How to start a bidding war when selling your house?

[Tyler M]

Hello, hope everyone is doing well this summer.

Our family is in the process of trying to sell our home in Orange County, southern Ca. We used a flat fee listing company. We have had the house for sale for almost a year for around 450k. Not too many offers at that price. We got a couple for 400k. I believe the true value to be between 430k and 460k (the same model of home in inferior locations- near the train tracks) have sold for this much. Since we are trying to sell the house ourselves I have done some reading on how to start a bidding war when selling your property.
I was just looking for more feedback from all of you out there. It said often people price their homes low to attract attention from potential buyers.
If the true value is about 440k would it be wise to lower the listing price to 400k or even lower like 375k?

If we get any offers at this point would we tell the bidders that we got another offer for 440k? I believe 440k is more than a fair price for the property. We only have one month left for our listing then we have to pay the $500 fee again. How can we sell this house as quickly as possible for the best price? Also in about a month we have to go out of town for a few months so won't have time to sell it, so its crunch time.

Than you for any ideas,

Chris.

[J Scott]

First, I personally think you're hurting yourself using a flat fee listing service. There are lots of buyers agents who won't even take their buyers to your property because of this. But, this is just my opinion.

Second, if you have the property listed at $450K, and you haven't gotten any offers over $400K in the past year, then the house is certainly not worth $430-460K. If it were, you'd have gotten an offer between $430-460K in the past year.

Given that you've gotten a couple offers at $400K, that's about what the house is worth. I know you think the property is worth more, but if the house has been listed for a year, it's clear that it's not.

If you want a quick sale, here are my recommendations:

1. Hire a great listing agent;

2. Lower the price;

3. Go back to a previous offer and see if they're still interested;

4. Improve the property some more.

Unfortunately, if you haven't had an offer for more than $400K in the past year, it's unlikely you'll get one now unless you do something radically different or improve the property to increase the value.