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The Cost of Pricing: How Technology, Psychology and Timing Impact Listing Value

by James McClister

An Agent’s Arsenal

But while accurate pricing is an easy thing to say, determining what accuracy is, especially in a transitioning market like Houston, requires more precise tools than local market insight.

“The most accurate you can get is using the closed sales available in MLS,” Lancton, who uses no other pricing tools, says.

Where clients can use syndication portals to compare recent and nearby list prices, as a non-disclosure state, real estate professionals in Texas are not obligated to disclose closing sale prices to third parties, like Zillow or Trulia, which makes the HAR run MLS and associated comparative market analysis tool, Wizard, invaluable for Houston agents.

“I’ve used Wizard since it’s been available,” says Sartin, a strong advocate for the technological advances in assisted pricing. “It’s really the best option because it’s tied to our MLS. I use it every single time I price a property, even for buyers, because you want to make sure the property they’re purchasing is priced right.”

Offered to Realtors through their HAR membership, Wizard functions both as a pricing tool and an opportunity for agents to demonstrate their value, as the application provides local and historical price comparisons, complete with full-color graphs and side-by-side reports that, Sartin says, are “pleasing to show clients.”

Like Lancton, Trujillo swears by Houston’s MLS. However, she’s considering using a report called Centralized Showings that “shows by ZIP code how many showings occurred over a period of time in that area over a range of price points. It allows a seller to see firsthand that in whatever price point, that’s what a similar property is going for in a similar marketplace.”

Whether unrefined MLS or HAR’s CMA tool Wizard, the sentiment stressed among Houston agents is that pricing should reflect accuracy. Technology has been an integral part of helping agents improve the consistency of accurate pricing throughout the industry. However, as real estate becomes more tech laden, less official tools, like Zillow’s Zestimate or simply comparing nearby list prices, are threatening the integrity of pricing from the client’s side, making it more difficult for agents to convince sellers to enter the market at often more realistic price points.

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