Seven ways to sell faster and for a higher price

With home sales down sharply across much of Western Washington, anxious sellers are wondering what they can do to land a full-price sale. Generally the tips they get are obvious: declutter and clean up the home and don't overprice it.

But now Redfin, a Seattle-based online real-estate brokerage, has thrown some research at the issue.

The result is seven recommendations its CEO, Glenn Kelman, says help make homes sell faster for more money.

"Starting in the fall we were struggling to sell our own listings just because the market has changed," Kelman says. "Since we wanted to develop a comprehensive way to improve our results, we hit the books."

Besides consulting academic research, Kelman dived into proprietary Multiple Listing Service numbers and also profiled buyers' interests by analyzing their visits to Redfin's site.

Redfin's recommendations:

• When thinking price, think Internet. Some 84 percent of buyers use the Internet to search for homes, according to a new study by the National Association of Realtors. The Web sites they troll customarily allow them to search by price in $25,000 or $50,000 increments. That can work for or against sellers.

For example a home listed for $351,000 likely will be seen by many fewer lookers than if it were priced at $349,950.

That's because the higher number will be excluded by buyers who set $350,000 as their maximum.

A Redfin analysis of its own traffic in the San Francisco and Seattle markets shows that moving from one price band down to the next can increase Web traffic 7 percent.

• Price conservatively. Kelman says sellers who underprice by $5,000 risk losing up to that amount.

But overpricing can cost more. He cites a 2002 study of 3,490 California home sales.

Those that never had to reduce their asking price sold for 97 percent of it (any further discounts came in negotiation with a seller).

Those that had to hang the "price reduced" sign out front to land a buyer ended up selling for 88 percent of the initial price.

• Make Friday go-to-market day. Kelman says a home's listing debut is by far its most important marketing event. In analyzing its own Web site traffic for 119,079 listings in seven metropolitan areas, Redfin found that homes that debuted on Friday had 7.7 percent more Web visitors in their first seven days than those that debut on the slowest day, Thursday.

• Stay engaged. Redfin cites three Midwest-area studies showing that sellers who remain actively involved throughout the process get better results.

Kelman says that can mean spending money to improve the home's condition before listing it, asking the real-estate agent to document a marketing plan before agreeing to a fee, and remaining actively involved in pricing and negotiations.

• Blanket the Web. Any house listed by a Realtor will show up on a couple of Realtor-related Web sites.

But Kelman says an online presence shouldn't end there. It studied 121 of its own listings in four big cities, including Seattle, and discovered that posting them additionally on Craigslist generated nearly seven more visits in two months. In Washington, D.C., Redfin homes did even better: They got 12 visits.

• Don't move too soon. Agents say it's more challenging to sell a vacant home at full price.

Redfin backs this up, citing a study of 3,490 California homes sold empty. The study found they were 9.5 percent more likely to undergo a price cut. The possible reason: Buyers thought the owners were anxious to sell.

• Watch neighborhood foreclosures. A report last month from the Center for Responsible Lending estimates that a foreclosure costs neighboring homeowners $5,000 when listing their property. Thus, Kelman suggests owners wait to list their homes until nearby foreclosures are off the market.

Elizabeth Rhodes: erhodes@seattletimes.com