing slump, prices have rebounded about 15% from early 2009, he said. It has four bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, 2,386 square feet and a walkout basement. Hargreaves is the man's fourth agent, and the house has been on the market for 806 days. We polled some local Realtors, and here are their top tips for a quick sale: • Listen to your agent. They think they know how to do our job when this is what we do all day, every day. If we make a suggestion, don't take it personally," Hargreaves said. But they also take into account how the house might appraise as part of the mortgage application. Some clients in Grosse Pointe Farms spent three months getting their house in good condition to sell. After the work was done, they marketed the 1,800-square-foot Colonial for $189,000 and received an offer close to that within 10 days on the market, he said. If you set your price above the market, no one is going to look at your property because they are looking at the lower-priced homes. But no one knew in 2007 how far down the market would go. The client chased the market down in small increments to $99,000, and recently got a $50,000 short sale offer. The sellers had several offers, but the house could not appraise for the offer price as the market continued to fall. I don't want to waste my time and buyers are very educated. Sellers would overprice a little to see how the market responded. Now, Bahry says more agents are putting low prices on homes to elicit bidding wars and discourage low-ball offers. But the market for the private homes is not moving unless they are giving it away," he said. His dad had passed on years ago, and mom had moved to Oregon to live with his sister. Realtors