- by Cole Gargaro
WHEN TO ADJUST THE PRICE OF YOUR SOUTH FLORIDA HOME
If your home or condo is on the market in South Florida (or really anywhere this fall), but you haven’t received much interest, then it may be time to consider lowering your price! This fall has brought on the least amount of pending sales in years in South Florida, which means homes are on the market longer because buyers are impacted by the rising cost of living and are struggling with affordability.
The rate increases in September this year did nothing but slow demand and therefore time on market. With homes taking longer to sell, sellers have more homes to compete with, and making their home stand out is harder without examining the list price, especially condos that have been subject to regulation reform. Midterm nerves have also had an impact on both buyers and sellers.
If you need to sell this fall, what do you do?
Those considering selling always need to understand the current market climate, regardless of the time of year. In late February, mortgage rates were 5.9%, and today they are around 7.5%, which impacts what buyers can afford. If you are considering listing now, in the fall of 2026, then what must be understood is that even though home and condo prices in South Florida are higher than they have ever been, it doesn’t mean you can name your number and get it. Buyers are much more cautious right now, so you need to be realistic. Remember, price doesn’t determine the value of a home; it’s what buyers are willing to pay that determines the value.
It’s even more true for condos, which over the past few years have been put in the hot seat due to cost challenges, and it will get tougher by January. Earlier this year, Fannie Mae announced a new policy requiring condo associations to allocate at least 15% of their annual budget to reserve funds, which will kick off in January 2027 nationally. This will increase the cost to condo owners, beyond what had already been put in place in Florida alone following the Champlain Tower Collapse in Surfside, Florida, in 2021. Regulations in Florida were put in place temporarily in 2021 to mandate more frequent condo inspections, and then permanently in 2023.
If your condo or single-family home isn’t selling and attracts few or no private showings, you need to reduce the price. That much is clear, but the size of the reduction depends on several factors.
Watch Anthony on Fox Business from Tuesday September 22nd
Get your Price on Target
If you and your REALTOR® feel that an adjustment to the list price is necessary to drum up more buyer interest, then do it as soon as possible. Homes that sell fast always sell for the most money. In addition, the vast majority of homes either sell in the first few weeks of being listed or right after an effective price reduction. This graphic below is one we have been using very successfully since 2007. It’s a great guide for our home sellers and REALTORS to determine if the price is right after a home has been listed for a few weeks.
You can see that if you accurately price your home, you are in the bullseye and receiving strong offers. If not, the areas around the bullseye will tell you roughly how much of an adjustment is recommended.
- If your home is receiving showings but no offers, somewhere between a 3-5% adjustment should be made.
- If you’re receiving a small number of showings and low online activity, you probably need somewhere between a 6-11% adjustment
- Not getting any showings at all is a red flag that at least a 12% adjustment is necessary. When this happens, sellers are usually the most hesitant to adjust because they just cannot believe no one has even come out to see the house.
Price Brackets
Once you determine the general area that your price needs to be after looking closely at the price targeting model above you need to now think strategically about getting it into a fresh new bracket to ensure that NEW EYES will see your home.
Simply put, lowering your price to the next bracket will expose your home to those people searching within that next price range.
- Real estate websites such as Zillow.com, Realtor.com, and Homes.com set up their property search portals with price brackets. The person searching for a home will select the area, the number of beds, baths, and their price range. If your home is currently listed at $899,000, and the target model is calling for a 5% adjustment, simply lowering to $855,000 won’t help you that much because that’s not a new bracket. But if you go down $5,000 more to $850,000, you will get wider visibility with motivated buyers looking up to $850,000.
- Talk to your REALTOR® about factoring in these brackets when determining your list price. But this is also a key factor if you have been on the market for a while without offers coming in and need to adjust the price.
Final Thoughts
Lowering your list price may be a difficult decision to make. Home selling, though financial, often feels very emotional, and lowering the price can feel like you’re devaluing your largest, and often beloved, asset. However, using this guidance with the target and brackets can take the emotion out of it so that you can successfully move on with your real estate plans. The faster you do it, the better. If you wait, you will add days on the market and make the home sell for even less. The best advice we can give is to reduce the price to where it should be and give yourself the best chance to outcompete other sellers on the market.
This is just one of the many reasons why working with a trusted Lamacchia Realty REALTOR® is so crucial when selling, as they have the expertise and knowledge to guide you to your success
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