The donut shop opens at 5:30am. Of course I am not a morning person until AFTER I eat my donut. So I get there about 8:00am. Donuts are still fresh of course, just like I want them as I easily hand over my dollar bill, no questions asked even though internally I know it probably didn’t cost them that in the first place. But it’s fresh, new, tasty, and just came out of the hot oven. I can still feel the warmth as I take that first bite. Then I got to thinking, at the end of the day…where do the donuts go? Oh yeah! That’s the discount time! Probably around 4pm because that warm donut that might not have sold at first because there were so many other donuts around it, is still left on the counter. Only now it’s cold, chilly in fact. I can’t feel that warmth anymore, it’s glazed still but crunchy glazed, but inside the ingredients are the same and it’s still tasty if I can get over the outer appearance of its age, so I might buy it at the lowered price of 50 cents. That’s its value to me.
Then I began to think about tomorrow. What if that day old donut was not purchased at 50 cents and in fact it’s still sitting on the shelf the next day. Well now it’s a day old donut, might as well be a week old donut. It’s crispy, hard, not fluffy, not delicious. Nope. I don’t want that donut. I wouldn’t pay anything for that donut. Nope. You can’t pay me to buy that donut. Nope. I don’t want that donut.
That’s the market value of a donut. The market vlue of a house? Price your house at market value on day one, that beautiful, glorious, wonderfully fluffy house glazed to perfection…I’ll buy it at asking price or darn near to it! Price your house above market value and I’m not interested in looking at, there are others to view around yours at market value price. I’m not even going to look. Lower your price after a few months of having priced it too high…now it’s cold, chilly in fact, if I’m even still potentially looking at it, I will be offering even less for this house. Lower the price 6 months into listing it…well now it’s an old donut, might as well be a year old donut. Even now that it’s priced at market value, your market value is gone because now it’s crispy, hard, not fluffy, not delicious. Nope. I don’t want that donut. Things to keep in mind when pricing your home? Be a delicious fresh and perfectly priced donut. 🙂