When you put a house up for sale, there is a high probability that the asking price will be lowered. The key is to know when to lower and how much to lower. Keep in mind that timing is everything. If you have had your house on the market for some time and as a last minute effort decide to lower the price, it may not do you much good. It is during the first two weeks when your home will get the most traffic. This is when the home is fresh on the market and in its peak sale time. If you wait too long to bring down the price, the current buyers will have already seen the house and would not necessarily show new interest.
That does not mean that another group of buyers will not come along, but buyers are bunched in price ranges. Therefore, in order to grab the attention of the next price range of buyers, you would probably have to make a significant reduction. Another consideration is setting the price of your home too high. If a buyer is interested in your home, they still have to secure a mortgage. In order to obtain that mortgage, your home has to come back appraised at the asking price. An example would be if you were selling your home for $100,000 but the appraisal came back at $95,000. In this case, the deal would fall through or you would have to lower the asking price to match the appraisal.
If this happens where the deal falls through and your home has come out of escrow or, it stays for sale on the market longer, the chance of it taking longer to sell has greatly increased. So if you are the seller of a house, make sure you either get an appraisal first, or work with a qualified real estate agent who can guide you into an appropriate asking price.