If you’re planning to list your San Francisco home this year, you should know that there are pretty much two ways the offer situation will go. If one or more buyers are going to write offers for more than asking, those offers will transpire within the first week or two. After that, it’s likely buyers will write for at or below asking.
That’s why sellers need to seize the day when it comes to considering offers in that brief window of time directly following the on-market date. The motivated, ready-to-buy folks will be scheduling appointments immediately, not waiting for the weekend open houses. If you have multiple buyers requesting disclosure packages, it’s probably a good idea to set an offer date. Your agent needs to be on top of the proceedings, helping you make that gametime decision about how to handle offers.
Have a realistic sense of what your home is worth and price it according to the selling patterns in your immediate area. No matter how hard we try to work with “transparent” pricing in San Francisco, the pattern seems to boomerang back to list low, sell-for-more. Buyers tend to expect that strategy and will act accordingly.