When you decide to sell your home, you want the highest possible return from its sale. Determining price is the most critical step in preparing your home for sale.

Obviously, pricing your property too low won't provide the best return. You are apt to be deluged with lookers and may get many offers, but you could lose thousands of dollars on your family's largest investment.

Likewise, pricing a property too high is risky. Homes priced too high miss their target market. Qualified buyers who might find the home just right for their needs won't see your home, or make an offer on it, because it is out of their price range. If they are shown an overpriced home during its early marketing stages and do not buy because it isn't a good value, they are unlikely to revisit your home once the price is lowered. Real estate agents will hesitate to show an overpriced home, unless it will make a competing property look like a better value.

Many home sellers make a mistake by implementing the 'let's try it and see' pricing attitude. But testing the market can be dangerous. A property receives its best exposure during the first three to five weeks on the market.

If your home is priced right from the outset, you maximize your opportunity of reaching the most qualified buyers. Buyers who have seen most available homes in their price range are waiting for the right house to come on the market. This is why a well priced home often sells quickly once it is put on the market.

Multiple listing association statistics show that the longer a home is on the market, the lower the selling price. The home becomes stale and a price reduction results.

Pricing a home is part art and part science. It's based on hard evidence by looking at sale prices for comparable properties. But, no two homes are identical. That means the evidence must be evaluated by an experienced CENTURY 21 Royal agent.

The right price really is the right price range to attract the maximum number of qualified buyers within a time frame that suits the sellers' needs. Pricing strategy depends on the market conditions at the time your home is put up for sale. It can best be determined by a CENTURY 21 Royal agent who is active in the market, who constantly views homes and is monitoring the changing market conditions.