The #1 Mistake LA Sellers Keep Making (and How to Avoid It)

Imagine this.

You walk into a bakery, starving, ready to buy a croissant. The first one you see looks amazing - golden, flaky, perfect layers. You check the price. $28.

You blink. Maybe it’s a joke? Maybe it comes with a VIP brunch experience? Nope. Just a $28 croissant.

You put it down and keep looking. Meanwhile, the guy behind the counter watches you walk out, still holding the overpriced pastry, wondering why no one is biting.

That’s your house when you price it too high.

Buyers aren’t clueless. They’ve been scanning listings like it’s their second job. They know what’s overpriced. And in a market like this? They move fast on the homes that feel like a deal and ignore the ones that sit.

And when a home sits, the whispers start:

• “What’s wrong with it?”

• “Maybe they’ll take a low offer.”

• “We’ll wait for a price drop.”

What happens next? Price cuts. Showings slow down. The momentum you could have had in the first two weeks is gone. And now you’re not negotiating from strength - you’re playing defense.

Why Naming a Price Hurts Your Bottom Line

When a home is listed at $1,999,000 and the true expectation is $2,500,000, most people assume the best thing to do is guide buyers toward that number.

But that’s the easiest way to cap your final sale price.

💬 Buyer #1 hears “$2.5M” and thinks, “Forget it, I can’t afford that,” so they don’t write an offer. That’s one less competing bidder.

💬 Buyer #2 hears “$2.5M” and thinks, “Well, if that’s what they want, I’ll write $2.5M.” Great - except without guidance, they might have stretched to $2.6M just to win.

💬 Buyer #3 never hears a number, gets emotionally invested, and will do “whatever it takes” to outbid everyone else. They may not have planned to go that high, but emotion, competition, and urgency drive price - logic does not.

The second a number is suggested, buyers negotiate against the seller. But when they don’t have an anchor, they negotiate against each other.

The Hard Truth About Overpricing

🚨 LA buyers aren’t stupid. They’re price-sensitive, especially with high rates. If you’re overpriced, they won’t even bother looking.

🚨 Time is your enemy. The longer your home sits, the more it loses perceived value. A 30-day-old listing in LA might as well be a year old.

🚨 Competing with turn-key homes? Good luck. Buyers will happily pay more for a fully updated home. If yours isn’t? You’re competing on price, whether you like it or not.

🚨 Testing the market is a trap. Listing high “just to see” doesn’t attract buyers - it repels them. The ones who would’ve fought for your house at the right price now see it as damaged goods.

How to Win Instead

✅ Price it right from Day 1. The best-priced homes attract multiple offers, pushing the price up.

✅ Leverage presentation. In LA, visuals matter. Staged, well-marketed homes get buyers emotionally invested.

✅ Create urgency. A well-priced home that looks amazing? Buyers feel like they have to act - now.

The Bottom Line

You don’t set the price. The market does. Your job is to position your home so buyers chase it, not avoid it.

Because in real estate - just like at the bakery - once people start passing on what you’re selling, they’re not coming back.

Thinking about selling? Let’s price it right from the start - so you don’t end up with a stale listing that buyers treat like a clearance rack.