Agent Will

You may wonder when looking at the asking prices of homes why they all seem to be such round numbers.  Places asking $500,000, $745,000, or any such $XXX,000 number.  Why not be more precise?

When it comes to negotiating it turns out that having this round measuring stick for pricing may in fact be hurting your end result.  Sure a number such as in the title won’t look as good (and any number ending in 888 is really just a slap in the face to many, despite whatever lucky numbers you may have) but according to Why Things Cost $19.95: Scientific American when you get more precise in your pricing the measuring stick buyers go buy also gets more precise.

The article actually goes from $20 toasters to a study on real estate sales (yeah!) and showed that by becoming more precise (into the hundreds) the final accepted offers were much closer to the original asking price.

Hmmmmmm….. makes too much sense.  And, yes, I have seen a listing that was right down to the dollar in it’s asking price.  Certainly stood out amongst a sea of zeros.