How do Home Buyer's Shop?

I continue to be surprised how many homeowners feel their list price is more of a demand than a prediction. Please keep in mind that the List Price is a prediction, not a demand. It is a prediction of the highest price that various buyers that make up the demand side of the market might pay for your home. Nearly every property sale is the result of a back and forth negotiation. In the market's eyes, your List Price is simply the first offer in a sequence of counter-offers. The most important price you should set before you begin is not the initial asking price, but the lowest possible bid price that you would accept. Please do not go in to the negotiation process with the common mistake of thinking simply "I'll set the initial list price, then just see where it goes from there." You may need to update your bottom-line price later, but the key is not where the negotiations start, but where they end.