Maine home sellers are overpricing their properties

By Kathleen O’Brien, Bangor Daily News Staff

More Mainers are overpricing their home, often causing them to sit on the market longer and ultimately reducing the homeowners’ profits, according to local real estate agents.

That includes homes recently priced anywhere from $25,000 to $100,000 more than they should be, one real estate agent has seen.

“When they overprice, the home sits on the market longer,” said Jeff Harris, Maine Association of Realtors president and a broker at Harris Real Estate in Farmington. “Even $25,000 or $30,000 overpriced is enough to slow that home from selling quickly.” 

The housing frenzy Maine witnessed during and immediately after the pandemic where buyers were routinely offering above asking and waived home inspections in order to secure a property is over, Harris said. But, some sellers haven’t realized or accepted that. 

While sellers in southern or coastal Maine might get away with it, as home prices are generally higher in those regions, Harris said more sellers are recognizing when a home is overpriced and walking away. 

This trend isn’t unique to Maine. Sellers across the country are overpricing their homes in the hopes of gaining more profit for it, Realtor.com reported in May. This is especially common in sellers who bought their home in the midst of the pandemic. 

Additionally, 81 percent of respondents believed they could receive their asking price or secure a higher offer on their home, a Realtor.com survey conducted in March found.

That overpriced homes aren’t selling as fast also suggests that Maine’s housing market is shifting from being a seller’s market — where high demand and low inventory forces prices up — to a more balanced market, said Judy Oberg, president-elect of the Maine Association of Realtors and an agent at Bridgton-based Oberg Real Estate. 

“People need to pay attention and be flexible,” Oberg said. “It’s still a good, strong market, but it’s changing.” 

Homes listed for more than they’re worth are leading to more expired and canceled listings now than in the past five years, said Dava Davin, CEO of Portside Real Estate in southern Maine.

“The number one reason homes sit for a long time or don’t sell is that they are priced too high,” Davin said.

While average home prices in Maine are still on the rise, Davin said homes are sitting on the market longer because there’s more inventory, which gives buyers more options to consider.  

The average home price in Maine rose to $425,000 — the highest in at least a decade — last month, the Maine Association of Realtors reported, “but that doesn’t mean every house is worth $425,000,” Harris said. 

Overpriced homes can also drive away potential buyers who feel a property is out of their price range, leading to fewer offers and less interest, Oberg said. This usually forces a seller to reduce the price, but sometimes the initial interest in the listing has already passed. 

“The goal is to get people in to look at your house, so one needs to really pay attention to what the best pricing is today,” Oberg said. 

Sellers price their homes for more than they should because they want the cost of their former home to pay for the price of their new one, but that rarely happens, Harris said.

Harris advised home sellers to work closely with a real estate agent and listen to their advice when deciding an asking price. 

“If they price it right, they could get multiple offers and may get above their asking price,” Harris said.