The following post is from the nationally acclaimed writer for Inman; Cara Ameer. Cara Ameer is a broker associate and global luxury agent with CB Vanguard Realty in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

You can follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

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Pricing a home is art versus a science

Although market data can provide good data about how a home should be priced, what the data says, what an agent recommends and what the seller wants are often 3 different things.

Here are the top 5 myths that sellers believe about pricing:

1. The higher a home is priced, the better chance a seller has of getting close to their asking price,

This is one of the largest myths and one sellers love to latch onto.

Usually, the opposite is true! It can also be one of the biggest myths for an agent to overcome.

Overpricing results in a loss of valuable marketing the seller can’t get back.

If a seller relents and agrees to lower the price to what it should have been in the first place, showings happen; but by this time, agents and buyers are taking notice of the days on market.

2. If I give a buyer the closing date they want, I will get my price!

Not necessarily. Choosing an agreeable closing date is a dicey negotiation.

Agreeing on a buyer’s preferred closing date does not guarantee a seller will get their price, but it might make the transaction go a bit faster.

3. Including “extras” with the sale, helps to negotiate a higher price

A seller who attempts to push their belongings onto a buyer with counteroffer risks being highly disappointed on a number of levels.

Often, there is a huge disparity between what the seller thinks furniture items are worth and how a buyer sees it. Many buyers don’t think it is worth paying significantly more for a home to have a bunch of used stuff.

A buyer will likely counter back at a lower price and might only want one or two things, to which the seller feels the counteroffer is still too low.

Leave furniture and other items out of the equation until after you’ve reached an agreement on price.

If a buyer really wants something, they will ask for it as part of the offer.

4. Selling “as is” means a buyer won’t try to lower the price after inspections.

Putting an “as is” on the listing does not protect a seller’s asking or agreed upon price, no matter how low or under market value it may appear to be.

Buyers will still conduct their own due diligence. There is always a fear with “as is” purchases a buyer is taking on far more than what meets the eye.

So a renegotiation can and does happen!!!

5. Let’s split “ the difference”

No one said real estate was fair. A seller may come down $20,000 in a negotiation and the buyer only comes up $10,000 and won’t budge.

Should the buyer come up more? Perhaps, but a question always ensues

What is the property worth in the eyes of the buyer or seller? This is where the disconnect comes in, and an agreement cannot be reached.

The reality about selling a home is, the market rarely thinks as highly of it as a seller does.

A buyer often has only a surface-level view and the things a seller thinks a buyer would find valuable couldn’t be further from the buyer’s mind.

Even if a home appears to be well-priced, it is rare any agent will disclose that in showing feedback in case their customer wants to make an offer.

Besides understanding sales data; pricing a home properly requires skill, market knowledge, a comparable market analysis, and sheer gut instinct.