Is it any wonder that people don’t trust real estate agents. Especially when they continue to suggest marketing your most valuable asset at a ‘price range’ or ‘offers over’ or some such other nonsense.

Why is that when you buy most things, they have a price attached, but when it comes to property it becomes a guessing game.

Value is in the eye of the beholder and it is true that a sellers greatest fear is ‘underselling’ and for a buyer it is ‘paying too much’.

Price range selling is where a home is not offered at a set price but rather in a range. As an example, if a property has a market value of $450,000, the agent will suggest a range of $425,000 to $475,000.

Do they really think a buyer isn’t going to work out that the seller probably wants something in the middle?

The theory is that the buyer will be attracted by the lower price, fall in love with the property and happily pay the higher price! Nice theory - but is it reality? No!

The buyer will like it because it is $25,000 below value – a bargain - and then the seller will have to rely on the agents negotiation skills to get the buyer up to market value. A big risk.

The reason I dislike price range selling is it is implicit that the seller will seriously consider the lower figure when in reality it is the sellers greatest fear.

The problem remains that the seller wants the higher price and the buyer wants the lower price. So why do agents suggest this method?

One reason can be to create activity, which gives the appearance the agent is doing a great job but the offers will be too low.

Another reason is that after hearing these low figures for a while, the seller starts to believe that perhaps this is really what the property is worth because that is ‘what the market is saying’.

A golden rule when selling anything - never ask for less than you want to receive! It might just happen.