Philadelphia Weekly

REAL ESTATE

Top luxury home seller hang-ups

REThink Real Estate

By Inman News Feed

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Feb. 3, 2011

If you are seriously committed to selling your home, you need to manage your expectations and let go of the attachment bias (that's the name behavioral economists give to the sense that what you own is worth more than it actually is, just because it's yours!).

If you don't mind one way or the other whether your home sells, and only want to sell it if you can get "your" price, I would normally tell you to go ahead and list it at "your" price to test the market.

The problems with that are that (a) you can seriously impair your home's perception by buyers for the long term if you list it at an unrealistic price, setting yourself up for a lowball offer even if you do drop the price, and (b) most agents who are still in business won't let an unrealistic seller test the market at a too-high list price on their dime (and reputation). And I don't blame them.

Tara-Nicholle Nelson is author of "The Savvy Woman's Homebuying Handbook" and "Trillion Dollar Women: Use Your Power to Make Buying and Remodeling Decisions." Tara is also the Consumer Ambassador and Educator for real estate listings search site Trulia.com. Ask her a real estate question online or visit her website, www.rethinkrealestate.com.