The Pricing Bracket Mistake That Hides Your Home From Buyers

Online shopping often comes with a familiar surprise. A shopper may set a price filter from $100 to $150, then find the exact pair of running shoes they wanted priced at $152. The shoes never appeared in the search, even though they were only two dollars above the limit.

A small gap kept them off the screen entirely.

Buyers search for homes the same way.

On every major home search site, buyers set price filters in round numbers. Someone approved up to $1.1 million might search from $1 million to $1.1 million. A home listed at $999,900 never appears in that search, even if it is exactly what they want.

Here is how to price so buyers actually find you:

Price on the Bracket, Not Below It. A home listed at exactly $1,000,000 shows up for buyers searching up to $1 million and for buyers searching from $1 million up. At $999,900, it shows up for only one of those groups.

Know Where Buyers Are Shopping. Look at where showings and pending sales are concentrated right now. Some price brackets have far more active buyers than others.

Let the Data Pick the Number. The right list price is not what feels good. It is the number that puts your home in front of the most qualified buyers with the least competition.

The market is fair, but it is not forgiving. A few thousand dollars in the wrong direction can cut your buyer pool in half before a single showing.

Next week, I am going to share the "First Week Window" and why the first seven days of your listing matter more than the next seventy.