The Pricing Mistake That's Costing Sellers Thousands — And How to Avoid It.

There's one decision sellers make that determines everything else about how their sale goes. And most sellers get it wrong in the same direction.

They price too high.

The Expectation Gap Nobody Talks About

According to a Realtor.com survey, about 8 in 10 sellers expect to sell at or above their asking price.

In reality, only about 4 in 10 actually do.

That gap — between what sellers expect and what actually happens — is where a lot of sales go sideways. And understanding why it exists is the first step to making sure you're on the right side of that statistic.

Is 40% Actually Bad? Not If You Understand the Context.

Here's the thing: 40% of sellers getting at or above asking price isn't a sign of a broken market. It's a sign of a normal one.

When you compare today's numbers to 2019 — the last year the housing market was operating normally before the pandemic distorted everything — we're actually right in line with historical norms. If anything, slightly more sellers are achieving at or above list price today than they were back then.

The reason it feels low is because of what happened between 2020 and mid-2022. Buyer demand was at historic highs. Inventory was at historic lows. Almost everything sold over asking, often dramatically so. That period wasn't normal. It was an anomaly.

The market has since corrected. Buyers have more options. They're more selective. And pricing like it's still 2021 — when anything with a front door attracted multiple offers — is the most expensive mistake a seller can make right now.

What Happens When You Price Too High

It's tempting to think that listing high gives you negotiating room. In today's market, it usually has the opposite effect.

When a home is priced above what buyers expect based on comparable options in the area, buyers don't negotiate. They move on. They have enough alternatives that they don't need to fight for an overpriced home.

Here's what that looks like in practice:

• Fewer showings because the price filters your home out of serious buyers' searches

• Longer days on market as the listing develops a "what's wrong with it?" stigma

• Eventual price reductions that attract less interest than the original listing did

This data from the Indiana Association of Realtors illustrates the pattern clearly — and while it's from one state, the trend holds broadly across most markets:

Homes listed at or under market value sell quickly. Homes priced high linger. And that delay has a very real cost.

The Price Cut Trap — And Why It Makes Things Worse

When a home sits without offers, the natural response is a price reduction. According to Realtor.com, 16.7% of sellers are taking that route right now.

But here's the problem with price cuts — even a well-timed reduction doesn't always fix the damage. Buyers who see a price reduction often assume something is wrong with the property, even when nothing is. The listing has been "contaminated" by time on market.

And NAR data shows the longer a home sits, the bigger the price cut required to attract buyers back:

What starts as a strategy to "leave room to negotiate" ends up costing significantly more than pricing correctly from the start would have. The math almost never works in favor of the high-price-first approach in a normalized market.

Why Pricing Right From Day One Is Actually the High-Earning Strategy

This is the part that feels counterintuitive — but the data backs it up consistently.

Listing at or just slightly under market value isn't leaving money on the table. It's creating demand. And demand is what drives competitive offers.

As NAR puts it, a "Goldilocks" approach to pricing — not too high, not too low, but right in the middle of what the market supports — avoids price cuts, avoids extended days on market, and positions the seller to attract the strongest possible offers from motivated buyers.

In Pasadena, where buyers are comparing your home against a finite number of well-maintained properties in desirable neighborhoods, an accurately priced home that generates early interest can absolutely attract multiple offers — even in a more balanced market. The key is creating that moment of urgency in the first week, not chasing buyers with price reductions six weeks later.

In Rancho Cucamonga and the Inland Empire, where buyers are also weighing new construction as an alternative, overpricing is particularly risky. A buyer who can get a brand-new home for a comparable price has very little reason to negotiate on an existing home that's already stretching their budget.

The sellers who end up in that top 40% — the ones who get at or above asking — aren't the ones who listed highest. They're the ones who priced strategically, generated early momentum, and let buyer competition do the work.

Bold LA Key Takeaway

Eighty percent of sellers expect to get their asking price or more. Only 40% do. The difference almost always comes down to one thing: where the price was set on day one.

Price it right and you create competition. Price it too high and you create silence — followed by a price cut, extended days on market, and a final sale number lower than what you would have gotten if you'd priced it correctly from the start.

If you want to be in the 40% who actually win — let's talk. I'll show you exactly where your home sits in today's market and what price gives you the best shot at the outcome you're looking for.

That wraps up today's blog — appreciate you stopping by. And as always, if you want it to sell, call Terrell… and if you want to buy, I'm still the guy.