Be brave and set the asking price. You see the seller has always been the one to determine what their property is worth.
Don’t be afraid! Most Sellers know exactly what their property is worth, especially the sellers of owner-occupied properties. Long before the Internet, most sellers were aware of what’s going on around the area and what’s been sold and for how much. Sellers usually know the area property history better than most realtors.
Now with the Internet, it is so easy to pull up your area and see where your property fits into the local marketplace. Sites such as www.googlebase.com and www.trulia.com have everything most people need to use for comparable properties.
Be careful not to use automatic price values that are available on many of the Internet sites. Sites such Zillow publish what they refer to as a Zestimate of value but these values can range by a ridiculous amount of money, often ($200,000.) several hundred thousand dollars and more.
If you actually are unsure of where you property fits into the market, simply review the information on the Internet about what is for sale and what has recently sold in your particular area for similar properties. Where you fit into the local market is actually the key to the pricing process. Separate the other properties into two categories: 1) the properties that are just a little better than yours; and 2) the properties that are not quite as good as yours. Your property is in between these two groups and so should your price.
Yes there are exceptions to this and every rule but almost always a quick look at similar properties that are for sale and similar ones that have sold recently and it will be fairly easy to figure out the pricing.
If a seller it truly baffled on pricing, an appraiser can always be hired or consider paying a local real estate agent $100.00 to perform a current market analysis. Let them know that you are self-marketing and that you want to pay for their services. They will invariably try to talk you out of self-marketing but your honesty will go far and perhaps they will be back with the buyer you are looking for.
James Joseph