Selling · Resources · Utah
Is Your Home Overpriced? Buyers will tell you.
Your asking price is a strategy. Buyer behavior — clicks, showings, second showings, and offers — is the feedback that tells you whether that strategy is working.
Pricing a home is one of the most important decisions a seller makes. It is also one of the easiest places for emotion to get involved.
Before a home is listed, we can study comparable sales, square footage, condition, upgrades, lot size, location, current competition, and recent market activity. All of that helps us choose a smart starting price.
But once your home goes live, something changes. Buyers start giving us real information. They tell us through their behavior.
- •Are they clicking on the listing?
- •Are they scheduling showings?
- •Are they attending the open house?
- •Are they staying in the home and asking questions?
- •Are they coming back for a second showing?
- •And most importantly: Are they writing offers?
Your asking price is our strategy. The market will tell us whether that strategy is working.
This post is for general educational purposes. Market conditions vary. Always work with a licensed Realtor and review current comparable sales data specific to your property before making pricing decisions.
The starting point
Your list price is a starting strategy.
When we list a home at a certain price, we are not declaring that buyers are required to agree with us. We are saying:
"Based on the available information, we believe buyers will see enough value at this price to take action."
Then we watch what happens. That buyer activity gives us valuable information about how the home is positioned. And different levels of activity tell us different things.
Signal #1
You're getting very little traffic.
If your home goes on the market and hardly anyone schedules a showing, we need to find out why. That does not automatically mean the price is wrong. There are other possibilities:
- •The photography may not be strong enough.
- •The listing may not be reaching the right audience.
- •Showing availability could be too restrictive.
- •There could be unusually low buyer activity in that price range.
- •Or new competition may have entered the market.
But price absolutely needs to be part of the conversation. Today's buyers can compare dozens of properties from their phones before ever stepping inside one. If they're repeatedly seeing your home but choosing not to schedule a showing, they may be telling us:
"At this price, I see better options."
That is important feedback.
Signal #2
You have plenty of showings, but no offers.
This is one of the strongest signals sellers should pay attention to. Let's say you've had 20 showings. Your open house was busy. People are clearly interested enough to walk through the door. But nobody is writing an offer.
That tells us something different from having no traffic. The marketing got their attention. The pictures worked. The location was interesting enough. And the price was close enough to make buyers want to see the property.
But after they experienced the home in person, they didn't see enough value to take the next step.
The distinction
The marketing got them through the door. The value didn't get them to write.
That does not necessarily mean we immediately reduce the price. It means we start asking better questions. What objections are buyers giving us? Are they comparing the home to another property with more updates? Are other homes in the same price range offering larger yards, finished basements, newer kitchens, better garages, or more usable layouts? Is there something about the condition that feels different in person than it does online?
And most importantly: Are we hearing the same feedback over and over again?
Signal #3
Buyers are asking serious questions.
Not all showings are equal. Someone walking through for five minutes and leaving is different from a buyer who spends 40 minutes studying the home. Serious buyers start behaving differently.
They ask questions like:
- •How old is the roof?
- •When was the furnace replaced?
- •What does the seller plan to leave?
- •What are the utilities like?
- •How quickly can the seller close?
- •Are there other offers?
- •Can we review the disclosures?
- •Can we come back for another showing?
Those questions matter. They tell us that the buyer is moving beyond "Do I like this house?" and toward "Could I actually buy this house?" That is a much stronger signal.
Signal #4
Second showings.
A second showing is one of my favorite indicators. Why? Because the buyer has already seen the home once. They know the layout. They know the neighborhood. They've had time to think about it. And they still want to come back.
Often, the second showing is when buyers bring another decision-maker, measure rooms, look more closely at condition, or start mentally working through the offer.
Signal #5
Offers.
Offers are the clearest feedback buyers can give us. Someone can tell us they love the house. They can compliment the kitchen. They can say the yard is beautiful. They can spend an hour walking through every room.
But when they put an offer in writing, they are telling us something much more meaningful. They are saying:
"I see enough value here to commit."
And multiple offers tell us even more. If several buyers are competing for a property, the market is telling us that the price and overall value are connecting strongly with buyers.
Pattern recognition
One comment is an opinion. Repeated feedback is information.
Seller feedback needs context. One buyer says the bedrooms seem small. Someone else doesn't like the flooring. You should not make major pricing decisions every time one buyer dislikes something about the house. Every buyer has different preferences.
