How do I position my condominium to get the best price?

Ensuring you have positioned your condominium to get the best value is important. The trick is figuring out how much your condominium is actually worth. When figuring out how much to sell your condominium for, you need to put yourself in the buyers shoes and figure out how much a ready, willing and able buyer will pay. To set the right price gather information from several sources and then do these 3 things

• Do your homework
• Get a professional opinion
• Set your price and be open to offering incentives

Do your homework and research

You should never set the price of your home in a vacuum – you need to ensure it is priced in the top range that is acceptable to a buyer. Some suggestions on where to get information to find out what comparable condominiums are selling for in your area are

Ripco Real Estate: Ripco Real Estate is the premier source of condominium information in the Calgary area. You can review what units and listings are selling for in our Listings section.

Internet: Beside your agent, the Internet is the single best resource for real estate information. It is an excellent way to research what condominiums in your area are selling for.

Newspaper: Newspapers also provide property information. By looking in the Saturday or Sunday real estate section, you can quickly glean what is on the market and learn about property costs.

Open Houses: Do your own market research. Go to open houses in your neighborhood and try to make an impartial assessment of how those condominiums compare to yours in terms of location, size, amenities and condition.

Get a professional opinion

After getting an idea of what comparable properties are selling for in the neighborhood, you should get a professional opinion. Two good sources are:

CMA: A Comparable Market Assessment (CMA) shows the prices of recently sold condominiums in your area that are comparable to yours. Your agent can give you a good idea of what your home would be worth, given its size and condition and local market conditions. Invite several real estate agents to visit your home and give you their opinion of its likely selling price. Price recommendations based on CMAs aren't gospel.

Appraisal: Unlike a CMA, a professional appraisal is rarely free, but it can be more accurate. The appraiser's report is a full-blown description of your home and the criteria used to formulate the valuation. Appraisers rely on an in-person inspection of your home, recent sales of comparable homes and other data to arrive at an opinion of value. An appraisal can serve as a good tool in justifying your price to a potential buyer.

Set your price

Once you have a more in-depth understanding of what comparable condominiums in your building and neighborhood are selling for then you can set your price.

Market Considerations: When pricing your condominium, consider market conditions such as if prices in your area trending upwards or downwards? Or if condominiums are selling quickly or languishing?

Don’t overprice: Overpricing the market may be a good strategy if you are not in a hurry to sell your condominium. However if several offers come in which are consistently under your asking price you need to consider lowering your price or offering other incentives to bridge the gap with a potential buyer.

Incentives: Some buyers have needs that go beyond the bottom line. If you're willing to close escrow quickly, you'll attract buyers who want to move in right away. If you can offer seller-financing, your home will appeal to buyers who need to stretch their financial resources. The more creative and flexible you can be in meeting the buyer's needs, the faster you will get an offer.