Lowell Deeds

“Drama pricing” is the name of a new tactic for selling homes. Its main proponent is Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, the largest real estate firm in Massachusetts. With “drama pricing” the seller puts the home on the market for less than its estimated value, hoping to ignite a bidding war among buyers looking for a bargain. This technique recognizes the slow down in sales and the glut of houses on the market. It also addresses the problem of homes that start with a too high asking price growing stale and being forgotten while they linger on the market. With so much information related about house prices now freely available online (for example, www.masslandrecords.com or www.zillow.com), buyers now have many opportunities to gauge a realistic sales price for properties on the market and quickly dismiss those they consider overpriced. Consequently, the seller’s otherwise logical approach setting a high asking price and gradually reducing it probably just ensures that the house will linger on the market with few interested parties and even fewer offers. When even the real estate brokers are talking about a depressed market, you know things are bad.