On today’s episode, Matt and Garrett discuss current marketplace trends in pricing, and address the misinterpretation that sales are slowing down due to a lack of buyers. Our hosts explain that when the marketplace continues to appreciate, at some point this hits a ceiling and sellers push prices to the point that buyers lose interest, creating a bigger overall shift. For a transaction to take place, both buyers and sellers need to agree that a price is reasonable - if buyers don’t feel this is the case, they will make this clear through their offers or lack thereof. This is why buyers are really the only ones who get to determine market value and define the marketplace as a whole.  Matt and Garrett talk about listening to the buyers in this marketplace, and they discuss the pitfalls of sellers both underpricing and overpricing their homes. Our hosts explain why listing at fair market value is your best strategy, and share some important tools that will help generate interest in your properties without putting off the buyer pool. The key is to think beyond price and look at the marketplace from a buyer’s point of view. Garrett encourages listeners that the market is not slowing down. In fact, buyers are still very much out there, but we need to adjust our perspective (and prices) so that our listings appeal to them, and today’s conversation will guide you on how to do exactly that. Join the Ninja Selling Podcast group on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/theninjasellingpodcast where you can ask questions, give advice, and connect with other Ninjas. If you have not been accepted to the group yet, please check your messages for a follow-up from Matt. You can also leave a voicemail with your direct feedback at 208 MY-NINJA. And visit NinjaSelling.com/events for more information about upcoming open installations.   Episode Highlights:  When a marketplace continues to appreciate, at some point agents start to wonder when this will top out and buyers will lose interest This causes an interesting change in dynamic and creates a bigger overall shift Buyers are the only ones who are allowed to push the price - if they don’t feel it’s a reasonable amount, they will make that clear through their offers or lack thereof Your goal is to get as close to market value as possible There is a lot of misinterpretation in the marketplace right now, and Garrett does not agree that it is slowing down For a transaction to take place, two parties need to agree that the price is acceptable Buyers are the smartest people in the marketplace and it’s their money that will fund the entire transaction - they need to be working with smart agents (as opposed to the belief that new agents should start working with buyers) Buyers are going to define the marketplace As discussed with Tara Tooley, if you’re running a good buyer process, you can manage your time extremely well working with buyers When you put a listing price on a home, that is a marketing tool Listing a fair market value is overall the best strategy Pitfalls of both underpricing and overpricing - when you start to play this game, buyers back off and that is when properties start to sit It’s up to agents to supply the data and help sellers come up with the best listing price that will generate interest without putting off the buyer pool Six months ago, pricing higher wasn’t a bad strategy - but you need to keep up with current trends and take that into account when deciding on pricing When you gradually push the prices a little bit higher, eventually you start to hit a ceiling When you’re listing a home, you need to think beyond price - you want the home to appeal to buyers and position it correctly Tim DeLeon created a great pricing tool call Focus 1st to help with this This came out of a piece called Absorption Rate Positioning, which allowed you to look at the marketplace through a buyer’s eyes Buyers are hyper-educated about a specific chunk of the market, within a certain price range and