Timing, pricing: Selling strategies for a cooling markets.

[Victor Saumarez]

Anyone with tried and tested selling strategies especially in the frothier, over-bought residential RE markets such as California and Hawaii?

All indicators point to a cooling market so current sellers have probably missed the bidding war frenzies. The question is how to optimize selling in order to capture some of the eroding gains. Price is an obvious answer, but how do you pitch a price when comps are lagging indicators in a market that is turning, or has already turned the corner? If you shoot for the top and slowly reduce price to generate interest, you'll look like a distressed sale and the danger is buyers will wait you out. The other extreme is to list well below comps and hope prices are bid up, but that could backfire and trap you in the lower bound range. Picking a price point lower than the frothy comps, but higher than pre-froth comps seems like a good compromise. I just wondered is any sellers/investors have clear strategies for selling in markets that are showing clear signs of cooling. Upgrades, incentives, marketing, etc.