The First Ten Days on Market Decide the Next Sixty
The opening price is a strategy decision, not a negotiation cushion. Here is what the first two weeks actually decide.
The most attention your house will ever get arrives in the first ten days. Buyers who have been watching the market see it the moment it lists. Their agents see it. The people who have waited for the right house on your street see it. That audience does not come back at full strength.
Price is the lever that decides what that audience does. List at the number the market will meet and you get showings, feedback, and offers while interest is highest. List above it and the early buyers move on. The house then sits, and time on market becomes its own mark against you.
A price cut in week five reaches a smaller room than the right price in week one.
Presentation compounds the effect. Clean, lit, and photographed well, a house earns the showing that turns into an offer. The first ten days reward the seller who prepared before the sign went up, not the one who reacts after.
Watch the early signals honestly. Strong showing counts with no offers usually mean the house shows well and the price is high. Weak showing counts usually mean the price kept buyers from coming at all. Read the first week and adjust with intent, not panic.