Use this FREE first tuesday FARM letter copy in your marketing! Have a topic you’d like us to write about? Email editorial@firsttuesday.us and let us know!

Many sales factors are to be considered when setting the most competitive asking price for your home. A well-considered asking price for a home is a price carefully based on market conditions.

Be realistic about the sales price you are actually willing to accept for your home today so you are prepared when you receive an offer. A common mistake homeowners make is setting expectations about the price they feel they should get for their home at what they believe will be its future value, or even what they might have gotten years prior, called dollar illusions.

Don’t forget that the present dollar value of a home to a buyer is directly, though inversely, tied to interest rates. The price you get for your home will only be as high as the amount of financing a buyer can get, and that is based on interest rates and mortgage payments equal to roughly 31% of the buyer’s monthly income.

When interest rates increase, as they will at some point in this recovery after jobs pick up, the amount of money lenders will lend a buyer decreases. Thus, the amount of loan funds available to the buyer to assist in the purchase of a home, plus the down payment limits their selection of a home to those priced by sellers to accommodate this shift.

Pricing your home is less about its dollar value as you perceive it, and more about what the market conditions allow. If interest rates rise even half a percentage point, a buyer is then able to borrow less money than before — tens of thousands of dollars less for more expensive homes.

A proper asking price for your home is initially the most effective step for selling a home quickly, and voluntary transparency about the physical condition, possible hazards and security aspects of your home will hasten that sales process.