One of the most common debates I have with sellers involves the final list price. We review the data, agree the home is worth around $850,000, and then the seller says:
"Let's list it at $854,900. It gives us a little negotiating room, and it sounds precise."
Twenty years ago, that logic was sound. Today, it is a liability.
In 2025, buyers do not drive around looking for flyers in boxes. They do not circle ads in the newspaper. They search on Homes.com, Redfin, and Realtor.com. And importantly, they do not type in specific numbers.
They use filters.
If you are not pricing your home to match the specific price buckets that buyers are selecting on their phones, you are voluntarily making your home invisible to 50% of your potential audience.
The "Dropdown" Dictatorship
Open any major real estate app right now. Go to the "Price" filter. You will notice you cannot just type in any number you want. You are forced to choose from a dropdown menu.
In the price ranges typical for Steiner Ranch ($600k to $1.5M), these increments usually jump by **$50,000** or $100,000.
$700,000
$750,000
$800,000
$900,000
$1,000,000
This "Dropdown Dictatorship" means that if a buyer has a budget of "up to $850,000," they select exactly that. If you are priced at $854,900 to "leave room for negotiation," you do not just look expensive to that buyer—you do not exist to them. Your home simply does not populate in their feed.
The Myth of $799,000 vs. The Power of $800,000
For decades, retail psychology taught us that $9.99 feels cheaper than $10.00. In real estate, we call this "Charm Pricing." Agents loved listing homes at $799,900 to make them feel like a bargain.
However, in the age of algorithms, I often argue for a strategy called "Bridge Pricing."
Let's look at the math of a home worth approximately $800,000.
Scenario A: You price at $799,000 (Charm Pricing)
Buyer 1 searches: $700k – $800k. You appear.
Buyer 2 searches: $800k – $900k. You are invisible. (Because the system treats $800k as the minimum).
Scenario B: You price at $800,000 (Bridge Pricing)
Buyer 1 searches: $700k – $800k. You appear. (You are at their max).
Buyer 2 searches: $800k – $900k. You appear. (You are at their min).
By pricing at the exact round number, you "bridge" the gap between two massive pools of buyers. You effectively double your digital exposure without changing the value of the home. In a market where inventory is normalizing, appearing in twice as many searches is a massive competitive advantage.
The "No Man's Land" of Increments
The most dangerous place to price a home in Steiner Ranch is in the "odd gaps" that don't align with search bars.
Consider a home priced at $824,000.
A buyer searching $750k–$800k won't see it.
A buyer searching $800k–$850k will see it, but you are competing against homes up to $850k that might be larger or updated.
A buyer searching $850k–$900k won't see it.
When you price at weird increments like $812,000 or $824,000, you are often trying to justify the price based on a calculator (e.g., "$250 per square foot exactly"). But buyers don't search by price per square foot. They search by budget buckets.
If we price at $825,000 (a common filter break on some apps) or $800,000, we align with the natural "steps" the buyers are taking.
The $1 Million Psychological Cliff
Nowhere is this more critical than the $1 million mark. In Steiner, this is a distinct barrier.
If we price a home at **$1,015,000**, we are exclusively talking to the luxury buyer ($1M+). We have completely cut off the move-up buyer whose absolute hard cap is $1M.
Often, I will advise a seller to list at $1,000,000 flat. Why? Because that number captures the aspirational buyer stretching to reach $1M and the luxury buyer starting their search at $1M.
If we list at $995,000, we might look like a "steal" to the high-end buyer, but we might also get filtered out by the person searching "$1M to $1.25M" who thinks anything under a million might be too small for them.
When does "Charm Pricing" still work?
I am not saying we never use $9s. There are specific instances where being just under a threshold is the right move.
If we are clearly the best house in the "Under $700k" category, but we would be the worst house in the "$700k+" category, we price at $699,000.
We do this to dominate the lower bracket. We want to be the "Crown Jewel" of the sub-$700k search results. If we priced at $705,000, we would be at the bottom of the next tier, looking small and expensive compared to the $750k competition.
We use Charm Pricing to dominate a bracket, not just to look cheap.
FAQ: navigating price filters
Does the specific number matter for the appraisal? Not really. The appraiser will look at the contract price and the comps. Listing at $799k vs $800k doesn't change the appraised value. The listing price is a marketing tool, not a valuation decree.
What if I want to account for the agent's commission in the price? Buyers don't care about your closing costs. If you add 3% to the price to "cover" the commission and that bumps you into the next price bracket, you might lose the buyer entirely. We price for the market, and the expenses come out of the proceeds.
Do buyers really stick that strictly to their filters? Yes. In the past, a buyer might say, "My budget is around $800k." Now, they set a filter on their phone. If they set "Max $800k" and you are at $805k, they quite literally will not know your house exists unless their agent manually sends it to them.
What about price drops? If we start at $825,000 and have to drop, we don't drop to $815,000. We drop to **$799,000** or $800,000. A price drop must be significant enough to bridge into a new pool of buyers. Dropping $10k inside the same search bracket usually does nothing.
Pricing is a Strategy, Not a Math Equation
Ultimately, "Fair Market Value" is a range. A home might appraise for $812,000, but that doesn't mean $812,000 is the right list price.
We choose the list price based on visibility. We want to be the shiny object in the most popular search feeds. Sometimes that means rounding down to hit a bracket; sometimes it means holding firm at a round number to bridge the gap.
When we meet to discuss your listing, I won't just bring you a number. I'll bring you the search brackets for your specific section of Steiner Ranch, so we can position your home where the eyes are.
#steinerranch
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