But what happens when eight or ten buyers independently mention the same issue? Now we have a pattern. Maybe several people say:
"We like it, but at this price we'd rather buy the house down the street with the finished basement."
That's valuable information. The important thing is not reacting emotionally to every comment. It's watching for repeated buyer behavior. The market will tell you when something isn't connecting.
The buyer's perspective
Buyers don't know what you need to make.
This can be one of the hardest parts of selling. Maybe you need a certain amount of money from the sale for your next home. Maybe you put $60,000 into improvements. Maybe you've spent years building the yard or remodeling the house. Those things matter to you.
But a buyer is evaluating the property from a completely different perspective. They're asking:
"What else can I buy for this amount of money?"
If your home is listed at $600,000, buyers are comparing it to the other homes they can purchase around $600,000 today. They are not comparing it to what you paid seven years ago. They are not calculating how much you spent on improvements. And they do not know the number you need to walk away with. They're comparing value.
The risk
Why starting too high can hurt.
A common conversation in real estate goes something like this: "Let's start high. We can always lower the price later." Technically, that's true. But there's a downside.
Let's say the market is likely to respond well to your home around $525,000. Instead, we list it at $560,000. Now your home is being compared against properties around $560,000. Those homes may have more square footage, better upgrades, larger lots, finished basements, or better garages. So buyers choose those homes instead.
What the research shows
1–3%
The average sale-price loss nationally for homes priced above market value compared with pricing them competitively from day one.
2–3× longer
How much longer overpriced listings typically sit on the market before selling.
Figures reflect national market studies and are not a guarantee for any specific property or local market.
In our $525,000 vs. $560,000 example, that 1–3% gap could mean leaving $15,000 to $30,000 on the table compared with a strong, early offer at the right price. And the longer the home sits, the more buyers assume something is wrong.
A few weeks later, we reduce the price. Then maybe we reduce it again. Eventually, we get close to where buyers were willing to engage from the beginning. But now the listing has been sitting on the market. Some buyers begin wondering:
"Why hasn't this house sold?"
That is why pricing strategy matters so much at the beginning. The goal is not necessarily to pick the highest number we can justify. The goal is to position the home where buyers see value and take action.
The right response
Listening to buyers does not mean giving your house away.
There is an important distinction here. The market giving us feedback does not mean we panic. It does not mean we lower the price because one person makes a negative comment. And it certainly does not mean a seller should accept a bad offer.
Before changing anything, we look at the complete picture:
- •Is the photography good?
- •Is the marketing strong?
- •Are buyers able to get into the home easily?
- •Are we reaching the correct audience?
- •Has new competition hit the market?
- •What are similar homes doing?
- •What are buyers consistently telling us?
- •How many showings have we had?
- •Are there second showings?
- •Are there offers?
Sometimes the right move is improving the marketing. Sometimes it's changing how the home is presented. Sometimes patience is appropriate. And sometimes the buyers are clearly telling us the price needs to change.
The important part is being willing to recognize the difference.
Open houses
Open houses can give us more pricing information.
This is another reason open houses can be useful. I don't judge the success of an open house only by counting how many people came through. I want to know how those people behaved.
- •Did they stay?
- •Did they ask questions?
- •Did they talk about price?
- •Did they compare the home with other properties?
- •Did they request a second showing?
- •Did they call their agent afterward?
- •Did anyone consider making an offer?
A busy open house with 30 people and zero serious interest tells me one thing. An open house with eight buyers, two second-showing requests, and an offer tells me something completely different.
Traffic matters. Buyer intent matters more.
The takeaway
The market will tell you.
This is the piece I want sellers to remember.
No traffic: We investigate why buyers aren't coming.
Lots of traffic but no offers: We investigate why buyers aren't seeing enough value after they walk through.
Second showings and serious questions: Buyers are showing stronger intent.
Offers: The market is telling us buyers see enough value to act.
There is no single magic number. We look at the pattern. Your asking price is our strategy. Buyer behavior tells us whether that strategy is working.
And ultimately: The market will tell you how your home is priced.
Thinking about selling?
Let's look at your home the way today's buyers will.
If you're considering selling, one of the first things I can help you do is look at your property the same way today's buyers will.
We'll look at comparable sales, current competition, condition, location, market activity, and the pricing strategy that gives your home a strong opportunity from the beginning. Then once it's listed, we'll continue watching what buyers tell us.
No inflated number just to win your listing. No knee-jerk price changes based on one person's opinion. Just an honest strategy based on the property, the competition, and real buyer behavior.
Questions sellers ask
Pricing your home — FAQ.
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