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

by James McClister

The Burden and Boon of the Internet

“First, these websites do draw people into the marketplace, and we’re happy about that,” says Trujillo. However, she points out that their value diminishes when inaccuracies or misunderstandings usurp actual market conditions and sellers become overly brazen in their price estimations.

The conflict isn’t necessarily with sellers understanding of the information, but rather the public isn’t privy to the complete information available through the MLS and memberships with certain syndication sites, like Trulia and Zillow.

“With those syndication websites, you have to be a member to look at the closed sales vs. the listing prices,” Lancton says, reaffirming that it’s closed sales appraisers will be using for comparables. “Closed sales are what show what buyers are willing to pay for a property.”

Both Lancton and Sartin, who are Zillow members, admit syndication sites are not always inaccurate, and are in fact becoming more accurate, which can help sellers and their agents reconcile expectations with realities. But in some respects, sites like Zillow don’t tell the whole story. For instance, Zillow will often fail to make certain distinctions among amenities, such as discerning between a two-car and three-car garage. While those differences can sometimes be seen as insignificant to sellers only just entering the market, they can be significant to buyers and markedly alter the value of an individual property.

“It is influencing the psychology of buyers,” Sartin says of the websites available to buyers and sellers. “It’s a conversation we have to have with our sellers to affirm we are the experts in pricing their home – not a third party company.”

Sartin depends on HAR’s MLS to provide an archive of comparable homes with which she illustrates her reasoning behind how she priced a particular property – a tact preferred by Lancton and Trujillo, as well.

The Internet has emboldened buyers and sellers to tackle the home-buying process on their own, as 90 percent of buyers now search online during the process, according to the National Association of Realtors. But still, today, 88 percent of buyers and sellers use agents in their transactions, emphasizing the important role real estate professionals play.

As Trujillo says, “You need a Realtor.”

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