They Listed at $1.95M. They Should Have Listed at $1.79M. Here's Why It Cost Them.

The Harrisons came to me in February 2024 with a Dr. Phillips home they'd owned for nine years. Four bedrooms, 3,600 square feet, solid finishes, small pool. The neighborhood had been appreciating consistently and they knew they had equity. They wanted to maximize it.

Their benchmark was their neighbor on the same street, who had listed at $1.95M six months earlier. They'd seen the sign go up. They knew roughly the same house. They wanted $1.95M.

I pulled the comps.

The neighbor's home had listed at $1.95M in August. It had a price reduction in October to $1.81M. It closed in December at $1.74M after 97 days on market.

The list price their neighbor had set meant nothing. The number that mattered — the only number that was real — was $1.74M after a 97-day slog that included two price reductions and whatever negotiating leverage the seller lost by sitting that long.

The conversation about pricing

I told the Harrisons what the data said: comparable sales in their immediate submarket over the prior six months were clearing in the $1.72M–$1.81M range. A home in excellent condition, well-staged, listed correctly, should move in two to three weeks. I recommended $1.79M.

They pushed back. They'd done renovations. The kitchen was newer. They deserved more than $1.74M. And they were right that their home was better than the comp I was using — but not by $160,000.

We compromised at $1.875M. I was uncomfortable with it but it was their home and their decision.

What happened

The first week, we had eight showings and two second looks. No offers. Week two, five more showings. Still nothing. By week three, we had three showings total. The home had started to feel like a listing that buyers had decided wasn't worth full price — not because of the home itself, but because of the narrative that forms around a property that sits.

Buyers track days-on-market. When a listing has been available for 30 days in a market where comparable homes move in under 21, buyers read that as a signal. Either something is wrong with the property, or the seller is unrealistic, or both. That suspicion is hard to shake even when neither is true.

At day 45, we reduced to $1.795M. Two weeks later we received an offer at $1.71M. We countered to $1.745M. They settled at $1.73M.

Final result: $1.73M after 67 days on market, two price reductions, and significant carrying costs for the Harrisons during that period.

My original recommendation: $1.79M. Had we listed there, we'd have been priced correctly for the market from day one, the showing pace would have been stronger, and I believe — based on what I was seeing in that segment at that time — we'd have cleared $1.78M–$1.81M in two to three weeks, likely with less negotiating friction.

Instead, we left probably $50,000–$70,000 on the table through overpricing, and the Harrisons spent two months managing showings and price conversations when they wanted to be focused on their next chapter.

What overpricing actually does to a home sale

The first two weeks a home is on the market are its most valuable. That's when it's new. Buyers who've been watching the market — and in the luxury segment, qualified buyers are often watching for months before they make a move — see the new listing immediately. They show up, they consider seriously, they're motivated.

If you're priced correctly, you capture that attention at its peak and convert it into offers. If you're overpriced, the most motivated buyers pass — they know the market and they're not going to offer on a home that's 10 percent over where it should be. You get showings from less serious buyers, you get polite second looks that go nowhere, and you wait.

After 30 days, the dynamics shift. Now you're a home that has "been on the market" — which in buyers' minds means something is wrong with it. Price reductions confirm that suspicion rather than solving it. The negotiating leverage you had in week one is gone.

The irony of overpricing in a competitive luxury market is that it frequently produces a lower final sale price than correct pricing would have. The math seems backwards but it plays out repeatedly: a well-priced home that generates multiple showings in week one often closes closer to full ask — sometimes above it — because competition forces buyers to present their best terms. An overpriced home that sits 60 days and reduces twice usually closes at a discount to even the reduced price.

The Harrisons understood this in hindsight. The conversation we had before listing was harder to have.

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Thinking about selling in Dr. Phillips or the southwest Orange County luxury market? Request the Q2 2026 market report to see exactly what comparable homes are closing at right now.