Price It Right - The First Time
If you’re preparing to sell your home in 2025, one thing matters more than anything else: pricing your home correctly from day one.
We’re in a buyer’s market. That means serious buyers have options, they’re doing their homework, and they are not rushing into decisions. Overpricing your home—even slightly—is one of the most costly mistakes a seller can make. And unfortunately, it’s very common.
After helping hundreds of families sell in all kinds of markets, I can tell you with confidence: homes that are priced strategically sell faster, with stronger offers. Homes that are overpriced? They sit, they get overlooked, and they usually sell for less than they could have.
Why Price Matters So Much—Especially Right Now
When buyers browse listings online, they sort homes into categories almost instantly:
This is a great deal—we need to see it
Seems overpriced—let’s wait and see
This one’s been sitting too long—something must be wrong
Your first two weeks on market are your most important. That’s when your listing gets the most exposure online and the most serious interest from buyers who are actively watching the market. If your price doesn’t create urgency, you’ll miss your best window of opportunity.
And once you’ve been on the market for 30+ days, your listing loses momentum. Buyers begin to wonder why it hasn’t sold. Even if you eventually lower your price, it’s harder to regain attention.
Overpricing Helps Your Neighbours Sell—Not You
Here’s the tough truth: it doesn’t matter what you want or need to get for your home. It matters what a well-informed buyer is willing to pay, based on the other options available.
When you overprice, you:
Push away qualified buyers
Attract lowball offers
Help nearby homes look like better deal
Worse, overpricing often leads to weeks of silence, followed by price reductions, followed by stale listings. It’s stressful, time-consuming, and ultimately leads to a lower final sale price.
The Power Of Pricing Just Below Market Value
This might surprise you: the best pricing strategy is often to list slightly below estimated market value.
Why? Because buyers are attracted to value—and when a home looks like a deal, they act quickly. That urgency is what drives showings, competition, and stronger offers. And if multiple buyers are interested, they’ll often push the price back up.
This approach is not about giving your home away—it’s about positioning it as the best overall value in your price range.
But What If We Underprice?
In an active market, the risk of underpricing is low—as long as your home is professionally marketed and exposed to the full pool of buyers. If the price is too low, buyers will compete, and the market will bring the price back to where it should be. I’ve seen this happen many times.
The real risk is in overpricing and being ignored.
What’s Happening In The Market Right Now?
In Brantford and surrounding areas, price reductions are common. Each week, nearly 10% of active listings are changing their price—some after just a couple of weeks. Many sellers are canceling and re-listing at a more realistic number just to reset buyer attention.
The pattern is clear: the homes that sell are the ones priced properly right from the start.
My Advice?
When you list, your home should be the clear best value in its category.
Not the cheapest. Not the most expensive. The best deal overall—based on location, features, condition, and price.
That’s how you attract motivated buyers. That’s how you get strong offers. And that’s how you protect your equity in this market.
If you’re curious how this applies to your home, reach out for a no-pressure strategy call. We’ll look at recent sales, active competition, and what it would take to position your home as the best option on the market.
