Actually when I refer to comps I look at several things. To me comps is inclusive of an entire analysis of the market to help you price the home. The factors to analyze include
-recent solds
-current pendings
-current active listings for sale
-recent cancelled, expireds, withdrawns
-going over and looking at the current active listings you are competing against
-your own motivation level to sell
Analysis of all of this data is important. I don’t like to say list at x% above or below comps because it really depends on the situation. If there is a 10:1 active to pending ratio then you may need to go well below the current comps of recent pendings to get activity. In markets like this it is really tough. Also many people really lean towards lets price it at this price now and we will lower it later. That strategy to me is pretty much a sure fire way to end up chasing the market down.
Unfortunately there are agents out there who will still encourage pricing that fits in with the sellers opinions or thoughts rather then what the data and market conditions dictate. That is sad but they end up getting the listings and then price adjusting later.
